This week marks Brandeis University’s Finance Board’s marathon period. This is the time allotted by the F-board to meet with club leaders to hear funding requests for the semester. Meeting in person is not necessary, unless the funding requests call for further explanation. It is only during this time that club leaders can make funding requests for items such as theater rights, publishing and printing costs, the cost of hiring individual contractors, guest speakers, coaches or instructors and the cost of lodging and transportation for club-related trips.
To assist in the marathon proceedings is an online resource, SUMS, on which club leaders can submit PRFs, NEPRFs and other treasury related documents, as well as sign up for marathon time slots and make F-board-related requests all on one site. While SUMS has been used for finance documentation in the past, myBrandeis, not SUMS, was used in past years solely for marathon meeting finances. F-board Chair Mohamed Ali described the transition to the new website: “Over the summer, when myBrandeis was no longer being used, it was somewhat difficult, but due to the fact that many of our F-board members are new, they did not need to adjust,” he wrote.
After the marathon period, when club leaders send in their requests, is the allocations period, when the board discusses how much to fund each club based on their requests. Ali said that there should not be any concerns about possible delays due to the resignation of Treasurer Sunny Aidasani ’14 days before the marathon period, as the treasury and the F-board are two separate entities, although they do cooperate frequently.
The Constitution and Bylaws of the Student Union state that only secured and chartered clubs are eligible to request and receive funds. The clubs receiving funding from the Brandeis F-board are bound to certain restrictions. For example, events funded by the F-board must be open to the entire Brandeis community. Also, political campaigning for any specific political party or member for any public office is prohibited due to Brandeis’ non-profit status while campaigning for a specific law is acceptable.
While older established clubs might be more familiar with what is necessary for these proceedings, leaders and treasurers of newer clubs are likely to need to explain the function of their club to the F-board as well as need more explanation concerning the process of securing the necessary funding.
The Brandeis Education Reformers is a club started last year, “dedicated to creating well-resourced schools, supportive classrooms, research-based teaching and healthy communities for all children.” Their goals are to “discuss possible solutions, learn from education reform experts with articles and visiting lecturers, watch thought-provoking documentaries, volunteer and fight politically,” according to their Facebook page.
In her first year as treasurer of the relatively new club, Maryanne Cai ’16 described the meetings held by the F-board for those in charge of their respective clubs finances as extremely helpful. Along with the meetings helping her to estimate possible event expenses and the types of things she can ask the F-board to fund, these talks also held other pieces of important information for clubs hosting events. The first meeting is the presentation given by the F-board on the concerns and expenses the club leaders and treasurers can address. Most of this information can be found on the F-Board marathon presentation’s slideshow on the Treasury/F-Board section of the Brandeis Student Union website.
The other meetings are held before the Marathon Period to bring new club leaders up to speed on what regulations they need to follow in order to secure funds for their clubs. Cai noted that while there was some initial difficulty while using the new site, its overall layout was simple to learn.
As Brandeis clubs secure their funds this week and next, it ensures another year of Brandeis community activism, publication, theatre productions and more.
