SGA hosted the annual budget meeting Jan. 24 to present student organization funding with the highest amount of funding going to ACU SIGCHI with $2,400 and the lowest to ACU Riding Club with a total of $30.
Clubs use this time of the budget meeting to lobby for more funding and senators have a chance to represent a club to receive more funding.
“Last semester, we had 213% of our funds allocated requested,” said Bekah Jones, SGA president. “It was a difficult transition from going from fully funded in the spring of 2021. But we are looking forward to the spring of 2022, because we were able to fund more organizations.”
Overall, the SGA budget was $34, 718, with an average grant being around $600. This number compared to last year, was a significant change. However, clubs continue to fight for funding during the time of lobbying.
“The budget actually went great this year,” said Jones, and a senior double major in business finance and business marketing from San Antonio. “Fortunately, we had rollover from last semester. I think organizations were having trouble with people attending events. Because of that, we were able to have a lot more funds to be able to allocate.”
Last semester, a little more than $32,000 was allocated to the clubs; however, only about $23,000 was spent.
Jackson Suss, SGA treasurer and junior financial management major from Weatherford, said the money not spent from last semester continues to move on to this semester for clubs.
“One of the big aspects of the budget that was different this year was the amount we were able to move over from last year,” Suss said. “We prioritized certain aspects that organizations requested. This year, we were able to fund more events and conferences.”
Despite this, clubs only received 44% of what they requested. During the time of lobbying, FilmFest was able to receive an extra $200, which was the highest amount passed during voting.
“It is the second semester with a little more experience and working inside the budget process,” Suss said. “When you look at everything in its totality, it was a lot easier to understand on our part and communicate with organizations”
