Throwing parties, organizing community service initiatives and funding 14 trips to politically volatile states prior to the presidential election caused the Brown Democrats to feel the strain of a budget crunch last semester.
Due to a 20 percent increase in the number of Category III student groups - 116 groups eligible this academic year for thousands of dollars in funding from the Undergraduate Finance Board - available resources for each group have been substantially depleted, leaving groups scraping the bottom of the barrel and turning to outside organizations for additional funding.
"We encourage student groups to raise money, and we try to encourage students not to come to UFB as a last resort, but as the last step in their funding process," said Sarah Saxton-Frump'07, student activities chair for the Undergraduate Council of Students and a UFB representative. "The size of the pie is the same, but everybody's slice is getting smaller."
Cutbacks, though sometimes minor, have forced groups to seek financial assistance from new sources, soliciting funds from administrative and academic departments as well as Brown alums. The Democrats are currently finalizing negotiations for an intercollegiate conference scheduled to take place from April 29 to May 1, featuring prominent speakers and nightly social events.
"We've never attempted to solicit for outside funds until this year," said Seth Magaziner '05, president of the Democrats. "The conference is the kind of thing that costs a lot of money - tens of thousands of dollars. UFB tends to gravitate more towards giving money to umbrella groups."
When student groups submit their budgets for next year this April, the application will include an unprecedented request for the amount of money each group has received from outside benefactors. While not meant to intentionally penalize student groups for successful fundraising efforts, the information may have negative repercussions on groups' UFB funding.
"We're not going to be basing all our decisions even close to solely on how much money a group has, but there are some groups where it might have an impact," said Adam Deitch '05, UFB chair.
The external funding factor will be used primarily to "inform discussion," Deitch said, but any ostensible effect on the allocation of funds is unclear. Groups that have demonstrated enthusiasm and resourcefulness in their fundraising efforts may be rewarded, Deitch said, while groups unwilling to take the initiative may be penalized when UFB funds are distributed.
Yet Saxton-Frump is not certain that external fundraising will prompt increased UFB support. Rather, she said, UFB may choose to bolster a fledgling group's bank account if the group makes a concerted effort to raise funds but cannot do so because it lacks the appeal of other groups.
Not funding such a group has harmful implications, she said. An under-funded group's only recourse is to take out a UFB loan, which gives the group until the close of the semester to pay off its debts, or all of its accounts are frozen. This gives UFB impetus to inquire into external fundraising, Frump said, in order to promote fiscal responsibility as well as provide a safeguard against unreliable debtors.
Some groups, such as the College Hill Independent, may have to clamp down on the brakes this semester, as The Herald reported last month. Unless advertising compensates for a $1,000 budget cut per semester, the Indy may only publish 11 issues instead of the usual 12, said William Smith, co-managing editor. Though the Indy receives over $10,000 in funding - more than any other student organization - the cost per issue is less than most other campus publications and more students contribute to it, Smith said.
"They told us that everyone needed to make sacrifices. They kept saying that over and over," Smith said. "The UFB needs to reassess its policy for funding new student groups at the expense of old ones."
Despite some claims of UFB recalcitrance and insularity, Deitch said he has received positive administrative and student feedback. "The theme for the whole year has been accountability, communication and openness," Deitch said. "We're trying to change UFB from a closed, uncommunicative and mysterious organization to a communicative, accountable group."
Starting Wednesday, groups will have less paperwork. A new policy implemented by the Student Activities Office in conjunction with UFB eliminates the need for groups to notify UFB and the SAO prior to making a purchase to ensure a reimbursement.
Each group's funds are divided into sub-categories called "line items," including travel, supplies and copying, among others. UFB divides the money for each line item after deliberation, by, for example, allocating copying funds to a group solely for the purpose of producing printed materials.
In the near future, UFB plans to streamline the process by eliminating superfluous line items, Deitch said. To transfer money from one line item to another, a group must make a cogent proposal to UFB for approval, Deitch said.
The process can be frustrating for student group leaders. "We have something like $900 per semester, and we didn't use all of it," said Jennifer Paul '07, co-coordinator for Amnesty International at Brown. "It was partially due to all the sub-categories. I didn't understand how to use all my funds, so that was frustrating."
But most Category III groups did not finish the semester with a UFB-provided budget surplus, Deitch said. Funding, especially this year, is invariably "less than ideal," he said. To compensate for the deficit, UFB encourages groups to find ways to adapt and stretch the money further.
"Everyone has to take up a little bit of the burden," Deitch said.
With limited funds to dole out from an annual budget of $788,392, UFB's ability to fund more projects is contingent upon an increase in the student activities fee paid by each student, which constitutes the budget. Currently at $136, the fee can only be increased if UCS advocates for a change, but the deadline for a fee-increase proposal has already passed.
"It was mostly my fault because we couldn't organize all the necessary parties," said Joel Payne '05, UCS president. "We had a short window to make a proposal when I realized that the budget issue was as delicate as it was, and we didn't have enough time to put together something really cohesive."
Payne plans to establish a long-term system that would automatically ensure fluctuation in the student activities fee in proportion to the rate of inflation. The new system would take into account the number of groups and the UFB budget, thereby reducing the need for an annual reassessment of the situation, he said. As for now, groups will have to persist through the next year.
Circle K, a subsidiary of the Kiwanis Club, an international community service organization, is ineligible for UFB funding on account of its Category I status. UCS decides the status of each group, often taking into account a group's history. Circle K became an officially recognized group this year, but with so many others vying for UFB funding, the group was not able to secure Category II status, which allows for nominal financial support.
As a result, the group has solicited funds from Kiwanis and other donors, said Olga Abinader '05, vice president of Circle K.
But the umbrella group has left Circle K without an umbrella.
"There are some things I have to pay out of my own pocket," Abinader said. "Once you become an official group, I wish that would allow you to receive money."
John Butler '07, vice chair of the Latin American Student Association, a Category III group, said he has needed to find other sources of revenue to back group initiatives, mostly through academic and administrative departments. When he applied last semester for a line item change, the request was denied. After questioning UFB's reasoning, the response he got was inadequate, Butler said.
"They told me the vote, but they didn't tell me why," he said. "I try to avoid UFB when possible. Going through UFB is sort of an arduous process."
While Butler would rather not solicit for external funds, it's a foregone conclusion that LASA will have to do so, he said. But requiring groups to divulge how much external revenue they receive on April's budget application is unnecessary, Butler said.
"The reason they're asking for outside funding in the first place is because UFB is not giving groups enough money," he said. "It seems counterproductive to say tell us how much outside funding you're getting, and we won't give you more money."
