Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013
imperialcollegeunion.
Introduction Dear Chairs and Treasurers, Welcome to the Budgeting Guide which contains information to help you produce your budget request for 2014/15. Each year the College gives the Union a large sum of money, a subvention, to be spent on our members. A large proportion of this, approximately £300,000 is allocated directly to our Clubs, Societies & Projects. By completing a budget request with your projected expenditure for 2014/15, we are able to start to allocate money to your activities. What’s changed this year? This year we’ve made some significant changes to how budgeting will work. Feedback from Management Groups and Clubs, Societies & Projects was listened to and taken into account. Very little has changed with the initial application process but the decision making process in which your Management Group and Constituent Union representatives allocate funding has been formalised. We have also passed a definitive list of what we cannot fund and what criteria we will use in awarding funding (see later in this booklet for details). There is also a new Activities Development Committee to which we will allocate some funding to distribute during the course of 2014/15. This will ensure that budgeting is not the only opportunity you have to request funding from the Union, and is designed to help support new and unplanned activities that come up during the course of the academic year. All the changes can be found online in the policy we passed at Clubs, Societies & Projects Board in December.
Version 3.2 15 January 2014
Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013 Page 2 imperialcollegeunion.org
Kieron Creagh Deputy President (Finance & Services) E: dpfs@imperial.ac.uk T: 020 7594 8060, extension: 58062
Points of contact Your first point of contact for budgeting queries should be your Management Group Treasurer, contact details are on the final page of this booklet. For queries about the online system please contact webhelp@imperial.ac.uk I hope this Budgeting Guide proves to be of some use, and good luck with your budget application. Remember that there are numerous officers and staff who are able to help if you get stuck, so never be afraid to ask. Thanks, Kieron Creagh Deputy President (Finance & Services)
The process Grant money is allocated to student groups to subsidise costs for their core activities. In order to be able to correctly and fairly allocate funding all groups need to set out and plan their expenditure for the next academic year. Your budget request is submitted online on eActivities. All known proposed Club, Society or Project expenditure should be included in your budget submission, even expenditure that you do not wish to apply for a subsidy towards. This helps give the Clubs, Societies & Projects Board a better understanding of the financial situation of your group when making decisions, as well as allowing you the opportunity to start planning for the next academic year.
Timetable Date/s
Action
15 January
Club Society &Project Budget system opens for submissions
4 February
DEADLINE: Club Society &Project Budget system closes for submissions
25 February
Clubs, Societies & Projects Board Final Budget Meeting
26 February - 12 March
Club/Society/Project Officers informed of allocations
18 March
Clubs, Societies & Projects Board – Appeals should be made to this meeting
Building your budget Before launching into eActivities it is important to build and consider your budget beforehand. Your budget is a simple balance of your group’s income and expenditure for the academic year. The best place to get accurate information for these figures is from your transaction pages on eActivities for the previous years. Creating this annual budget is important as it provides information on your expected income and enables your group to plan its expenditure.
Annual Income should include
Annual Expenditure should include
Sponsorship
Core activities
Membership fees
Social activities
Contributions from members
Contributions to running costs
Grant from the Union
Other events
Once you have calculated your grant request you need to split the amounts into relevant funding codes and write a justification for each amount explaining why your group need it and what it will be used for . It can be useful to contact your Management Group Treasurer who will be able to give you guidance on the amounts requested and the justification. The minimum membership fee for any membership Club or Society receiving grant is £2.00. Remember that membership is subject to VAT at a rate of 20% or 5% in the case of a sports club.
Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013 Page 3 imperialcollegeunion.org
Completing the Budget Online submission Budget submissions must be made using the eActivities system, detailed guidance on how to use the system is available in the Core Finance booklet. The information here is only about the specific budget submission parts.
When you are logged into the system select Finance, then Budgets and finally Annual Budgeting.
Aims and Objectives Complete these fields detailed the aims and objectives of your group, your planned activities for the year and any extra notes you wish your management group to consider. The entry from last year can be viewed by clicking on the Previous Aims & Objectives tab. When you have finished click Submit Aims & Objectives.
Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013 Page 4 imperialcollegeunion.org
Completing the Budget cont... Membership Details Try to be as accurate as possible here. If you overestimate your membership your full budget will not be released, if you underestimate your membership your budget allocation may be adversely affected. Previous years’ membership can provide a good indication of what the numbers should be. Remember next years committee will have to meet this target. After considering how much subsidy you are requesting, enter a realistic membership fee on the Membership Details tab. It is likely that this will need revising after you have completed the budget submission. When you have filled in the details click Submit Membership Details.
Sponsorship Details This information is for Management Group records and as extra information for budget allocation. You should outline any current sponsorship deals. Please also include here funding you will be receiving from Sport Imperial. Use the Sponsorship Details tab, when you have entered the details click the Submit Sponsorship Details button.
Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013 Page 5 imperialcollegeunion.org
Completing the Budget cont... Budget submission This is the most important section, use the Budget Submission tab to enter the amounts of money you will be spending in each of the available categories and how much subsidy you would like to receive for each on. Details of the different categories are available in the next section. Please include all expenditure for your Club, Society or Project’s activities for 2013-14. Also please be realistic about how much subsidy you ask for - there is a limited amount of money available. There are various boxes to complete (see screenshot below for example): Description - It must be obvious what the funding is for and how you worked out the total. Please give details of any income related to the expenditure, for example ticket sales to an event. Category - Choose a category from the drop down list that best explains the expenditure. Rank - Use to rank how crucial the expenditure is, 1 – Most Important will relate to Aims & Objectives required for the Club to operate. 5 – Least Important would be used to rank additional extras less related to Aims & Objectives. Cost - This needs to be a realistic cost based on previous years and any updated prices you can find. The Minibus prices can be found here: https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/minibuses/prices Subsidy - This year Subsidy levels are agreed upon by CSPB, you can therefore request as much or a little subsidy as you require. Stronger budgets are those that are accurate and take into account income that will cover some expenditure. Not all expenditure is eligible for subsidy, a list is included later on in the manual. Board - Choose the board to which you are applying for funding. • CSPB – A is for core expenditure • CSPB – B is for non-core expenditure • CSPB – C is for expenditure you are not asking for funding towards (we still need to know so we are aware how much you club or society spends each year) • CWB – to apply for funds from the Community & Welfare board • Exec – for office phones, equipment and stationary (only for groups who have an office on campus e.g. Constituent Unions)
When submitting information it is important to consider the funding criteria that is used when making decisions as well as those items which cannot be funded.
Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013 Page 6 imperialcollegeunion.org
Important information Items which are ineligible to receive funding: • • • • • • • • •
Tours, as defined by the Tours Policy. Direct donations to external charities. Individual events and activities which aim to raise money for charity. Events and activities where the primary purpose is for social reasons and falls outside of the core aims of the Club, Society or Project. This would usually include dinners, balls, bar and club nights. Costs of food and drink where the event or activity falls outside of the core aims of the Club, Society or Project. Large equipment item purchases which would be eligible to apply to the Harlington Trust. Affiliation fees for individuals where there is no benefit to the wider membership of the Club, Society or Project. Activities which do not comply with the aims and objectives of the Club, Society or Project. Activities which are contrary to Union policies or legal requirements.
Printing will not be considered as a core cost for a Club, Society or Project and will usually not be funded. It may however be considered under discretionary circumstances. Remember free black and white printing can be done in the Student Activities Centre in the Students’ Union.
Funding criteria list Factors that will be taken into consideration in awarding funding: • SGI: How much SGI a Club, Society or Project has will be considered, and whether this SGI has been allocated for investment in club activities. Where a club has a large amount of SGI and no plan for how they will spend it, they may be ineligible to receive grant or receive a reduced amount. Turnover of the Club, Society or Project will be taken into account here. Efforts to raise their own source of funding will be looked on favourably. • Amount of money to distribute: There is a limited amount of funding that can be distributed. Funding requests may be deemed to be too large to fund given other competing requests and to ensure funding is distributed fairly. • Improvement in activities: Whether a Club, Society or Project has increased its levels of activity and this has had an impact on costs due to a greater level of participation. • Economies of scale and efficiency: Whether these can be achieved will be assessed, and the sharing of resources between Clubs, Societies or Projects will be encouraged where possible. It is also recognised that lower membership may result in higher costs on a per member basis. • Sporting leagues: The accompanying increases in costs for promotions and demotions in leagues and competitions will be taken into account, looking at facility usage and location of matches, however funding will not be awarded as a reward for promotion. • Aims & Objectives: how far does the activity meet the aims and objectives of the Club, Society or Project? • Justification of the expenditure: Poor quality applications and requests may be rejected due to a lack of substantiation or lack of transparency in figures. • Number of students benefitting: The students who benefit do not all have to be members of the Club, Society or Project, but only Imperial students should be taken into account. Direct and indirect benefits will both be considered. • Level of subsidy and remaining cost of participation: How much impact the funding will have on subsidising the activity and whether this will have a positive effect on access to the activity. • New activities: It is recognised that Clubs, Societies or Project s will innovate and we should encourage innovation. Funding decisions with new activities will usually have less information to base the decision upon but as far as possible a lack of previous budgets to base decisions upon should not be a major factor in the awarding of funding. • Loss of external income streams: Income such as sponsorship or ticket sales can be variable on an annual basis and sometimes out of the control of the Club, Society or Project. As a result funding should be awarded in exceptional cases where externally generated income has failed to be generated. This should not be awarded where income has failed to be secured due to negligence or circumstances under the control of the Club, Society or Project Committee.
Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013 Page 7 imperialcollegeunion.org
What happens if you don’t get the funding you requested? First of all, don’t worry. You’ll be given reasons by your Management Group for why you didn’t receive the funding you requested. They will also be able to give you advice on your next steps. Some funding requests may have been turned down because there are alternative pots of funding available for you to apply to, for example you can apply for money for Tours next year, or for equipment you can apply to the Harlington Trust. Appeals can be made to the Clubs, Societies & Projects Board if you are unhappy with your initial award. However there is money set aside to be distributed throughout the year by the Activities Development Committee so this is not your last opportunity to apply for funding.
Activities Development Committee The Activities Development Committee will operate throughout the course of the academic year and will use the same criteria in allocating funding as during the initial budgeting process. There will be a written method of application to access funding from the Committee which will be circulated to all Clubs, Societies & Projects. It is primarily aimed at funding new ideas and initiatives that you come up with during the course of the year and may also set aside money to encourage Clubs, Societies & projects to get involved in certain campaigns and initiatives. Your requests from the initial budgeting process may have been rejected at the time but circumstances may have changed or more information may be available which would allow you to resubmit a request to this Committee. The Committee may additionally consider applications for funding to cover events that have made a loss, where the event went through the correct channels of approval, and the loss could not have been avoided. Changes in costs due changes in use of venues and facilities due to the space booking process taking place after the initial budgeting rounds will also be considered by this Committee. The Committee comprises of: • 5 members of Constituent Union or Management Group Committees, with at least 1 representative of a Constituent Union and 1 representative of a Management Group. There is a limit of one member from each Constituent Union or Management Group. • Deputy President (Clubs & Societies) (Chair) • Deputy President (Finance & Services)
Club, Society & Project Budgeting 2013 Page 8 imperialcollegeunion.org
Contacts If you have any questions or worries, your first port of call should be your Management Group Treasurer. If you encounter any problems with the online system please email webhelp@imperial.ac.uk
Group Chair
Treasurer
ACC
Chew Liew acc.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Rachel Gregory acc.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
A&E
Alexander Savell ae.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Thomas Bradley ae.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
CAG
Samuel Page cag.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Saber King cag.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
CGCU
Lejon Chua engineering.president@imperial. ac.uk
Yuchen Wang vpfs@imperial.ac.uk
GSU
Andreas Thomik gsu.president@imperial.ac.uk
Gheorghe-Teodor Bercea gsu.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
ICSMSU Steve Tran icsm.president@imperial.ac.uk
John Golden icsm.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
Media
Maclej Matuszewski media.chair@imperial.ac.uk
James Dunn media.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
OSC
Charmain Li osc.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Yuri Ichinose osc.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
RAG
Callum Kirk rag.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Benjamin Fernando rag.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
RCC
Thomas Wheeler rcc.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Richard Cameron rcc.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
RCSU
Plabon Saha rcsu.president@imperial.ac.uk
Victoria Walpole rcsu.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
RSMU
Emily Pennington rsm.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Owain Roberts rsm.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
SCC
Position vacant scc.chair@imperial.ac.uk
John Lee scc.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
Silwood
Claire Bankier Shorok Mombrikotb silwood.chair@imperial.ac.uk
Sam Lloyd s.lloyd13@imperial.ac.uk
Imperial College Union Beit Quadrangle Prince Consort Road London SW7 2BB
Tel: 020 7594 8060 Fax: 020 7594 8065 Email: union@imperial.ac.uk Twitter: @icunion imperialcollegeunion.org