For leaders of student organizations, funding events tends to involve one anxiety-inducing yet crucial step: approaching Fox Funds. Though the committee does give organizations the opportunity to plan large-scale events for the entire campus, the process of getting approved for the funds required to put on those events is unnecessarily difficult.
According to the Rollins College Get Involved website, Fox Funds is a committee which is managed by the SGA Finance Chair. It is comprised of nine student leaders and Student Government senators, with two faculty advisors. The Get Involved site states that “[t]hey serve to guide the committee to make decisions that are fair and equitable to all organizations and abide by the spirit and rules of Rollins College. They are nonvoting and are primarily interested in the wellbeing of campus and the successful execution of campus and organization events.”
Though the mission of the Fox Funds committee might be to aid in the success of student organizations and their events, the experience of obtaining funds seems to contradict that goal. Getting the amount of funding one actually needs for an event is far more difficult than it should be, with organizations struggling to secure the funds necessary to execute their plans.
Fox Funds tends to offer significantly less than an organization requests; as a result, student leaders often have to overestimate the costs of events just to receive an amount that might cover their expenses. It is understandable that there is limited funding available, but organizations should still be approved for at least the basics of what they need to execute their events—half of the requested amount is unlikely to cover costs at all.
All expenses, even those which are part of annual events that have been on Rollins campus for years, must also be strongly defended and proven valuable to the campus. While being careful with the college’s money is important, student organizations are part of what makes Rollins such a great community. They shouldn’t have to beg for support; these groups deserve the funding they require to coordinate events that contribute to the sense of community Rollins not only prides itself on, but strives to build and improve upon.
Fox Funds is a great program with a goal of improving the campus, but the way the money is distributed to organizations needs to be reconsidered. Student organizations’ campus-wide events, major contributions to our campus, rely on funding that is difficult to obtain and frequently offered in too-small amounts. The Rollins community is built on its body of active and diverse student organizations, and those groups should be able to access Fox Funds more freely.
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