The Recognized Student Organization Funding Board of the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming wrapped up its last meeting for the fall semester, having allocated 81.9 percent of the academic year’s event funding.
The RSO Funding Board has allocated $114,600 of the year’s $140,000 budget for 57 events—44 events in the fall and 13 events for the spring. Event funds are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
With a much smaller number of events scheduled for the spring and $25,400 left in the RSO event budget, the RSO Funding Board may have to look to other sources of funding.
If the RSO Funding Board wants to fund the same number of events in the spring as were funded in the fall, it will have to limit each future award to less than $820. However, the board can still recommend funds once the event budget is exhausted, RSO Funding Board Chair Hunter Christensen said.
“If we run out of money, we can look at the reserve fund,” Christensen said.
The process for using reserve funds for events is more complicated, though, Christensen said. In contrast to the RSO board’s own budget, which allows funding allocation up to $1,000 without ASUW senate approval, any amount recommended from the reserve must be approved by the senate.
Allocated funds that are not spent by the campus groups may also add to the budget later on. Currently, only $51,511 of the $114,600 allocated dollars has actually been spent. That number will grow, ASUW Finance Director Chris Haakinson said, but leftover dollars will roll over into more useable dollars.
The Jazz Advocates of Wyoming were the last campus group to be awarded RSO event funding in the fall semester. The group was given an initial $2,000 recommendation for its Swing for Life event scheduled for January 2013. Friday Night Fever and the UW Swing Club are partnering with the Jazz Advocates of Wyoming to host a charitable event for cancer research.
Looking into the spring semester, the RSO Funding Board is exploring ways to revise the current funding policies. The average cost per event increased an average of $1,000 this year in comparison to last year.
One possible change to keep dollar amounts reasonable may include a requirement that RSOs cover a percentage of the request through other funding sources. Christensen and the board members would like to see decorations that are paid for by ASUW used for more than one year. A method for evaluating annual events also is being discussed.
The board is hosting a town hall meeting on Jan. 28, 2013, with officers of campus RSOs, wherein board members will field questions and reactions to proposed changes.
