[Policy Amendment] Section VII (2) - Off Campus Events

Hi everyone! On Tuesday, UFB has made its first Policy amendment! We are amending Policy (2) in Section VII - the off campus policy. The amendment is italicized below:

(2) Off-campus: For off-campus travel, groups may request funding for up to 10% of their total club membership to participate in the event. However, this is not a guaranteed provision, and requests exceeding this threshold will also be treated as exceptions. Groups seeking additional support for larger travel parties should be prepared to provide a strong rationale for the necessity of exceeding the 10% guideline.

• Clubs seeking funding for off-campus events must demonstrate that the proposed event cannot feasibly be hosted on campus. Events that could reasonably be held at on-campus venues or facilities will be rejected from off-campus funding consideration on a case-by-case basis. This policy is in place to prioritize campus resources and manage the Student Activities Fund effectively, ensuring that funding is available for activities that cannot be accommodated on campus

As briefly mentioned in the Policy above, by determining exact need for off-campus events, we can ensure that the Student Activities Fund is allocated in a completely fair manner.

Have a great Halloweekend!

Naomi

[Policy Update] Section VII, (6) and (7)

Good morning everyone, we got two more policy updates pushed out this past week.

(6) Tour Funding: UFB will provide funding support for acapella group tours only if they are domestic and accessible by a rented car. Tours requiring other forms of transportation (e.g., flights or trains) will be considered on case-by-case bases.

(7) Album Recordings: Beginning Academic Year 2024-2025, UFB will be unable to fund album recording projects for acapella groups. This policy reflects two main considerations:

Historical Precedent: UFB has consistently rejected these requests, including those submitted during periods of budget surplus, due to their retroactive nature.

Monetization Restriction: Albums produced with UFB funding may be monetized, which conflicts with UFB's policy prohibiting the use of its funds for profit-making ventures. Therefore, funding for album recordings is not permitted.

For (6), although we are open to funding trains/planes, we wanted to write into our policy that we have historically been more open to funding Zipcar/gas. These distinctions stem from the fallout after the 2022 funding surplus, as we are still facing limited funding capability.

For (7), we wanted to standardize our treatment of all Acapella groups; while some groups request album coverage and some don’t, the biggest issue that we have with funding them is that they can be monetized, which is strictly against the University and UFB policy. Given that the Student Activity Fund is built off of the tuition of students, we discovered that monetization off of that Fund is fair grounds for legal issues…

Thanks for reading our newest update!

Naomi

[Policy Update] Section VII, (3) (4) and (5)

Hi everyone! Naomi here.

UFB passed a few more policy updates last night, so as always, I’m adding an update here on the website. There were a few internal guidelines used in UFB decision making last year, and as someone who believes in the importance of sticking to a fair policy handbook, I decided to call for a vote to write them in to increase transparency in decision making.

(3) Performance Groups: Performance groups are permitted to request funding for up to two competitions per academic year—one in the Fall and one in the Spring. However, approval of these requests will take into consideration factors such as the total costs, the proximity of the competition to Brown's campus, associated travel expenses, and past performance needs. Groups should be mindful that funding for competitions is not guaranteed, and all requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. It is recommended that groups plan their competition schedules and budgets accordingly to align with these considerations for a smoother approval process.

(4) International Travel: UFB will not fund international travel under any circumstances. Since the fund surplus of 2022, UFB has been unable to allocate funds for international travel due to significantly reduced financial resources and  increased external fees outside of our control. The current level of the Student Activities Fund provided by the University does not support reinstating the precedent of funding international travel. UFB will not consider any requests for international travel, regardless of the cost or details provided. Please note that all student groups traveling internationally since 2022 have done so without UFB funding, and this policy will remain strictly enforced.

(5) Spending Cap for Student Worker Compensation: Groups may request funding for student workers (photographers, videographers, stage managers) up to $200 per individual per academic year. Requests are subject to UFB’s discretionary review based on event needs and budget constraints. Requests exceeding the cap must include justifications and will be evaluated case by case, as funding is not guaranteed. This policy excludes Category 4 groups.

For (3), we wanted to write in a concrete policy to allow performance groups to have a better idea of what we are looking for in a budget request. Transparency is important to us, and this policy should help in creating requests.

For (4), we wanted to clear up any chance of having a misunderstanding between us and groups about international travel. We have not funded international travel since 2022 and cannot afford to fund it this year, nor did we fund it last year. If a club has travelled internationally since 2022, it was completely self-funded and UFB has not awarded any extra funds for it.

For (5), this was another obscure internal guideline that UFB used last year during funding decisions. I believe it is unfair to clubs to conceal any rule we use to make decisions, so we wrote it into policy. In general, given that student photographers/videographers/stage managers are hired for only a few hours, SAO’s minimum wage is $14, and clubs have requested roughly $200 in the past for these services, we came to the conclusion that $200 would be a fair payment to students.

Thank you for the time you took in reading this far!

Naomi

UFB Office Hours

Hey everyone! Naomi here.

I’m opening a new place for clubs and students to ask questions about UFB! The location will be in Faunce 033 (the UFB meeting room near Kasper Multipurpose Room in Faunce), from 2-3pm every Sunday starting October 20th, 2024.

Feel free to come ask questions about

• Workshopping your budget request + what UFB looks for in one

• Our policy

• Anything you’re curious about! I will answer to the best of my capability.

I’m more than happy to increase the number of hours per week, plus I’m working on finding a time for virtual hours! My goal is to make UFB as accessible as possible, as well as avoid misconceptions in why we operate the way we do. As always my emails are open for questions too - this is just another resource for you to learn about us!

Hope to see you all there!

Naomi

Feedback Form

Hi everyone! Naomi here :)

Congratulations on getting through the first month of AY24-25!

For some updates on our end, UFB has finished training all of our members and everyone seems to be getting into the groove of things.

As the new Chair, I’m committed to bringing the best UFB experience to every student and club on campus. If you have interacted with us in any capacity this year, please let us know how your experience is through this Google Form! Your feedback is vital to the success of our Board and we appreciate the time this form may take.

The link to this form will also be sent out as an email from our email account (ufb@brown.edu) and the link to this Blog page is in the signature.

Thank you and have a great October!

[POLICY UPDATE] Section VII

Hi everyone, Naomi here.

UFB had our first Policy edit of the year yesterday. We added a section to our Handbook titled VII: General Guidelines — this allows us to standardize our rulings and maintain fairness across all student group categories. Check the update below:

Preamble: This section is a living document and is subject to change as UFB continues to hold policy meetings and as new votes are passed. The guidelines outlined here reflect the current considerations for groups’ events and funding, but adjustments may be made based on future decisions by the Board. We encourage all groups to regularly check our policy document to stay informed about any updates or changes that may affect your event planning and funding requests.

(1) Food: When planning events involving food, groups should be mindful of UFB's specific guidelines outlined in this Handbook. UFB will generally be more open to funding food expenses up to $15 per person for events. Requests exceeding this amount will be treated as exceptions and considered on a case-by-case basis. It is recommended that groups plan their budgets accordingly to align with this guideline and ensure a smoother approval process.
(2) Off-campus: For off-campus travel, groups may request funding for up to 10% of their total club membership to participate in the event. However, this is not a guaranteed provision, and requests exceeding this threshold will be treated as exceptions. Groups seeking additional support for larger travel parties should be prepared to provide a strong rationale for the necessity of exceeding the 10% guideline.

For (1), a $12 cost per person had been an internal guideline, but was never written into our Policy by our prior Chair. We raised the maximum cost to $15, and wrote it into Policy for increased transparency.

For (2), we wanted to have something written down that accommodates for competition travel, conference travel, and general off-campus events. We believe that 10% is a fair proportion (as “membership” can range in activity).

Thanks everyone — if you’ve got any questions, feel free to email me or your Rep!

Statement on Annual Budget Cycle for FY24

General Comment:

Thank you to all students who exerted tremendous effort submitting annual budget requests to UFB this year! We know how much planning went into each and every single budget, and are inspired by the ambition and vibrancy of student activities in our community. We saw groups aiming to continue long held traditions, as well as groups aiming to create new ones. As much as we wanted to allocate funding to each diligently devised endeavor, there more more than UFB had funds to allocate to. While the Student Activities Fee revenue is expected to be approximately $2,100,000 for FY24, UFB received over $3,000,000 of requests through our annual budgeting process. In addition to directly funding groups’ annual budgets, UFB must also reserve funding for 2023-2024 supplemental requests and expenses such as media services, Event Support Equipment/Facilities, or Event Support Services/DPS/Crowd Management to enable events to occur. As such, many budget requests could not be funded, or could not be funded in full, if UFB was to ensure that equitable funding could be provided for all 400+ student groups. This was compounded by the fact that UFB spent the surplus accrued prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in the years immediately following the hight of it. The Board deemed it to be crucial to use the surplus to stimulate student activities in this critical trial period in which many groups faced the question whether they would be able to survive the pandemic related dearth of activity and community or not. Now, since the pandemic, we have seen more student groups flourish on campus than ever before. Finally, even though the annual student activities fee was increased from $286 to $300 for the upcoming year, this amount is unfortunately not able to keep up with the inflation we have experienced since the last time the fee was increased. The compounding of these factors resulted in requests far exceeding the funds available for allocation. The partial funding of budgets that UFB was previously able to, and would have liked to, fund in full is what directly allowed UFB to, when possible, allocate at least partial funding to a greater number of groups. Throughout this annual budgeting cycle, UFB’s funding decisions were thus shaped primarily by the objective to keep as many groups financially afloat as possible, despite the undeniable lack of funding compared to the sizable demand. Arriving at funding decisions for each group was far from simple and caused the budgeting process to take much longer than anticipated. I speak for the entire Board when I thank financial signatories and group leaders for your patience as we concluded the Spring ‘23 semester. The primary reason the process took so much longer, until the very last day of the semester, was the following: at the time of initial annual budget submissions, UFB’s existing policies allowed for more funding to be allocated, i.e. more budgets to be approved, than UFB de facto had funding for. Therefore, UFB had to rework its policy framework, established over the course of years and years, within a few short weeks as to still enable the equitable allocation of objectively insufficient funding. Had we correctly anticipated the total amount of requests UFB would receive, UFB would have been able to better prepare groups for potential outcomes of the annual budgeting cycle, and we would have worked with you much more closely in advance of the budgeting period. Again, I speak on behalf of the Board when expressing that rectifying this lack of communication at an important moment in time is the Board’s top priority in the coming years, so that annual budgeting truly becomes the useful and reliable, instead of confusing and unpredictable, process that it absolutely must be. Nonetheless, with the funding allocations UFB was able to make, we hope to have laid the groundwork for a successful, exciting, and fulfilling year of student activities and look forward to working with you in 2023-2024. You can reach out to ufb@brown.edu with more specific questions and find the most recent group-based breakdown of funding allocations here

Amienne Spencer-Blume, UFB Chair 2022-2023

Cultural and Ethnic or Religious and Spiritual Life Groups:

Due to the budgetary constraints that UFB had to take into consideration when making funding allocations, the Board decided to fund groups with the designations Cultural and Ethnic or Religious and Spiritual Life on the basis of lump sums instead of individual line items. The lump sum allocated to a given cultural or religious group is based on a given group’s request compared to its historical allocations, while taking into account budgetary constraints across all funding categories. Lump sums are for the full academic year, 2023-2024. Whatever funds are unused in the fall will be available in the spring; unused funds at the end of the spring are returned to UFB. By allocating lump sums instead of individual line items, UFB hopes Cultural and Ethnic and Religious and Spiritual Life groups can have more autonomy over deciding what is or is not relevant to you, decisions that UFB believes you should be free to make given your particular mission statement. We apologize that this was not determined before the logistics of annual budgeting began, and thank you for your understanding.

A Cappella Groups:

Due to the budgetary constraints that UFB had to take into consideration when making funding allocations, the Board was unfortunately unable to fund A Cappella groups using the funding guidelines we arrived at earlier this year. This is in part because UFB’s policies have never before allowed UFB to fund A Cappella groups to the extent that we sought to in 2022-2023, and in light of funding shortages, we were not able to take on as large of a new expense as hoped. UFB therefore decided to fund groups with the designation A Cappella on the basis of lump sums instead of individual line items. The lump sum allocated to a given group is calculated by the number of members (indicated on the annual budgeting request submission) times $56. Lump sums are for the full academic year, 2023-2024. Whatever funds are unused in the fall will be available in the spring; unused funds at the end of the spring are returned to UFB. By allocating lump sums instead of individual line items, UFB sought to fund A Cappella as equitably as possible, despite funding constraints. We regret that this was not determined before the logistics of annual budgeting began, since at that point in time UFB did not yet know what the total value of requests would amount to.