SOFC shifts event funding to rolling basis

Next Fall, the Student Organization Finance Committee will introduce several changes to the way it allocates its funds.

In an effort to increase transparency and accountability, SOFC Chair Max Tabachnik, a junior, has spearheaded multiple revisions. The most notable among them is a substantial increase in the committee’s programming fund, which provides money for events held by student organizations. Emphasis will be shifted from annual budgets of individual student groups to SOFC’s programming fund, which will increase from $125,000 to $384,000. Student groups can then, in turn, apply to receive additional funding from the programming fund instead of being allocated a larger budget at the beginning of the year.

“The biggest reason for doing this is clarity,” Tabachnik said, noting that there had been some discrepancy among student organizations about where they could request funds.

“We expect to have a huge volume of requests, much bigger than last year,” Tabachnik said. “Right now, the organizations that demonstrate a greater financial need for capital costs—theater groups needing costumes or dance groups needing equipment—seem to benefit the most.”

He noted, however, that the new changes will ultimately benefit all student groups.

Tabachnik said the guesswork involved in the old system limited the funds the committee could allocate to organizations. By allocating funds too far in advance­—up to six or seven months in some cases—there was always the fear that the committee would run out of funds sometime down the road, making SOFC very stingy, he said.  

With the new rolling funding system in place, student groups will be expected to draw up concrete budget plans to receive funding, Tabachnik added. Although they will still have the option to request funds months in advance if event dates are set, there will be a two-week restriction for these organizations to provide SOFC with their specific needs.

Although this may make greater funding for events possible, sophomore Nana Asante, newly elected president of the Black Student Alliance, expressed her concerns for the SOFC changes.

“We as the executive board understand why these changes needed to be made, but the funding we used to have­—but now have to apply for—gave us a sense of security. We don’t have the insurance that we used to,” Asante said.

According to the SOFC budget for the 2010-2011 academic year, funding for BSA activities will drop 72.4 percent from $10,855 to $3,000 because of the changes made to the programming fund. Other event-heavy student groups such as the Asian Student Association, Hindu Student Association and International Association will all see similar decreases.

“We, like a lot of others, are on the fence about this,” Asante said. “Although we understand the reasons behind it, we have worries about how dependable we can be when we are unsure if we can get funds for events.”

Event quality may suffer if no funds or insufficient funds come in from SOFC, Asante noted. Some of this doubt, however, could be cast aside if funds were secured from other sources, she added.

Still, Tabachnik says SOFC will not stop being the first place that students come to for funds. Giving SOFC greater responsibility through a larger programming fund will simply mean that there are more requests for funding, he said.

Another change that Tabchnik will oversee is increasing the size and quality of the finance committee so that it can handle the greater number of requests and hold organizations more accountable.

“SOFC has come a long way in improving itself over the past few years —you can expect that to continue,” he said.