ETSU’s Student Government Association could receive as much as $12,000 from the revenue earned by the organizers of ETSUCon during this year’s event.
“For any event that is funded, if it’s going to charge the public in any way, the money that gets revenued back from that has to be paid to BUC Fund to reimburse us for our funds,” said Gabriel Bolling, secretary of allocations. “So, basically, anything they gain revenue-wise that’s up to the amount that we’ve given them, they pay back if they’re charging anyone.”
The money for the event was allocated to the Japanese Cultural Society during a BUC Fund meeting Oct. 7, 2014.
Bolling said a group organizing a revenue-creating event is required to reimburse SGA the total sum of money allocated unless the event wasn’t profitable enough to earn back the entire sum.
Judging from the turnout for the event, Bolling said it’s likely the Japanese Cultural Society will be able to pay back a significant portion of the amount given.
“Buc Fund was created to give the students free events, so no students can be charged for a Buc Fund event because it’s an allocation of student activity fees,” Bollins said. “So, we’re allocating the fees to this organization to use.”
The Japanese Cultural Society’s Buc Fund application submitted before the BUC Fund meeting Oct. 7 listed the total cost of the event as $19,660.
Added to the $7,170 that currently remains in the BUC Fund for this semester, the $12,000 received by the SGA Senate would leave $19,170 available for student organizations seeking event funding.
Bolling said the benefit to the student body ultimately depends on the amount returned to SGA.
“If we only get back $2,000 it will help other organizations in their journey for events,” Bolling said. “However, the amount given back will be the big decider on how many events can be funded.”
