Meeting Minutes February 16, 2006

This has been a big topic of discussion and is going to be brought to the Sports Clubs for a decision by the end of the semester.  We are still unclear about the details of everything but we have a general knowledge of how everything will work.  Here is a synopsis of the predicament we are confronted with and why it may change the way the club receives funding. 

Georgia Tech uses a Tier system to prioritize funding to groups, organizations, departments, and activities.  There are currently 3 tiers with the first being of top priority.  The first tier consists of anything that affects the greatest number of students such as the CRC and the Student Center and others.  Tier 2 is the next in line with organizations like MOVE (philanthropy if you are not familiar with them) and ORGT (Outdoor Recreation GT).  Tier 3 is currently Sports Clubs and Cultural Organizations.  Tier 3 is seen as affecting the least number of students on campus and has bottom priority.  Any budget cuts affect Tier 3 first.  We are currently in Tier 3.

Being in Tier 3, we are able to submit our own budget directly to SGA and we are also able to defend our own budget when SGA (Student Government) and JFC (Joint Finance Committee) are going through line by line looking for items to cut out.  We are able to submit bills if more money is needed after the budget has been submitted but we are not able to reallocate any funds from what they were approved for.  Example:  if we are allotted $500 for advertising but need helmets, we can either forfeit the $500 or use it for advertising.  We cannot use it for helmets.  This money is paid out through invoice only by accounting only to certified vendors pending the invoices approval.  We never see cash and we are not able to stray from our allotted budget.

We are also in Sport Club Council which is an organization of all the competitive sport clubs in Tier 3 that is supposed to help organize fundraisers and advertise to the students and faculty on campus.  Lately, the Sport Club Council has wanted the Sport Clubs to join together and move up to Tier 2 as one large organization.  Tier 2 funding, budget submittals and bill submittals vary a little bit and will affect the club’s funding. 

In Tier 2, the idea is to have Sport Club Council run much like ORGT in the budget submittal process.  This is where much of the miscommunication and misinformation has caused many misunderstandings.  Each sport club will still get to submit their own budget but it will be lumped in with all of the other sport clubs.  However, when the budget is being considered by SGA and JFC, they will take each sport club individually and proceed with the same line item process that we are used to.  The second misconception is that we will not be able to defend our budget.  This is not the case, instead a representative from each sport club is allowed to be present to defend their clubs budget.  This next part addresses the one major concern of everyone involved so pay attention.  The Sport Club Council will not have the power to decide who gets how much money!  This is all done line item through SGA and JFC.  This is important because it doesn’t pit the clubs against each other fighting for money. 

Also, through Tier 2 we would be able to reallocate funds from one line item category to another if we deem it necessary and beneficial to the club.  This is a big advantage to being locked into a line item budget. 

Lastly, Tier 2 allows significantly fewer bills to be submitted and requires accurate and responsible logs of all financial activity.  We would have to forecast future year’s budgets very well and would not be able to make up for too much after the fact.  Previously, bills have been submitted for equipment.  This is fine for us because it is still the only way that we would be able to gain funding for equipment.  Our funding comes from different accounts through the school and anything considered to last more than 3 years can only come from the Capitol Outlay account.  This is only used through bill submittals so we would still be covered.  We are not able to receive any funding from our yearly budget for these items anyways. 

In short, not much would change and we would end up with higher priority.  We do need to pay attention to the details but they are yet to be revealed.  As soon as I know more, you will know more.

If this is a topic that interests you and you would like to know more, please email me, Ben Lee, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and I will be happy to discuss it with you further.