If you’ve read my bio, then you know that I am the vice president of Student Activities and chair of the Student Activities Budgeting Committee (SABC). Being both of these and the treasurer of Student Senate and Campus Activities Board (CAB) means that right now, I am doing lots of writing and reading of non-class related material.
Every year at this time, all of the 54 recognized student organizations on campus are required to submit a budget application for the upcoming year. The budget application includes a detailed ledger of the past year’s events, three short answer questions, a ledger of the past year’s spending, and a proposal ledger for the coming year — totally about 8 pages. Last night, I wrote two of these budget applications and I never want to think about how money is spent ever again —ya feel me?
Then, the members of SABC are required to review each application and then spend March 20 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. discussing the applications and allocating approximately $90,000 among the 54 recognized organizations. It truly is riveting — PSYCH.
Overall, it is a good experience; it allows students to build skills writing proposals and well, just budgeting. Students also practice self-evaluation. For those of us with a future in NGO’s or non-profits, this experience will be beneficial when it comes to writing grants.
