Welcome back ABC Student Group Leaders!

Dear ABC Student Group Leaders,

We are excited to begin working with you in the upcoming semester and beyond. We are providing you with some important updates for this semester. This newsletter is quite extensive, but it contains crucial advice and information to successfully run your student groups next semester. 
 

To summarize the points in this newsletter:

1. Who are we?

2. 2024-2025 Financial Planning

3. Updates from USL

4. New Group Recognition (NGR) Update

5. Constitutional Revision Results

6. Town Hall Date 
    

Who are we?

We are one of the 6 governing boards that govern student groups with a diverse range of interests. We serve the following primary purposes: 

• Advocate for and represent the interests of its groups

• Determine funding and approve groups’ expenditures

• Set funding and policy guidelines for our groups

• Determine group recognition and derecognition status

Your group belongs to one of the 15 ABC student group categories. Each category has one ABC representative, who will be your main point of contact for any ABC-related inquiries. 

I encourage you to look over our website to get to know us a little better. 
 

2024-2025 Financial Planning 

Please watch this video, Treasury 101, for an overall guide on how to manage your group's finance:

As leaders of student groups, you should start planning and managing your group’s finances before you begin any programming. We recommend reaching out to your group leaders who have experience in managing student group finances to share their knowledge. Don't forget that your ABC representative and ABC’s executive board are available to answer any questions you may have, especially if you are a new student group leader. Additionally, we are happy to collaborate with USL advisers and Administration and Planning to help you with any financial transactional and planning questions.
 

Budgeting

The A&P team is finalizing the 2023-2024 reclamation process, ensuring groups' last-year revenue has rolled over into this academic year and unused allocations are reclaimed. This will be finalized and reflected by the week of September 16th.

After that timeframe, groups can request their trial balance and fund balance reports to track their finances. USL Administration and Planning will send you these reports, as requested through this webform, with important information on how to interpret them.
 

Please watch this video to briefly explain important aspects of these reports:

After the 2023-2024 allocation adjustments and your 2024-2025 allocation, the Fund Balance Report will show the total in the surplus column available for your group. Keep in mind that this amount may be lower than expected if your group had any unpaid invoices paid from previous years.

When planning your budget for 2024-2025, it is crucial to estimate your total expenses and revenues for the academic year and then fund your program and activities based on this analysis. Your group's treasurer and president should have a deep understanding of your group's finances, and your planned expenses should be clear for all parties involved. This level of involvement will ensure a smooth budgeting process, which will directly contribute to the success of your programs.

Please keep the following notes in mind when reading Financial Activity reports:

It is your group’s responsibility to assess the accuracy of your financial activity report. Your review is critical. If you notice any discrepancies, please send an email to [email protected], along with your adviser and your ABC representative, to correct any errors or clarify any amounts. You can also copy ABC’s executive board at [email protected].

Keep in mind that it takes time for expenses and revenue to be credited. Therefore, if you expect an amount to reflect in your group’s account, please allow some reasonable time until they are reflected. Your group should maintain an internal budget sheet to track these amounts. Student groups should review their financial activity reports periodically and at least quarterly to ensure accuracy.

We recommend that you view this video to learn how to reconcile your group’s trial balance reports.
 

Allocation vs Revenue

Allocation (41965) consists of, but is not limited to:

• Initial start-up allocations from ABC

Please review our spending guidelines, which apply to allocation funds. 

Revenue (41966)consists of, but is not limited to:

• Income from events such as bake and merchandise sales

• Funding from activities done through SecurePay and Bedeworks

• Co-sponsorships from ABC

• Co-sponsorships from other ABC groups (internal transfers).

• Co-sponsorships from the undergraduate student councils.

• Co-sponsorships other Columbia schools and departments(i.e., Mechanical Engineering, Gatsby, or President’s and Provost’s funds)

Please review USL’s student group policies, which expands further on the use and management of student group finances.

Please watch the following video to understand many funding sources that your group can consider:

Purchase Request Form

Please ensure that you include your approved Purchase Request Form for the following transactions, including but not limited to:

• P-Cards
• Group to group co-sponsorships
• Vendor Payments (USL Preferred Vendors and CU approved vendors)
• Contracts (i.e Performance and videographer agreements)
• AMC Movie Tickets
• Metro Cards

Failure to do so may result in penalties for your group. You can find detailed instructions on submitting a Purchase Request form here.
 
General Support Documentation
All ABC groups are required to save all purchasing documentation now, including keeping copies of invoices from USL Preferred vendors. Taking this proactive approach will bring significant benefits to your group, ABC, and your advisor, and it will significantly help identify any discrepancies and ensure a more accurate financial activity report. Some important points to remember:

1. Please ensure that all invoices and receipts are itemized. 
2. If you use your adviser’s P-Card for a purchase, please make sure to submit all supporting documents, such as the approved Purchase Request and the itemized invoice/receipt, to your advisor right after your purchase or by the 19th of each month at the latest. A&P will reconcile and approve all transactions during the monthly billing period, which starts on the 22nd of each month. All transactions during this period must be reviewed and approved by the Hard Close deadline provided each month by the University. Failing to submit documentation within these timeframes can affect your adviser and may lead to the suspension or termination of their P-Card. Note: Using any USL Preferred Vendors on P-Card is a restricted purchase.
3. The approved amount of the purchase request form is not the actual invoice paid amount. The invoice amount is what will be reflected on your financial activity report.
4. Quotes are not invoices; only invoices should be retained as final support documentation.
5. Don't forget to keep a copy of your Work Order and event Reservation Summary from internal partners like UEM and Facilities to properly reconcile event charges.

Group Travel

Student groups should recognize the importance of thoroughly planning any domestic or international travel with their adviser before reaching out to the A&P Travel Coordinator. It is crucial that travel plans are carefully coordinated, in line with the group's objectives, and adhere to ABC & USL guidelines. Moreover, student groups must ensure they secure and provide proof of trip funding when booking travel. It is essential to present this proof of funds to the adviser for approval, whether it comes from the student group's budget, grants, or external sponsorships. This crucial step will ensure that all financial aspects are covered, enabling the trip to proceed smoothly.
 

Travel Initiation Deadlines

Domestic Travel

• Bus - 2 weeks prior to trip departure date (inclusive of adviser and booking process)
• Train/Plane - 4 weeks prior to trip departure date (inclusive of adviser and booking process)

International Travel:

• 8 weeks prior to the trip departure date (inclusive of adviser and booking process)

Finally, the following key best practices to support the above are summarized below for student groups to adhere to ensure a successful academic year.

1. Send all financial transactions/inquiries to [email protected].
2. Review your trial balance report routinely to ensure the correct charges, co-sponsorships, and revenue are posted.
3. Ensure all fundraising/cosponsorships deposits and Eventbrite/wire drawdowns are submitted routinely with the completed Deposit Form. 
4. If your group has a P-Card, submit the support documentation by or before the 19th of each month.
5. Before accepting any goods or services, please ensure that they have been submitted to be set up as a vendor through PaymentWorks, if not already a CU approved vendor.
6. Plan up to 2 months advance for events and trips to allow enough time for A & P and the University to review and handle your request.
7. Student groups cannot enter into contracts that legally bind the University. Contracts lacking signature authority can be unenforceable, and individuals may be personally responsible for obligations under such agreements.
8. Your adviser should submit all SecurePay/Bedeworks requests via [email protected] on a student group behalf.
9. Your adviser should submit your POM event information at least 4 weeks before the program start date.
10. Refrain from reaching out to central University partner offices. When in doubt, reach out to your adviser!

Updates from Undergraduate Student Life (USL):

Please read information sent by USL last week. There are very important action items that your group must take early in the semester. Please coordinate with your group’s executive board to make sure your group does not miss any of these deadlines. 

Follow-up on board transitions and updating @columbia grouper email accounts:

Emails from USL regarding student organizations, Club ReFuel, policy updates, and all other processes will be sent exclusively to your @columbia.edu alias. It is your group’s responsibility to make sure your @columbia alias (Grouper) is up-to-date with active board members. Group email accounts are managed by Grouper and do not have a password or login; they act as a mailing list that pushes out emails to individual UNI email addresses. You can learn more about Grouper groups here. Whenever a new board is elected, the current board is responsible for logging into grouper.cc.columbia.edu and editing the "Members" of their group to the most accurate board. Please note that when your board changes hands, this will be your responsibility to update. Please see this page for instructions on how to add new members - specifically, see “Adding a group member (with a UNI)” for CC/SEAS/GS students, and “Adding a group member (external user) for BC/Graduate students. Your group is required to have at least 2 active members on the alias at all times. Please work with your adviser if you are having trouble managing your Grouper account. 

New Group Recognition (NGR) Update

We are pleased to announce the following newly recognized groups under ABC and USL:

1. The Columbia Undergraduate Medical Review (Publication)
2. Columbia University Music Industry Club (Music)
3. Run Columbia (Dance)
4. The Student Union for Sustainable Development (Pre-Professional)
5. Columbia University Double Exposure (Publication) 
6. Columbia University Raaga (Music) 
7. ColorStack at Columbia University (Pre-Professional)
8. Columbia Undergraduate Emerging Markets Society (Academic) 
9. Columbia University Computer Security Club (Engineering) 
10. Haitian Students Association (Black) 
11. Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) Columbia Chapter (Latinx) 
12. The Columbia Undergraduate Wealth Management (Pre-Professional)
13. Columbia University EcoReps (Special Interest)

You can see a description of these groups by opening this link. 

Congratulations to all newly recognized groups!

Town Hall

The first ABC Town Hall will be occurring on Wednesday, September 25, 8 - 10pm EST in Roone Auditorium. We hope this town hall will be an opportunity for training, asking questions, and networking with like-minded student groups. Your group is required to send at least 1 representative. Failure to attend town hall may result in penalties.

We will be releasing allocations as soon as we can, as well as the ABC co-sponsorship application. Our goal is to release this early next week. Please reach out to see if you wish to spend before this.

In addition, we appreciate the notably hard work of one of our distinguished ABC alumni, Ijeoma Obi, to help out on the production of these videos. Thank you Ijeoma!

We wish you the best on your student group programming, and please do not hesitate to reach out to your ABC representatives and your USL advisors. In addition, the A&P team is very happy to answer any financial transactional and planning questions your group may have ([email protected]).
 

All the best,

Julian Infante
ABC President

Christina Xiao
ABC Vice President

Armando Gimenez
ABC Treasurer

Daniel Andrade
ABC Secretary