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| Maddy Bersch Co-Sponsorship Director seecosponsorship@umd.edu |
This article is a response to “What you make of it,” a guest column written by Traci Siegel and Jimmy Gray on Oct. 27, regarding opportunities for student groups to request SGA Emergency Group Funding.
Attention all student groups: There is more than one resource for students groups looking for financial assistance!
My name is Maddy Bersch and I am the Co-Sponsorship Director for Student Entertainment Events (SEE). I work with the SEE Review Board, or SRB, a group that works to allocate additional funding to student groups who are planning diverse events but are having a difficult time coming up with the necessary funds. The SRB is comprised of student representatives from a large array of student groups at Maryland and also include members from the general student body.
Interested in applying for funding? Read on!
You may find the SEE Review Board application at www.see.umd.edu/cosponsorship.php. This application is not meant to be intimidating; however, it must be filled out completely with applicable event information including performer, venue, production, promotion, and security details and fees, as well as additional information about the groups organizing the event. On the application, there are suggested contacts for booking your venue, printing promotional materials, obtaining security if needed, and other aspects of the event-planning process. We provide you with a step-by-step checklist to make your event planning run smoothly. After all, we want your application to be approved!
Interested groups should be mindful of initial qualifications to the application process. First, the SRB can neither be the only source of funding nor the only co-sponsor. Your student organization must contribute financially and also must gather other student groups’ support in the form of financial co-sponsorships. In other words, this means that another student group includes their name on your event and thereby agrees to help with the marketing and funding of the event. Additionally, the SRB may not co-sponsor any event for which the performer’s fee exceeds $5000, cannot pay for food or clothing rental, or sponsor banquets or philanthropic events.
Most importantly, applications must be received at least 45 days before the event so that we can work together to ensure your application is complete and hold a SEE Review Board meeting at least 21 days prior to your event. There is a lot to include in the application! The SRB wants to make sure your event will be successful, so we want all necessary items to be complete before presenting your application at the SEE Review Board meeting. At your meeting, you will further explain your event to the SRB members, who will ask questions of you and your group to get a better understanding of what you have planned to ensure a successful event that advance the SEE Review Board’s mission of supporting diverse programming throughout campus.
As the semester comes to a close, we are already accepting applications for events that will be held next semester. The sooner, the better—so I hope to hear from you soon!
Maddy Bersch is the Director of Co-Sponsorship for Student Entertainment Events. She can be reached at seecosponsorship@umd.edu or in the SEE office, 0221 Stamp Student Union.
