Writing a proposal

You'll have to write a proposal come Spring Budgeting time. I think this happens sometime in April, but you should definitely be on the lookout for BC's emails and signs around campus giving specific deadlines. If you miss the deadlines, your happy fun SWILlie friends will not be happy or fun. But there's plenty of time. You can find the guidelines for how to write a proposal in the Treasurer's Handbook, or probably somewhere in the BC office. I'm putting a mostly-copy of my proposal below. Get in touch with the current presidents and BEM editors to find out if we have any big changes or special requests for the year. Then: (1) write a proposal, (2) meet with your liason, (3) revise your proposal, (4) give BC however many copies ofit they ask for, (5) schedule an appointment, (6) go to your appointment. (I may have the order of these slightly wrong; just be aware of what they say in the emails.)

The proposal should be neat, well-separated into sections with clear bold titles, contain full explanations in complete, grammatical sentences, and fit on one page if at all possible. BC has to go through hundreds of these proposals at their meetings, and appreciate ones that are honest and easy to read. Your liason should be assigned by BC; have them check over your proposal, and take what advice they give you. Apparently not many people meet with their liasons, so they will hopefully be a good advocate for you at the actual meeting, because, you having been the only person who actually came to see them, they'll remember you. (You Want Budget Committee to Like You (tm) -- getting the idea yet?) Try to schedule your Spring Budgeting appointment for before SWIL meeting that week (like Saturday morning), so you can go to meeting and announce the results. If you want, see if the old treasurer would be willing to go with you to the appointment. In any case, be prepared to defend our requests and clarify any details, especially about BEM. The proposal should be clear enough to explain everything, but make sure you have a good understanding of exactly what we're going to use all the money for; if you can reasonably defend all of it, we're much more likely to get full funding.

For non-Spring Budgeting proposals, again check the guidelines in the Treasurer's Handbook. What you'll essentially have to include is the group and treasurer info again, plus a brief paragraph explaining what SWIL is and why this particular funding request is relevant to us. Then, just for the subcode you're requesting money in, include what was allocated to us, what the current balance is, and how much more you're requesting. Then, below that, explain why we are low on money (we were given less than full funding, we had more propped events than expected, etc.), and what we plan to do with the additional money we're asking for. Remember, no retroactive funding, so don't try asking for it. Now, in most cases, you go to the BC office, or send them an email, and sign up for an appointment (usually Sunday at dinner, I think) to present your proposal, just like Spring Budgeting. When we did book-buying last year, however, they just let me do the entire thing over email, which was nice.

This is essentially the proposal I wrote for 1999-2000, with a few modifications to make it even better:

Spring Budgeting Proposal

Group: SWIL

Treasurer: Amy' Marinello '02 - x3894

$<$Table of the previous year's allocation, current balance, expected end-of-year balance, and request for next year, for each subcode$>$

stuff	more stuff	the most stuff		stuff
1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10

11 -

Photocopying: SWIL shows about 30 weekly movies, as well as hosting a number of other publicized events like the Schlock Film Festival and soliciting submissions to our annual publication. We are required to post at least 15 signs for each event, totally about $40. We ask $55 for the required signs and replacement of damaged signs. (Note to you: we use whatever's left in the photocopying budget for Schlock, so you might even want to go higher than $55. Plus inflation.)

31 -

Supplies: Most of our supplies budget is used for equipping hte annual Pterodactyl Hunt. We also purchase materials for our board in Parrish, and necessary items for other events such as the Valentine's Day Massacre.

32 -

Books: We apply for book money later in the year. No allocation is requested at this time.

41 -

Publishing: SWIL puts out an annual publication, BEM (Bug-Eyed Magazine). We would like to print 100-125 copies this year, but FFFP denies funding for runs of fewer than 500 copies. We would like to get the magazines printed by a publisher (Note to you: see if you can get the publisher's name), so we are asking $450 to cover printing and shipping costs.

54 -

Movies and Speakers: SWIL shows weekly movies. We assume $3 rental for each movie; this totals about $90. We also hold the annual Schlock Film Festival, consisting of three movies. Movie reels for this event cost up to $100 apiece. We are asking $480 total; this has been an appropriate amount in the past.

77 -

Transportation: Non-Integral: SWIL and any other interested parties attend the annual Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. A school van for this trip costs about $15. We ask $30 in case two vans are necessary.

By: Amy' Marinello '02 -- Last revised: 14 March 2000