What process is used to determine allocations? How do clubs request money and what requests are granted?
The SGA finance committee, composed of the Treasurer and select SGA senators and other individuals who are interested in allocations, comes together in late spring each year to filter all of the requests from various student organizations. These requests are in the form of an allocations application, which is available on the Student Intranet and asks from an organization its current financial standing, its reasons for asking for money, how the organization helps the community, how the organization will fundraise throughout the year, and the specific invoices/contracts/copyrights/etc. needed to justify the exact cost of holding events/activities/fundraisers. During the committee meetings, the SGA filters out applications that are incomplete or do not have sufficient information regarding how the organization came up with the exact cost for an event or activity. We then contact the leaders of these organizations so they can fix the present issues. The remaining applications, after review, are entered into an excel spreadsheet and the organizations are given all the money they requested, given they have not requested money for: charity donations, food at organizational meetings, advertisements, travel for less than 30 students, or fundraising events costing more than $250. Thus, we provide a first-come, first-serve basis for funding on- and off-campus events and group activities sponsored by student organizations.
It is important to note that once the deadline for allocations has passed, we do accept allocation requests, but they will not be merited until the beginning of the academic year, and the amount of money we choose to allocate depends on the remaining budget following allocation to organizations that requested money at or before the deadline. The allocation requests we prefer to give money to once the academic year has started are those that are called “co-sponsorships,” which are defined as events or activities sponsored by more than one student organization. We understand the difficulty in getting multiple organizations to cooperate toward one group event or activity, which is why we are likely to fund co-sponsored events even if they occur during the academic year in which they are requested. We still accept single organization requests, but they are less likely to receive funds, since the remaining are more likely reserved for co-sponsorships.
Why do some clubs get more money than others?
Certain clubs get more money than others because they requested it when allocations are due, the spring of the previous academic year to when the activities using the funds are expected to occur. With a beginning annual budget of around $37,000, we do not decline requests regardless of the cost unless they are specifically against our rules, or if money becomes too scarce to allocate to all of the requesting organizations. Thus, we do not discriminate against a request simply because of its cost.
Where does your funding for allocations come from?
Our funds available for allocations come to us from the initial college budget process. This is the same way that individual departments (like OSE, ODMA, etc.) receive money. Christine Workman handles all of our fund transfers to student organizations.
How much funding does SGA receive to operate?
While the budget can change annually, we generally receive around $37,000 to fund organizations’ events and activities as well as fund our own activities.
How can members’ organizations, or any student, for that matter be involved in SGA decision making processes?
The SGA holds open meetings every other Tuesday at 9 p.m. in the Leidy Room starting October 11th, and we expect that organizations who have received or would like to receive funding send a representative to each of these meetings so they can voice their concerns about their allocations or their organizations themselves as well as communicate with other organizations about working together to create change on or off the campus. Any student who wishes to come to the meetings and voice his or her opinions about how our campus can be improved is certainly welcome, although Academic Affairs does hold 411 Forums to allow for these types of complaints or opinions to be expressed and answered. Our meetings tend to focus on inter-organizational communication, but the ultimate goal is to make the McDaniel campus more fun and get students out of their rooms to enjoy what’s around them!
What is SGA planning to do this year/what are your major goals besides allocations? Anything new?
Our major goals for this year are: become a more visible leadership entity on the McDaniel campus, facilitate transparent student organizational allocations, and facilitate better communication among the student body. In order to facilitate the SGA being a more visible leadership organization on campus, the Office of Student Engagement is launching an online system called OrgSync, which allows all student organizations to communicate with each other by e-mail, text, and phone while also combining group calendars to display all organization-run campus events in one concise calendar, thereby allowing all groups (Greek life included) to cooperate when planning events and be able to more efficiently communicate.
When are your next meetings open to the public?
We will hold open meetings starting Tuesday October 11th, 2011 at 9 P.M., and they will occur every two weeks from then through Winter Break. They will begin again the following semester every other Tuesday evening.
Who should go to SGA meetings?
Any individual who is a student or faculty member (or Alum) on the McDaniel College campus is invited to attend out meetings. Organizations that receive funding or expect to receive funding are highly recommended to represent themselves at each open meeting.
Why is transparency important to SGA?
The SGA believes in transparent allocations because we want the entire student body to see that anybody can receive funding to contribute an event, activity, or idea itself to maintain a closely-knit McDaniel community. Obviously money is not the answer to all ideas coming to fruition to better the campus, but with respect to allocations, we want everybody to be able to be involved in making our campus more fun!
Can organizations receive money during the school year if something comes up? How?
As stated previously, any organization is welcome to submit an allocation application during the school year as well as during the summer, but it must be understood that funding may not be given due to budget limitations. Co-sponsorships are more likely to be funded by the SGA once the academic year has commenced.
Are you wondering where SGA’s allocations went to? Then check out below to see a breakdown of their allocation results for fall 2011
| Student Organization | Amount Requested | Amount Given |
| ACC | $ 4,945.00 | $ 2,050.00 |
| Advocacy Team | $ 550.00 | $ 300.00 |
| Active Minds | $ 390.00 | $ 314.42 |
| Allies | $ 4,920.00 | $ 4,414.00 |
| Anime and Culture Club | $ 4,200.00 | $ 1,775.00 |
| Ars Nova | $ 840.00 | $ 480.13 |
| BSU | $ 1,805.00 | $ 1,805.00 |
| CCI Puppy Club | $ 500.00 | $ 198.00 |
| Club Softball | $ 499.99 | $ 460.00 |
| Environmental Action club | $ 458.00 | $ 313.00 |
| International Club | $ 3,150.00 | $ 800.00 |
| IVCF | $ 800.00 | $ 455.43 |
| JSU | $ 700.00 | $ 700.00 |
| MSL | $ 2,535.00 | $ 2,535.00 |
| Outdoors Club | $ 1,200.00 | $ 537.80 |
| Phi Alpha Honors Society | $ 1,700.00 | $ 1,000.00 |
| Philosophy Club | $ 2,000.00 | $ 1,800.00 |
| Sex Safety and Communication | $ 410.00 | $ 338.00 |
| Ultimate Frisbee Club | $ 300.00 | $ 190.94 |
| Women’s issues group | $ 3,485.00 | $ 3,255.00 |
| Relay for Life | $ 2,358.63 | $ 1,358.63 |
| Bingo for Freshman Week | $ 1,000.00 | $ 400.00 |
| Social Work Action Team | $ 775.00 | $ 775.00 |
| Totals | $ 39,521.62 | $ 26,255.35 |
| Accounts | Amount | Total Deducted |
| Training/Dev Workshop | $2,300.00 | $0.00 |
| Gen Operations | $2,500.00 | $755.35 |
| Std Club and Org | $25,500.00 | $25,500.00 |
| Winter Weekend | $7,500.00 | $0.00 |
| Total Remaining | $11,544.65 |
A Q&A With Jason Stein: SGA Treasurer
What process is used to determine allocations? How do clubs request money and what requests are granted?
The SGA finance committee, composed of the Treasurer and select SGA senators and other individuals who are interested in allocations, comes together in late spring each year to filter all of the requests from various student organizations. These requests are in the form of an allocations application, which is available on the Student Intranet and asks from an organization its current financial standing, its reasons for asking for money, how the organization helps the community, how the organization will fundraise throughout the year, and the specific invoices/contracts/copyrights/etc. needed to justify the exact cost of holding events/activities/fundraisers. During the committee meetings, the SGA filters out applications that are incomplete or do not have sufficient information regarding how the organization came up with the exact cost for an event or activity. We then contact the leaders of these organizations so they can fix the present issues. The remaining applications, after review, are entered into an excel spreadsheet and the organizations are given all the money they requested, given they have not requested money for: charity donations, food at organizational meetings, advertisements, travel for less than 30 students, or fundraising events costing more than $250. Thus, we provide a first-come, first-serve basis for funding on- and off-campus events and group activities sponsored by student organizations.
It is important to note that once the deadline for allocations has passed, we do accept allocation requests, but they will not be merited until the beginning of the academic year, and the amount of money we choose to allocate depends on the remaining budget following allocation to organizations that requested money at or before the deadline. The allocation requests we prefer to give money to once the academic year has started are those that are called “co-sponsorships,” which are defined as events or activities sponsored by more than one student organization. We understand the difficulty in getting multiple organizations to cooperate toward one group event or activity, which is why we are likely to fund co-sponsored events even if they occur during the academic year in which they are requested. We still accept single organization requests, but they are less likely to receive funds, since the remaining are more likely reserved for co-sponsorships.
Why do some clubs get more money than others?
Certain clubs get more money than others because they requested it when allocations are due, the spring of the previous academic year to when the activities using the funds are expected to occur. With a beginning annual budget of around $37,000, we do not decline requests regardless of the cost unless they are specifically against our rules, or if money becomes too scarce to allocate to all of the requesting organizations. Thus, we do not discriminate against a request simply because of its cost.
Where does your funding for allocations come from?
Our funds available for allocations come to us from the initial college budget process. This is the same way that individual departments (like OSE, ODMA, etc.) receive money. Christine Workman handles all of our fund transfers to student organizations.
How much funding does SGA receive to operate?
While the budget can change annually, we generally receive around $37,000 to fund organizations’ events and activities as well as fund our own activities.
How can members’ organizations, or any student, for that matter be involved in SGA decision making processes?
The SGA holds open meetings every other Tuesday at 9 p.m. in the Leidy Room starting October 11th, and we expect that organizations who have received or would like to receive funding send a representative to each of these meetings so they can voice their concerns about their allocations or their organizations themselves as well as communicate with other organizations about working together to create change on or off the campus. Any student who wishes to come to the meetings and voice his or her opinions about how our campus can be improved is certainly welcome, although Academic Affairs does hold 411 Forums to allow for these types of complaints or opinions to be expressed and answered. Our meetings tend to focus on inter-organizational communication, but the ultimate goal is to make the McDaniel campus more fun and get students out of their rooms to enjoy what’s around them!
What is SGA planning to do this year/what are your major goals besides allocations? Anything new?
Our major goals for this year are: become a more visible leadership entity on the McDaniel campus, facilitate transparent student organizational allocations, and facilitate better communication among the student body. In order to facilitate the SGA being a more visible leadership organization on campus, the Office of Student Engagement is launching an online system called OrgSync, which allows all student organizations to communicate with each other by e-mail, text, and phone while also combining group calendars to display all organization-run campus events in one concise calendar, thereby allowing all groups (Greek life included) to cooperate when planning events and be able to more efficiently communicate.
When are your next meetings open to the public?
We will hold open meetings starting Tuesday October 11th, 2011 at 9 P.M., and they will occur every two weeks from then through Winter Break. They will begin again the following semester every other Tuesday evening.
Who should go to SGA meetings?
Any individual who is a student or faculty member (or Alum) on the McDaniel College campus is invited to attend out meetings. Organizations that receive funding or expect to receive funding are highly recommended to represent themselves at each open meeting.
Why is transparency important to SGA?
The SGA believes in transparent allocations because we want the entire student body to see that anybody can receive funding to contribute an event, activity, or idea itself to maintain a closely-knit McDaniel community. Obviously money is not the answer to all ideas coming to fruition to better the campus, but with respect to allocations, we want everybody to be able to be involved in making our campus more fun!
Can organizations receive money during the school year if something comes up? How?
As stated previously, any organization is welcome to submit an allocation application during the school year as well as during the summer, but it must be understood that funding may not be given due to budget limitations. Co-sponsorships are more likely to be funded by the SGA once the academic year has commenced.
