Budget Request

Background

When do budget requests happen?

Budget requests only happen twice a year. Once for “Fall+Winter” (i.e. Fall Semester and IAP) and once for “Spring+Summer” (i.e. Spring Semester and Summer Break).

Exceptions to this budget schedule can be made in special circumstances, but it needs to be truly exceptional circumstances (e.g. unexpected important retirement/going away party). In reality, this should be avoided at all costs as it reflects poorly on GA^3 foresight and ability to budget.

How do budget requests happen?

GA^3 is funded by the MIT AeroAstro department. Usually during the first week of the Fall and Spring semesters, the co-presidents and treasurer meet with a department representative (usually the Associate Department Head) to review/justify their budget proposal.

Prior to this meeting, it is the responsibilty of each GA^3 chair (e.g. Social Chair, Professional Development Chair, International Chair, etc.) to submit one sub-budget to the GA^3 Treasurer (instructions below).

The treasurer and co-presidents then compile these sub-budgets into a single GA^3 budget to share with department for approval. Once the budget is approved, the money is dispensed by the department into our GA^3 Cost Object for spending.

Instructions

How do I submit a budget for my GA^3 position?

Complete the Google Sheets template and share the document with ga3-treasurer@mit.edu before the departmental budget request meeting. Exact deadlines will change and should be discussed at GA^3 Executive Meetings.

To submit your sub-budget, complete the following steps:

  1. Review the Important Budget Notes and FAQ sections on this webpage (see below) to understand the some important rules to keep in mind while planning your sub-budget.
  2. Open this view-only Google Sheets template.
  3. Select File > Make a copy to create your own editable copy of the spreadsheet.
  4. Change the name of the document to something of the form:
    • Template: [Fall|Spring] [YEAR] [CHAIR NAME] Sub-Budget
    • Example: Fall 2023 Social Chair Sub-Budget
  5. Replace the bracketed values in Rows 3 and 4 with the requested information.
  6. Review the example sub-budget line item in Row 8. Complete your budget request in the same style. Feel free to add/remove rows as needed. Make sure to remove the example!
  7. When you are finished, click the “Share” button (top-right) and share the spreadsheet with ga3-treasurer@mit.edu.
  8. Send an email to ga3-treasurer@mit.edu confirming you shared the spreadsheet. Include what sub-budget was submitted (e.g. Social Chair Sub-Budget) and the full names of yourself and your co-chairs (if any).

Important Budget Notes

FAQ

We underspent this semester, can we spend it next semester?

No. For each funding period money is effectively “use it or lose it”. If, for example, you were planning to run an event in “Spring+Summer” and it got pushed to “Fall+Winter” you MUST re-request the funds for “Fall+Winter” funding cycle.

I didn’t spend all I budgeted for an event. Can I roll those funds into a future event?

Yes, but you need to reach out to ga3-treasurer@mit.edu first to formally reallocate the budget into a specific future event. This is the responsibility of the event planners. If we don’t keep the books up-to-date, miscommunications can cause someone to intentionally overspend thinking they have leftover funds from another event that has already been reallocated.

I ended up NOT running an event I budgeted for. Can I roll those funds into a future event?

Firstly, you should really be running any event(s) you implicitly promised the department by requesting budget from them. That is the budget they approved, and we should deliver on our promises. That being said, we’re all extremely busy grad students and sometimes running an extra coffee hour needs to be the thing that slips through the cracks.

What we want to AVOID is the tendancy to promise ten events, run zero events, panic at the end of the semester, and hastily throw together an expensive last minute event to spend the whole sub-budget. Doing this reflects poorly on GA^3 and can make the department less likely to fund events we actually want to run in the future. If you’re having trouble running all the events you promised, bring it up to the GA^3 Execs – people are often happy to help reduce the load!

Ultimately, if an event does not end up running, yes you can roll the budget into another event. But to do that, you MUST first reach out to ga3-treasurer@mit.edu to formally reallocate the budget into a specific future event. This is the responsibility of the event planners. If we don’t keep the books up-to-date, miscommunications can cause someone to intentionally overspend thinking they have leftover funds from another event that has already been reallocated.

I overspent what I budgeted for an event, what do I do?

You goofed! Overspending for one line item means money needs to come out of another line item. If you realize an event is going to be more expensive than originally planned, you should be PROACTIVELY reaching out to ga3-treasurer@mit.edu to reallocate budget ASAP. This way, if we need to take budget from another line item, it happens before people start spending that line item.

That being said, sometimes you get an estimate $2,000 for and the bill comes back as $3,000, and it is completely out of your hands. Realistically, we should be avoiding open-ended expenses like this at all costs, but if you find yourself in this situation, reach out to ga3-treasurer@mit.edu ASAP.

(N.B. If your event is paid by head and more people showed up than you expected, this is NOT an excuse. You should be capping the number of attendees to prevent yourself from going over budget, or PROACTIVELY reallocating budget.)

I forgot to submit a line item on my sub-budget, what do I do?

You goofed! Reach out to ga3-treasurer@mit.edu ASAP and we’ll see what we can do. No promises though!