Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
For the over 400 campus organizations at Baylor, there’s one thing that every president, secretary and treasurer know about hosting events: raising funds can be hard. But with Baylor Student Government’s Allocation Fund, the process becomes much easier.
The SGAF — or Student Government Allocation Fund — is a budget of over $500,000 allocated to the student government by the university to use for improving campus. One of the biggest uses of this money is helping student organizations fund campus events.
Waco sophomore Naomi Burgess is the student senate public relations chair. According to Burgess, the purpose of SGAF is to make students’ ideas for events more attainable by helping out in the funding area.
“Organizations can have a really grand idea for the event they want to put on, but the biggest barrier for a lot of them is the funds, so that’s where we can come in,” Burgess said.
SGAF funding can be used for all types of campus groups, ranging from Greek organizations to cultural clubs and anything in between. The SGAF has provided funding for events like Pi Beta Phi’s “Howdy,” fraternity car washes and even a luau. El Paso senior and Student Senate Finance Chair Aron Basurto said that student government prides itself in the diversity of the events it has funded.
“We don’t want to turn anyone away from funding,” Basurto said.
While Baylor Student Government tries to assist all organizations seeking funding, there are some requirements. First, the organization must be recognized by Baylor, have an Ignite number and have a bank account for direct deposit. The event must also be open to campus and not just members of a specific organization.
Student government cannot fund over 50% of the event, nor will they help pay for any items that the organization or attendees can keep after the event is over.
Basurto said that these requirements were made for the most part by Baylor itself to ensure that the university is funding an event without showing favoritism toward any one group. Though working through these challenges can be overwhelming for organizations trying to receive funding, Basurto said that student government has a process for helping these groups.
“We have finance liaisons and senators to help walk the organizations through the process because it can be a little confusing at times, especially for organizations that are newer and don’t know about the process,” Basurto said.
According to Pflugerville junior and student body internal vice president Landon Self, applications have been strong this year, with funding requested for 36 events so far. While the requirements limit student government from funding all of these events, Self said that student government is also happy to help connect groups with other methods of funding, like the new AC Hotel Grant.
“Because of grants like the ones that we see from AC Hotel and others, we’re able to direct [organizations] toward those that are a better fit,” Self said.
For organizations that want to learn more about receiving funding, officers can contact Aron Basurto at Aron_Basurto1@baylor.edu. Students may also download the SGAF manual from the website for an outline of the application process and requirements.
