ABC Update: Allocation release 2023-24

Dear ABC Student Group Leaders,

It was my pleasure to meet many of you during check-in at the Activities Fair! Your enthusiasm and spirit reverberated with all of our student community, young and old. 

This year was the first time I moved in early, to advocate for your funding allocations from the student councils at each of the four schools: Columbia College Student Council, Engineering Student Council, General Studies Student Council, and Barnard SGA. This process, entitled F@CU, provides ABC with the necessary resources to support your programming for the FY23-24 school year. As was published in the Spectator, ABC received the largest funding allocation, a notable $40,000 year-over-year increase, given increased financial constraints. 

This success was due to the reputation you have fostered, demonstrating time and time again that ABC groups are welcoming and inclusive of all our diverse campus cultures and communities. 

Unfortunately, the councils were unable to meet our full request, as specified within our F@CU presentation. We have spent the past week diligently reviewing our financial records, trimming the allocations to match these constraints based on a variety of factors, including a deduction based on last year’s allocation surplus and an allocation cut for groups who currently hold large revenue sums, exceeding by several times their spending from last year. 

Your ABC representatives, listed below, along with our e-board: Christina ([email protected]), Julian ([email protected]), and Theo ([email protected]) are available to answer any questions and support your programming.

Lastly, I wish to share how excited I am for the upcoming year. We have the opportunity to make this our best year yet! To this end, I have released information regarding our current representatives, allocations, last year’s student group budgets, important procedures, and even information regarding the Bulletin, whose founders serve as ABC’s newest board members. I look forward to sending additional updates soon regarding our website, constitutional revisions, new group recognition, and cosponsorship funds. 

Thank you very much for your support!

Sincerely,

Theodore M. Nelson
ABC President

ABC Representatives 2023-2024

You can see our members here.

Allocations

Please find this information at the following link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WpymS177V6mNwx9LW_3U6cFWX6nvm7Wd/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114033883868604300579&rtpof=true&sd=true 

Previous Student Group Budgets

Please find this information at the following link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Sw3jPP3DlCi-EaSmcGdyrwuE2sn8D9aj/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114033883868604300579&rtpof=true&sd=true

The Bulletin

Hey ABC Club Leaders,

We’re working with The Bulletin to get all ABC clubs onboarded onto The Bulletin before the school year kicks off.

They launched the new website and app two weeks ago and already have 900+ registered students (50% 2027er’s), 350+ orgs, 90+ events, and 50+ apps. The freshmen really want to be engaged with campus clubs and activities – current orgs on the platform have reported applications + registrations going up significantly after they post.

1.) Here’s a visual of the organization onboarding process (takes < 5 min)

2.) A handy guide for successfully marketing events

3.) And the link to get started: http://thebulletin.info (desktop)

Please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected] or Ariel ([email protected]) personally if you have any questions!

IMPORTANT ABC POLICIES AND PROCEDURES - 2023/2024

FTF APPROVAL: All financial purchases must be submitted via Financial Transaction Forms (FTFs) in LionLink. Student groups should receive LionLink training as a part of the Club ReFuel process. When submitting FTFs, please email both your ABC representative and USL advisor to receive approval. Please include the purchase number and title of the FTF within the body of your email. ABC representatives apply our spending guidelines to allocation requests. These are published on our website: http://abc-columbia.squarespace.com/ 

ALLOCATION REQUESTS VS. REVENUE REQUESTS: Allocations are funds provided by ABC to individual groups, taken from the undergraduate student life fee funds. Groups receive an initial allocation at the beginning of the year, based on previous year’s allocation and approved co-sponsorship requests. Allocation is subject to ABC spending guidelines. Revenue are funds that are raised through student group individual fundraising. Revenue is not subject to ABC spending guidelines.

FTF APPROVAL DELAY: If your ABC representative does not review your FTF within 48 hours, please contact ABC’s e-board at [email protected] to provide a governing board review. 

FUNDRAISING: A quick strategy for seeking sponsorship from Columbia-affiliated communities. 1] describe a general pitch for the financial purchase, whether it be for club maintenance, events or other forms of programming. 2] come up with a set of unique keywords related to the purchase 3] Utilize your favorite search engine, typing the keyboard along with the line site:columbia.edu [tested with Google]. This will provide information on every Columbia-affiliated website mentioning that keyword. 4] Find points of contacts for these Columbia-affiliated organizations, personalize the pitch, and send it directly to them. ABC representatives are available to support additional brainstorming sessions; we are happy to provide letters of support as well. 

ABC REPRESENTATIVE: To find your group category, please check the groups section of our website: http://abc-columbia.squarespace.com/ 

MAILING LIST: To join ABC’s mailing list: 1] Create a Columbia LISTSERV account, or log into your preexisting account. 2] Subscribe via the following link. You will be asked to confirm your subscription per email: https://listserv.cuit.columbia.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ABC_LEADERS 

ABC TOWN HALL: We have scheduled town hall for September 27th at 8:00 p.m. EDT with location TBA. All student organizations are required to send at least one e-board representative, who is responsible for filling out the attendance form and updating their counterparts regarding updates by the ABC governing board.  

GROUP CONSTITUTIONS: All groups are required to follow their constitution. If you make changes to your constitution, please email [email protected] along with a summary of changes for ABC review and approval.