UFB Transparency Statement, 2019
This year, the Undergraduate Finance Board (UFB) is releasing all records that we have going back to 2014-2015 about how UFB’s funds have been allocated. For context, UFB is a branch of Brown’s student government that is responsible for allocating funds to student groups on campus (more information can be found on our website, at www.brownufb.org). The purpose of this statement is to provide the background needed to understand and interpret the records being published. Our hope is that this context will allow students to develop informed opinions and offer actionable feedback to UFB. The topics we will cover are: 1) why UFB is releasing the data and 2) how to interpret the data.
1. Why UFB is releasing the data
The first reason that UFB is publishing this data is that we feel that the student body has the right to know how UFB spends its funds. Every undergraduate student at Brown pays into UFB’s fund as part of their tuition (a mandatory $286 fee), and as a result, we feel that students should be able to see where their money is going. Given that UFB sees this as a right of the student body, we acknowledge that this data should have been public in the past and apologize for not having been fully transparent about our funding up until now. We hope that full transparency today will set a precedent on UFB and a public expectation for continued transparency in the future, regardless of the coming leadership’s opinions on the matter.
The second reason why UFB is releasing this data is because we have received feedback on several occasions requesting for the data to be public. As an elected board of students, we believe that it’s critical to seek out, listen to, and act upon the feedback from the campus. We hope that publishing this data demonstrates the degree to which UFB believes in feedback and encourages students to continue offering feedback and recommendations for improvement.
The final reason for UFB releasing this data is that we believe that being fully transparent about our funding will allow UFB to improve. Given UFB’s limited transparency in the past, we recognize that it’s possible that UFB’s funding thus far may not have been as equitable as it could have been. With input from the campus, we hope to be able to find areas for improvement more quickly and address them more effectively than we have been able to without student input.
2. How to interpret the data
In order to offer effective feedback based on this data, it’s important for students to understand how UFB currently makes funding decisions. However, we recognize that our current funding principles may be imperfect and would welcome any feedback about how we can improve. The following principles are the current basis of all of UFB’s funding decisions:
1. UFB funds to the minimum that each group needs
“Funding to the minimum” means that UFB will always fund the cheapest way for a group to accomplish their goal. For instance, if a group is attending a conference, UFB would fund the cheapest transportation to get there, the cheapest form of reasonable lodging available, etc. The reason we do this is in order to stretch UFB’s funds as far as possible, across the many groups that we oversee. UFB’s policy of “funding to the minimum” contributes to some groups receiving more money than others, because different types of groups require varying amounts of funds to operate at a minimum level. For instance, groups that travel competitively would not be able to exist as a group without significantly more funds than groups that operate locally on campus. However, we recognize that this notion of the “minimum” is inherently subjective and do our best to assess the reasonable minimum of any given request.
2. UFB funds groups to allow them to fulfill their mission
UFB’s priority is to support groups in fulfilling their missions. We therefore often check groups’ constitutions to verify whether a request would really help a group fulfill their mission. Most groups on campus are able to fulfill their mission and thrive with very little need for funding from UFB. Those cases (groups that receive little or no UFB funding) are therefore by no means evidence that UFB does not value those groups. Rather, the limited funds that certain groups receive are a reflection of their ability to successfully fulfill their mission without large amounts of money. Conversely, groups that receive large amounts of funding are not seen as more valuable by UFB, but instead simply require more money to fulfill their mission at a minimum level.
Because we recognize that there are expenses that would help groups fulfill their missions that don’t fit within UFB’s policies (brownufb.org/policies), UFB allows every Category 2 and 3 group to spend $200 of “baseline” funding per semester on whatever they want. UFB recently increased baseline funding to $600 per semester for cultural and religious groups in recognition of the fact that many of their needs did not fit within UFB’s policies. More information on that decision can be found here: brownufb.org/statements.
3. UFB aims to fund all Category 3 groups as equitably and consistently as possible
Brown currently has 198 Category 3 groups (only Category 3 groups are eligible to request funding from UFB). Our goal is to support all Category 3 groups to the best of our ability, which we define as being as equitable and consistent as possible. This means that, if we approve a particular cost for one group, we are implicitly saying that every other Category 3 group in a similar situation would be eligible for the same cost. For instance, UFB funds $25 for publicity and have made a commitment to offer that amount to every group for any event. It’s important to understand that UFB’s objective of being equitable and consistent across all groups can result in circumstances where UFB denies an item because of the potential long-term impact of offering it to every group - even if we could afford it and understand its importance for any individual instance.
4. UFB’s funds must directly benefit Brown students
Article I, Clause I.1 of our constitution delineates the “Purpose, Powers, and Duties” of UFB, which includes the statement: “decisions of the UFB shall in all respects reflect the fact that the student activities monies do not belong to the UFB, but are held in trust for the student body.” UFB has interpreted this clause to mean that, since we are only temporary holding money that belongs to Brown undergraduate students, it is our responsibility to allocate the funds in such a way that directly benefits those students. This principle is the reason why UFB does not allow groups to donate funds allocated by UFB or pay for services for non-Brown students - even when we recognize that doing so would be valuable and directly benefit the Providence community. To the best of our knowledge, this principle has been foundational to UFB’s decision-making since our founding in 1984.
Our interpretation of the principle that UFB’s funds must directly benefit Brown students does not mean that UFB doesn’t support service groups. Instead, it simply means that the things that UFB is able to cover for service groups are only those that benefit Brown students. For instance, for tutoring organizations, UFB would fund transportation to the tutoring site and the materials needed, because without those funds, the groups would not be able to operate at a minimum level. Tutoring benefits the students involved, so funding those costs falls in line with UFB’s responsibility to ensure that our funds directly benefit Brown students. We would not, however, pay for tutoring groups to buy materials and give them away.
It’s also important to understand that UFB denying a request does not mean that UFB feels that the group should not be able to do whatever they’re requesting funding for. Instead, denials are reflections of the limitations of our funding. Some things, such as donations, simply fall outside of the realm of UFB’s funding (as our responsibility is specifically to support student groups at Brown) and would therefore require other sources of funding.
Additionally, as a result of our affiliation with Brown University, UFB must operate within the guidelines of a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The primary restriction that this imposes is that UFB cannot give funding to any groups that would directly benefit a political candidate or party. For those interested, UFB’s constitution as well as further details about UFB’s operations and procedures can be found here: www.brownufb.org/about.
Conclusion
As you evaluate UFB’s historical allocations and prepare feedback for the board, please keep this framework in mind. However, it is also important to note that any student or student group who thinks that specific changes to this framework would help UFB more equitably allocate funds and better support the student body is encouraged to reach out. We are open to any suggestions and recognize that this framework may not be perfect. Let us know if you have any thoughts or questions by emailing UFB at ufb@brown.edu, filling out our anonymous feedback form, or attending UFB’s Open Forum discussion on Wednesday, December 4th, 2019 from 9-10pm in Salomon 001.
Respectfully,
Julian De Georgia, UFB Chair
Fatou Kabba, UFB Vice Chair
(Published November 25th, 2019)