SBA Appropriations Committee

Below: Committee Description, Documents & Approved Budgets, Past Announcements, Appropriations Committee Liaisons, How to Request Funds.

IF YOU ARE UNSURE WHETHER OR NOT YOUR GROUP NEEDS TO SUBMIT A BUDGET REQUEST, PLEASE WRITE THE SBA TREASURER AT lucechange@law. 

COMMITTEE DESCRIPTION

• Chaired by the SBA Treasurer, the SBA Appropriations Committee is responsible for safeguarding the Associations’ funds. Members of the Committee disburse SBA funds to all recognized student organizations that are eligible to receive University money.
• The Committee holds two appropriation cycles, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. During each cycle, the Committee holds meetings to review funding proposals from student organizations, and allocate Association funds to student organizations. According to the SBA Constitution, all allocations for amounts greater than $500 require the approval of the House of Delegates.
• Committee members serve as liaisons between specific student organizations and the Appropriations Committee. Liaisons advocate for the budgeting interests of their assigned groups during the Appropriations cycle.
• The Committee strives to distribute Association funds in a fair and consistent manner in order to enhance the quality of the law school experience at Georgetown Law.
• For further guidance, please consult the Appropriations Committee bylaws in this webpage.
• Please email all your questions regarding student organization funding, your funding requests or any other Appropriation Committee-related questions to the SBA Treasurer (lucechange@law).

APPROPRIATIONS DOCUMENTS & BUDGETS

1. Appropriations Committee Bylaws [.pdf]
2. NEW! Spring 2009 Budget Allocations [.xls] (Approved by the SBA House - 12/2/2008)
3. NEW! Note to Spring 2009 Allocations [.pdf] (Approved by the SBA House - 12/2/2008)
4. Sample Budget Proposal [.doc]

REQUESTING FUNDS
The SBA Appropriations Committee reviews student organization's funding requests. Funding requests must be sent to: lucechange@law.georgetown.edu. Funding for new and previously inactive student groups will be allocated to groups on a provisional level on an event-by-event basis.

All fund requests shall contain three parts: (1) Cover Letter , (2) Previous Semester's Actual Expenditures, and your organization's (3) Proposed Budget for Upcoming Semester. Please try to use the sample budgets and templates on this webpage when preparing your organization's funding request.

(1) COVER LETTER. This is your chance to tell us what your group did this semester and what you plan on doing next semester.

You MUST also include any plans your group may have to spend money remaining in your account as of the deadline for submitting the funds request. DO NOT try to spend the money just for the sake of spending it. Good reasons for funds remaining (e.g. event falling through or a speaker canceling) are fine if explained - you are not necessary penalized.

The Appropriations Committee bases its allocation decisions on factors such as:

• Timeliness of your budget submission
• Management of your past semester(s) funding
• Amount of specificity in your organization's request
• Number and variety of activities planned
• Number of students served by your organization (both as members and event attendees)
• Availability of activities to both day and evening students.

Please address these 6 factors in your cover letter, step-by-step.

(2) PREVIOUS SEMESTER'S ACTUAL EXPENDITURES.In this part of the budget, you will tell us how money has been spent this semester, point-by-point, in as much detail as possible. In addition, you can also detail how unspent money will be spent.

(3) PROPOSED BUDGET FOR UPCOMING SEMESTER. Give as much detail as possible. If you want funding for refreshments, tell us from where you will purchase them and how much they will cost (i.e. $200 from Bon Appetit--$50 for drinks and $150 for spinakopita based on expected attendance).

• Each item should list expected attendance and should NOT double count advertising as both an operational expense and a line item in a budget request.
• Detailed accountability will be rewarded while generic budgets with little accountability will be penalized.
• Information on catering options for student organizations can he found in the Georgetown Law's Student Organizations Manual, which includes contact information for Bon Apettite, Quite A Stir, and other commonly used vendors. As a note, pizza is generally funded at a rate of $8 per pie, with specialty pizzas such as Armand's being funded at $15 per pie.
• As for advertising, large posters cost $6 each, so keep that in mind when determining your requests.

APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE LIAISONS

• A member of your student organization, preferably your treasurer, must meet with your Appropriations Committee Liaison before turning in your budget. The meeting will help ensure that your group and SBA are on the same page.
• If you do not know what a liaison does or who your group's liaison is, do not fret- they will be contacting you shortly.

PAST ANNOUNCEMENTS

Spring 2009 budgets for provisional groups, new groups, and groups who did not submit a budget for the full 2008-09 year are due November 9!

If you can get them in earlier, please do so. Budgets for the Spring 2009 Appropriations process will be due by email to lucechange@law.georgetown.edu by Sunday, November 9 at 10 p.m. You may submit your budgets anytime between now and that time--the earlier the better! To see budgets and announcements from past semesters, please see the now-defunct SBA Appropriations Committee Courseware site.  To access the site, go to Courseware and search under Fall 2007 public sites. Select the one entitled "Student Orgs-SBA Appropriations Committee (Password: approps)" and enroll for it. 

The SBA Appropriations Committee budget review process will begin November 10, 2008. Student organizations submitting after 10 p.m. on November 9 will have their Spring appropriations docked by 10% for each 24 hours the budget is past-due. NO BUDGETS WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR  SPRING 2009 APPROPRIATION CONSIDERATION AFTER 11:59 P.M. ON NOVEMBER 12, 2008! Any active, inactive, or already provisional group that does not submit a budget on-time or within the 5-day penalty window will automatically be put on provisional status for the Spring 2009 semester. We will have meetings beginning November 10 to discuss budget proposals. Our appeals process will take place on Monday, November 17 from 7 p.m to 9 p.m. --THERE WILL BE NO OTHER PUBLIC APPEAL TIMES!!!  All meetings are open to the public.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? E-Mail the SBA

Revised Dec. 15, 2009 (LCS)