Budget soon to be determined for clubs and orgs

Like most establishments, PLU has a budget to which it must adhere each year. This budget funds the various services PLU provides its students and aids clubs and student-led organizations. It is around this time of year that the powers that be determine who gets what.

Eva Johnson, director of Student Involvement and Leadership and director of the Diversity Center, explained that no one person is in charge of assigning funds to the various departments.
“Directors work with their vice presidents, and we submit a list of projected expenditures,” Johnson said. “Then vice presidents at the President’s Council take the requests and divvy up all the requests, dividing funds appropriately.”

This makes funding allotment a group project, a joint effort between the center directors and the President’s Council. Also, student-led clubs and organizations work with SIL to receive funds by applying to the Appropriations Board.

Clubs apply to the Appropriations Board and the board reviews their requests, almost always granting them.

“Most of the clubs that requested money received what they asked for,” De Mars said. He explained that the clubs which didn’t receive money, typically requested money for food or transportation, things which the Appropriations Board does not fund.

However, the Appropriations Board has a limited amount of money to disperse: only about $10,000 a year to split amongst the clubs.

Clubs and Organizations program coordinator of SIL Lace Smith said that there are 57 formally recognized clubs. This means an average of $175 could be allotted to each club per year, but because many of the clubs are internally independent and receive no funding from SIL, actual amounts given can be significantly higher depending on what the event to be funded entails.

Typically events that reach a broad number of students receive higher funding than those that reach few students. This is mainly because events reaching more students are often larger and therefore more expensive.

De Mars expressed his hope that next year more student organizations will utilize the Appropriations Board’s allotment of funds.

“[This is] not because I want the clubs to be more dependent on the Appropriations Board,” De Mars said. “But because I would like to see that we are a resource.”

Recently the Appropriations Board has provided funds to the PLU Community Garden, a community outreach program that provides food for local low-income families while giving students a chance to connect with Parkland residents.

“The PLU Community Garden is a great example of how beautifully the funds can be used,” De Mars said. “That one project has connected with just about every club and organization on campus.”

The Board of Regents will adopt the budget for the fiscal year May 2 or 3. The information can be found at www.plu.edu/~fiop/budget-finance/home.html#Budget