Orgs face financial concerns

For student organizations, one of the foremost advantages of being certified by the Vassar Student Association (VSA) is an entitlement to a set amount of school funding each year. In many instances this funding becomes one of the primary sources of income for each organization, providing the financial means for these clubs to execute their day-to-day activities. Yet a number of student organizations are suffering financial troubles or going into debt, raising questions about the proper management of student organizations and the ability of the VSA to support them financially.

Although the Vassarion is intended to be a self-funded publication that pays for its costs with the money garnered through yearbook sales, it does receive a set amount of money from the VSA's Council Discretionary Fund which provides VSA-certified organizations with up to $5000 additional funding at the discretion of the VSA Council. However, the Vassarion began the academic year with $14,000 of debt.

"We are currently in debt from last year, with a large enough sum that it will be extremely difficult for us to get out of by ourselves. This year we are trying to raise money from yearbook sales, advertisements and from other departments in order to cover our costs. But otherwise, it will be difficult for a yearbook to be put out this year," noted Vassarion Editor-in-Chief Alia Heintz '12 in an emailed statement.

The Vassarion's debt was recently cleared by funds provided by Dean of the College Chris Roellke and the Campus Activities Office. However, from this point forward, the Vassarion is expected to generate a surplus that is used not only to pay for next year's yearbooks, but also to pay back their loan.

According to VSA By-Laws, any organization that begins the school year in debt will receive the recommended amount of money to cover their operations for the upcoming school year but will not receive any additional money to cover previously incurred debt. School media outlets such as the Vassarion, The Miscellany News and WVKR are exempt from this stipulation.

According to VSA Vice President for Finance Jason Rubin '13, the Vassarion's debt was due in part to past mismanagement and to a discrepancy between the number of yearbooks that was ordered and the number that was ultimately sold.

"A central problem that organizations face every year is that seniors are in charge and then leave the next year. So sometimes they do not keep in mind the best interest of their organization and will sometimes act with less care and caution. Unfortunately, the well-being of organizations gets pushed down to the bottom of a priority list under academics and post-graduation plans, thus leaving an organization with mismanagement," said Heintz in response to the yearbook's debt problem.

"This happened to us last year, and while it is unfortunate, we are working very hard to make sure this never happens again."

Other organizations have not gone into debt, but find the funds they receive aren't adequate to cover their intended goals. Since joining the Outing Club in 2009, current President Stephen Platz '13 has described a doubling in the number of trips that his organization coordinates per year. Yet during this time, Platz has also noticed a decrease in the Outing Club's budget by $500. Currently, the Outing Club operates on an annual budget of $4500, a small sum, according to Platz.

Although the Outing Club did receive an additional $4000 over the past two semesters through the VSA's Capital Contingency Fund, which allows organizations to purchase capital items that are expected to last no less than three years, Platz notes that even with this one-time increase in funds, the budget continues to limit the activities the club can offer. Moreover, additional funds would also be useful in providing all trip leaders with professional first-aid training, as well as adequate gear for all club members.

"Funding is a constant issue for the Vassar Outing Club," began Platz in an emailed statement. "If we did have the funding to improve the club in any one of those areas we would expect significant indirect benefits in terms of recruitment. Many people with outdoor skills who are interested in becoming guides for the Outing Club are dismayed when they see the resources that we have to offer, and lose interest quickly. If we were able to retain more of these individuals, the knowledge base of our club would increase, resulting in more diverse and safer trips," stated Platz.

"Many people with outdoor skills who are interested in becoming guides for the Outing Club are dismayed when they see the resources that we have to offer, and lose interest quickly. If we were able to retain more of these individuals, the knowledge base of our club would increase, resulting in more diverse and safer trips," stated Platz.

Treasurer of the Barefoot Monkeys Sam Stites '12 also expressed his organization's need for an increase in funding due specifically to a steady rate of growth in the Barefoot Monkey's membership over the past three years.

"We applied to supplemental funding and asked for almost double our budget so we could compensate for the amount of freshmen we have. We doubled in size with the first fire show, so we needed to double our budget," stated Stites.

Although Stites stated that until recently the Barefoot Monkey's VSA budget of approximately $1500 has been adequate, he did note that a previous Grand Monkey had overdrawn from their account.

"She just thought we had more money than we did and made more orders for the club," said Stites. "The VSA took the situation as if the money she overdrew was taken from the account the year after. So in the next year we just received the budget we got from the year before, minus the amount we overdrew."

The VSA's funds for extracurricular organizations are directly derived from the Student Activities Fee that each student is required to pay at the start of each school year. This, according to Rubin, amounts to an overall budget of $700,000 that is distributed to each of the VSA-offiliated clubs according to their demonstrated needs.

"In terms of annual budgeting, we will look at the organization and the programming that they have done in the past year. And based on that, we will determine whether or not they have had sufficient funding to carry out their programming, and decide whether they need more funding or if they have had too much. We will decide if they need a budget increase for that or see whether they should apply to special purpose funds, or if we have enough to cover that," stated Rubin.

After the VSA determines that each organization's needs have been met, 25 percent of the remaining money is allocated to the Supplemental Budgeting Contingency Fund, which is set aside for any additional funding an organization may need, based on VSA approval. After this, anything left is then allotted to the Council Discretionary Fund, which Rubin notes currently contains less money than it did in previous years due in part to an increase budgeting for organizations.

"It gets complicated we have a limited pool of money to give, and not all that goes to organizations. All the money we have is allocated, so if we decide to raise one organization's budget, we are probably limiting another one's. The money has to come from somewhere—it is a zero sum process in that regard," noted Rubin.

"When we do annual budgeting, we cannot intentionally think in terms of ‘We will take this money away from this group to give it to another organization.' It would be irresponsible for us to do this, and it would give the impression that we value one organization's needs over another's," began Vice President for Activities Michael Thottam '12.

"We do it based on what needs are present and what needs are not present. We only had one organization last year that said that they had too much money. But at the same time, that means that every other organization asked for either the same amount of funding or an increase for annual budgeting. On the finance end, it is actually financially impossible to have what everyone wants if everyone is asking for more and no one is asking for less."

This limited pool of money is ultimately further divided by the addition of new organizations.

"Obviously, there is a limit to how many organizations the VSA can support. There is a finite budget. When we certify an organization the budget doesn't get any bigger—it's just less money we can give to everyone else. But at the same time, that is something that we try not to factor into an organization's certification," noted Rubin.

One option that would increase the budget would be to increase the Student Activities Fee. Although there are no immediate plans to raise the fee itself, Rubin noted that he was currently looking into the matter in terms of determining the feasibility and advisability of doing so. Such a move would have to be approved by VSA Council, the Student Activities Office and the Vice President for Finance and Administration Betsy Eismeier.

While raising the Student Activities Fee would increase the amount the VSA could give to each organization, it would do nothing for organizations that are currently in debt. Despite this, an increase in the Student Activities Fee would undoubtedly contribute to an increase in the various VSA organizations' budgets. However, Rubin noted that such an increase would only be considered after all involved administrative parties have reached a careful decision.

"I think it would be beneficial, but there is a lot of things to consider with that," noted Rubin. "It involves people paying more money, so obviously it is something that won't be taken lightly."