UA Budget Committee
THe POwer of the Purse
The budget committee determines the budget for all branches of student government and handles contingency requests. It is comprised of the Treasurer and two other members elected at the Transition Meeting between sessions of the Undergraduate Assembly. The Budget committee for the 50th Session is UA Treasurer Yash Rajani, Ria Saraswat, and Ben Sailors.
Determining the yearly budget commands the majority of the budget committee’s time during the spring. They meet with student leaders from all six branches of student government to determine the needs of each branch. They are responsible for distributing student government’s $2.7 million to fund activities as diverse as Spring Fling, White Papers on Education and the core functions of many student groups. A large portion of the budget goes towards a block grant to SAC, which then distributes these funds to student groups based on their own criteria. A large part of the funds also goes towards SPEC to put on the variety of events and activities that Penn students enjoy.
PRevious Budget Allocations
Each section below is hyperlinked with a spreadsheet.
ua contingency
One of the line items in the UA’s budget is the contingency fund. This is a small amount of funding dedicated to being the last resort for one-time costs that student groups may incur. Only after a student group has exhausted all other avenues of funding can the come to the UA. For this, the UA has especially prepared an alternate funding guide for any students interested in seeking alternate funding sources. Here is a link to the Penn Undergraduate Funding Guide.
If your student group needs Contingency funding, applicants should fill out the Common Funding Application. Requests are vetted by the Budget Committee and then sent to the General Body where they are approved or denied according to the UA Contingency Guidelines. The Budget Committee usually makes a recommendation, any amendment thereof will require a 3/5 majority in favor to pass. Emergency requests may also be approved by Exec, but are limited to cases in which money is needed in a time frame that would not admit the usual due process of a Body vote.
The UA Contingency Budget Tracker for 2021-2022 can be found here.
COMMON FUNDING APPLICATION
The Common Funding Application (CFA) is your one-stop source to apply for event funding from a variety of sources across the university. Student groups simply create an event, fill in the required information, and your request is sent to all the funding sources you're eligible for at once. Visit the CFA at penncfa.com.