The Alumni Association has newly launched a liaison program where the committee members serve as liaisons to fund various student projects. The Student Services Grant Committee, however, is facing some difficulties in funding summer and fall grant applications from student groups.
According to administration, the problem has been two-fold, with student groups applying to incorrect venues within the association and also a lack of funding. Many student groups have applied but have received none or insufficient funds for their activities and events.
The program aims to provide funding opportunities to student groups, organizations and programs to enhance the overall student experiences at Hopkins. It supports activities, events and programs that benefit and involve students from all university divisions and especially encourage programs that foster multi-divisional and cross-divisional participation
Janice Webber, chairperson of the Student Services Grant Committee, expressed at an executive committee meeting in June that one of the greatest ongoing problems has been funding students groups or projects for a limited number of cycles. Yet, it is reasonable to equally share the opportunity with groups that have not received any grants so far.
Webber suggested that the Alumni Council should reserve funds to assist certain divisions with special circumstances like Peabody. Treasure Ellen Oppenheimer responded that the student committee has the freedom to make decisions about the specific allocation of the funding for special requests that do not fit within the mission of the committee.
Requesting for funding is generally a long and tedious process; it involves the completion of a detailed application, which includes an itemized budget, sources for additional funding, requests for start-up funds for new initiatives, cross-divisional participation and specific goals. The specific requirements for qualification must be met, and the committee members must review all post-event reports for previous grant recipients.
This is simply a way to ensure the quality of the proper handling of funding.
Although a selective process, many students have taken the initiative to request funds for projects in their corresponding groups such as Hopkins Olympic Taekwondo for its national collegiate competition at Texas A&M University amd Mini Baja Design Team for creation of an off-road vehicle to participate in competition sponsored by American Society of Mechanical Engineers against MIT and Harvard.
Hopkins Eisenhower Symposium, Spring Fair, Hopkins Cycling, Pre-Orientation Outdoor Pursuits, Literary Magazines, OASIS and many more -- this year's approved request including funding for a Chinese lion head and drum for a cultural activity and a pre-Orientation activity that teaches mentoring and leadership skills.
"The liaison program has its own shortcoming since the success is dependent on the student-alumni, or Alumni-Association staff, connection. It in fact requires plenty individual efforts, where correct information, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and prompted responses are required," Webber said.
"However, in most of the other cases, personal meetings transpired between the alumni representatives and student project leaders or e-mails and telephone calls were exchanged. The connection was extremely successful. So, if you want the money, taking a few trips and making some real conversations with the staff perhaps will give a plus on your funding applications," she added.
Administrators commented that another problem has been that several requests from student groups and organizations have simply been addressed to inappropriate venues within the Alumni Associations.
"This might slow down the processing time, reduce the likelihood of funding, and may also prevent the funding from meeting specific deadlines for events and programs. Programs such as health education for neighborhood children, or that involves a community, should be directed to the Community Service Committee; Individuals and projects for credit are not eligible for funding. Careful examination of the guidelines and attention to detail when completing the application will enhance the probability of funding," Webber said.
At the Executive Committee meeting, Oppenheimer did not include increasing allocation for the Grant Committee - only if individual divisional requests exceed the amount allocated to Student Programs, the Student Program Committee can ask for additional funding. Lack of funding could develop into a long-term problem where more students come to apply for funding for their respective groups and organizations.
