The Sport Club Council has been discussing the idea of moving from Tier III status to Tier II status for quite some time now. Earlier this week, on Tuesday March 28th, a vote was taken and the motion passed almost unanimously to pursue the endeavor of becoming a Tier II organization. This has been of particular interest to our skydiving club because our sport is expensive and we rely heavily on school funding to keep us going. There are several reasons as to why this move is enticing and the decision was made to stay with the Council.
In the Tier system that Georgia Tech’s Student Government uses, priority is given to organizations that affect the majority of the student body. Tier I is of highest priority and Tier III is individual organizations of lowest priority. Currently the Sport Parachute Club belongs to Tier III. Any shortage of funding or budget cuts take place in Tier III first, so part of the attempt to move to Tier II is to relieve this vulnerability.
Here is a breakdown of the biggest topics of concern and why they are beneficial to the club:
- The Sport Club Council will be considered one organization with each club becoming a sub-category of Council. The Council will submit one budget but it will be itemized and divided into these sub-categories.
- JFC and Student Government will be the only entities that will have authority to cut line items from a budget. Neither the Council nor the Sport Club Coordinator will have the authority to make any budget cuts or line item alterations.
- The budget will be submitted as a whole, then JFC (Joint Finance Committed) will take each sub-category (individual club) separately and approve or disapprove each line item of that club. The Council and the Sport Club Coordinator will not be involved in the decision of funds disbursement. This is exactly how our budget operates now in Tier III.
- We also have the option of having a Club Representative present at the budget defense meeting to explain and defend our portion of the budget to JFC.
Tier II Advantages
- The budget will still be awarded on a line item basis, but we are granted the opportunity to reallocate a particular line item to if it is not needed and another item not listed is. This is a considerable advantage to us because we are never positive of what equipment may be damaged and may need replacing throughout a typical skydiving season.
- The ability to encumber a portion of our budget to the following year for a particular approved item is a possibility. This can only occur for one year and for one specified item or group of the same items. This is a big advantage to the club as well due the fact that our equipment is relatively expensive and the number of competitions that teams may be entered in can vary from year to year. If we have a very successful team one year that may need more registration fees for the following year, this money could be rolled over.
- Bills submitted for funding from an account other than the Capitol Outlay account are limited, but this only refers to bills that we do not normally submit. Equipment that is expected to last more than 3 years is paid for through the Capitol Outlay account. Anything expected to last this long is also NOT awarded funding through the annual budget. We will still have the full ability to submit an equipment bill any semester.
- Bill Submittals may be attempted from the Council as a whole, meaning that every club needing funding would submit one large bill. This is to avoid dozens of small bills passing through individually. Please note that our bills for equipment are rarely small. This can be an advantage to the club because our equipment involves our safety and is expensive, so a bill for us may be allowed to be submitted singly. On the other hand, when a bill for other clubs is submitted by the Council as a whole, we will have an opportunity to ask for items such as jumpsuits or helmets. Other clubs consider these items a necessity where as we look to them as more of a skydivers responsibility. When a team asks for jerseys, we can ask for jumpsuits and they will also have to be considered a necessity. The same goes for many of the other items in the gear closet that we take for granted.
- Tier II entities can budget and receive funding for an unlimited number of events where as Tier III is limited to a maximum of 6 events. As the club grows in size we need to prepare for the possibility of a more full annual schedule and hopefully more competitions.
- The Sport Club Council can request funding for other items as one large group like a copier for the Sport Club office and for office supplies. This can be very beneficial when it comes to printing out fliers for events and for printing up dive flows for everyone.
Notes Worth Mentioning
There are a couple other differences worth making a note of if this endeavor is a success. The big one is that an annual report from the Sport Club Council will be required. This will most likely be handled by the Sport Club Coordinator or someone from the CRC accounts office. We will have to make sure that all invoices are turned in and everything is accounted for because a closer eye will be kept on paperwork.
The last thing to mention is that organization and keeping track of paperwork within the Sport Parachute Club will be very important. We will have to plan our budget carefully and be able to forecast the events of the coming year. We will also have to keep an eye on equipment maintenance and make sure to request the proper amount of funding to care for everything from links to cypress maintenance.
This was considered to be the best move for our club looking forward, now we just have to see if SGA accepts our request.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email Ben Lee at
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