From: Club Sports Council
Date: July 27, 2022
Subject: Club Sports Council General Updates for Budget Changes



 


 

Dear Club Sports Officers,


We know you are all anxious to hear about the changes that are coming down the pipeline this semester. While the details are still being finalized, I can give you some general information as to what to expect as well as some information about the start of the semester planning. 
 

General Budget Logistics


Just like last year, budgeting will continue to be done on CampusGroups. Treasurers and presidents of clubs will still request funds for their club based on expected expenses for the semester on CampusGroups, similarly to how budget requests were made in the past. However, instead of the budgets being approved and managed by SAFC, funds are coming straight from Club Sports Council after being looked over and approved by Club Sports Council Commissioners for all clubs that are part of Club Sports Council. 

If you would like to be more involved in the CSC processes, there’s still time to join as a Finance Commissioner for this year! Fill out this application and we will get back to you about joining CSC. 
 

Reserve Fund


While all clubs will create general budgets that will include all their expected expenses, we understand that sometimes new expenses come up that are out of the club’s control. For this purpose, we have decided to implement a Reserve Fund to accommodate these unexpected expenses. This Reserve Fund will cover capital projects and improvements as well as playoff and championship funds. Capital projects may include expensive equipment or club improvements that must be expected to last more than 5 years and is not expected to become a semesterly or yearly expense for the club. Playoff and championship funds may also be requested under the Reserve Fund.

For specific eligibility to use this fund, we will refer you to the Finance Guidelines that will be posted in the next couple weeks. The process for requesting to use these funds will NOT be the same as general budget requests and will be a more intricate and involved process with CSC Finance Commissioners. 
 

Tier Movement


As club officers begin to plan for the semester, we understand that you need to know what your upcoming budget is going to look like. Due to changes in the money allocated to club sports out of the Student Activity fund and the creation of a Reserve Fund, everyone will experience changes to their budget for the upcoming year. These changes will unfortunately include lowering the budgetary tiers from the past semester, meaning that you can expect your club to have a lower budget cap than what was allocated to you for this past year. Requests to move up tiers will not be accepted at this time. When the tiers are finalized, we will let you know and club officers can expect to view their new budget caps on CampusGroups similar to how they viewed their budget for this past year. 
 

Start of the Semester Planning


For all club sports, we will once again be asking that club officers attend a safety training that Club Sports Council will be holding at the beginning of the semester. Attending these training sessions and ensuring that all of your club members have completed their safety waivers will be requirements to request funds from Club Sports Council. If the safety trainings are not completed or if your club has outstanding members that have not signed the safety waiver, CSC may withhold your club’s funds until these conditions are met. 

Separately, for clubs that begin to accept members and/or hold tryouts prior to Cornell’s ClubFest, we are hoping to organize a Club SportsFest that will give students, particularly freshmen and transfer students, an earlier opportunity to join your club and tryout so as not to miss out on your seasons. Please fill out this form to let us know when your season starts and when you intend to hold tryouts so that we can include your club in the planning process for Club SportsFest. Club SportsFest is ONLY for clubs that start prior to ClubFest. All club sports will still be encouraged to participate in ClubFest to recruit potential members. 
 

Questions and Suggestions


I appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to finalize the changes for the upcoming semester. If you have any general questions or suggestions, please feel free to fill out this form. For specific budget questions, please email clubsports@cornell.edu with the subject line “Budget Questions for INSERT CLUB NAME”. Otherwise, we hope to have more details for you at the beginning of next week regarding both tier movement and budget guidelines for the upcoming semester.


Best,

Lex Crist
President, Club Sports Council