AUCSA October Budget GA

Each AUCSA Committee will have their budgets reviewed in the GA, with the order of each Committee budget randomised.

Here’s a look at the Budget GA highlights:

12:30 – People begin to filter in. A table of snacks is the highlight so far.

I just want everyone that’s eating snacks to sit down
Jet de Vries, AUCSA President

13:03 – The GA Officially begins!

13:05 – Jet de Vries, President of the AUCSA, introduces the agenda of the GA

13:09 – The Audit Commission introduces themselves on stage

The AUCSA now has fresh start with the budget…/…although there were some discrepancies with receipts…
Masha Nefadova, Chair of Audit Commission

13:12 – The Advisory Council introduces themselves on stage to present the Annual Report of 2018-19

(Introducing the financial report) The financial report, uhm, the financial report…well, the financial report.
Siem Teusink, Advisory Council Member and past AUCSA Board Member

There is still a discrepancy between the projected balance and the current balance.
Siem Teusink

13:16 – Siem Teusink explains that there is a discrepancy in the AUCSA budget, adding that this is not the fault of Audit Commission. Siem explains that the Annual Report has to be presented within six months of August 1st, but that he could not figure out the discrepancy before the presentation of today’s Annual Report.

You should not worry about whether this budget is realistic or not…/ I really wish I could have found out what has happened before today…/ my apologies for not being able to present the full Annual Report today…/ I hope you have a nice GA, good luck, and good luck to the board.
Siem Teusink

13:19 – Bart Knibbe, Co-chair of the Student Council, asks how much the discrepancy consists of.

(Replying to Bart Knibbe) Thousands of euros…
Siem Teusink

13:20 – Jet de Vries takes the stage and discusses the pillars of the AUCSA, general procedures, and information on voting.

13:26 – Julien Vandermosten, Treasurer of the AUCSA, explains that there is an overall >2000 euro surplus in the budget.

13:28 – Julien Vandermosten announces that current liabilities (debts and obligations) amount to 18 thousand euros for the AUCSA

13:00 – Vandermosten explains the different aspects of the budget: the unforeseen costs tab, the balance sheet and the committees individual budgets. Some committees are allocated 5% of their budget to unforeseen costs, others 10%.

13:32 – Rosa Wijnen, of the AUCSA board, is invited to the podium to introduce the Sustainability Commission

13:34 – The motion to officially create the Sustainability Commission is passed without a vote

We are proposing to change the Acquisitions Team into the Acquisition Commission
Jet de Vries

13:36 – Without a call for a vote, the proposition to change the acquisitions team into a committee passes de facto

13:37 – Jet announces a break

13:48 – GA resumes

13:49 – Jet de Vries directs GA attendees to the AUCSA events budget, which consists of around 16 thousand euros, and shows a net profit of 26 euros. It passes without a vote.

13:51 – Jet de Vries directs GA attendees to the “AUCSA other” budget, which consists of around 64 thousand euros income and 42 thousand euros expenditure. Total profit is 22 thousand euros.

13:52 – The “AUCSA other” budget allocates 4401 euros for hoodies.

13:52 – “AUCSA other” budget passes

13:58 – After no questions, the “AUCSA merchandise” budget also passes.

13:59 – de Vries announces that the first budget to be discussed will be On Stage, followed by Webradio.

13:59 – Igor Bobic, Audit Commission, asked what unforeseen costs add to 10 percent of the On Stage budget instead of the 5 percent as is usual for most boards

14:00 – Julien Vandermosten explains that after looking at last years budget it was decided to go for 10 percent and Bram Mak further explains that there is a bar quota for two of the On Stage events.

14:03 – On Stage budget passes.

14:05 – After one question about stickers the Webradio Budget is passed.

14:07 – Ishan Schneider answers a question about what the drinks budget is spent on, by saying that it is mostly for the artists.

14:08 – Ishan Schneider introduces a motion to raise the cost for a photo-booth for the halloween party from 350 euros to 600 euros. A question is raised if this would increase ticket prices to which Ishan answers no.

Solace across the years has always made a loss and we’ve tried to reduce that loss…/… Oh we’re not…/… we are using part of last years budget..
Julien Vandermosten

14:15 – Jet de Vries summarises a discussion on the photo-booth which includes the suggestion to have the press team make photos during the event to decrease the photography costs.

14:17 – Jet de Vries wants to proceed to the voting however there are still questions from the audience.

14:19 – Bram Mak asks a question about how much each photo costs, which leads to a discussion about the increase in photo’s from 200 to approximately 500 with the increase in budget. Bram asks specifically about the costs per photo, to which Jet asks if it is important, leading to some giggles in the crowd.

14:21 – Juliette Meijer says that AUCafe usually takes all their photos themselves and would be willing to take the photos for an AUCafe and Solace event for which a photographer has been scheduled.

14:25 – The vote on the increase of Solace’s costs for the Halloweens party photo-booth from 350 euros to 600 euros fails.

14:27 – Ishan Schneider proposes a motion to raise the ticket prices from 6 euros to 7 euros to cover for the costs of the photo-booth to the annoyance of the crowd. Nicky Wolff, clarifies this motion on behalf of the Solace board. Preksha Bapna asks why Solace cannot reduce the costs of photographers in general as previously proposed to fund the photo-booth.

14:33 – After some discussions about re-allocating funds Jet explains that funds can also be re-allocated from one party to another to cover the costs of the photo-booth and asks if Solace still want to raise the motion. Nicky Wolff confirms that they do and the motion is put to a vote.

14:35 – The motion to increase the ticket prices from 6 euros to 7 euros for the Halloween party passes. The crowd applauds the passing of the motion.

14:53 – Debate continues and motions are raised on the Solace Budget. The new net result of the budget: -2465 euros

14:55 – AUCSA liabilities also includes 3000 euros for last year’s Solace board, according to the Budget Sheet.

14:58 – The actual income from ticket prices is reduced to 6.40 due to a cut from Eventbrite’s online payment system. This is displayed in the income section of the budget, whereas the cut of 0.6 per ticket is not displayed in costs. The new net result of the budget: -2585 euros

This is a very odd way of manoeuvring around the budget.
Igor Bobic, Audit Commission

15:01 – Igor Bobic presses for transparency and for the cut of 0.6 euros to Eventbrite to be included in the budget sheet costs.

15:05 – This marks one hour of Solace Budget debates

15:13 – The final budget of Solace passes: -2585 euros

15:14 – GA recess begins, everyone breathes a sigh of relief

15:28 – GA resumes

15:32 – Jeugdlab answers questions about new costs for shirts and what VOG’s are, hereafter the budget passes unanimously.

15:35 – RAW’s budget is approved.

15:37 – A question is raised about HandsOn 8.35 euro budget for unforeseen costs. The budget is approved.

15:39 – The GA applauds AUCafe’s budgeted net profit of over 2000 euros. Without any questions, the budget is passed.

15:41 – The voting in the GA picks up the pace as the budget of Yearbook is also unanimously approved.

15:43 – A motion is suggested to increase the kitchen utilities by 20 euros, such as induction pans. To which a question is asked if this is not too small of an amount to buy the items in question. Cuisine explain that it is an increase of 40 euros to 60 euros and the motion passes unanimously.

15:47 – Another motion is proposed by Cuisine to add 20 euros of costs to cleaning supplies, the motion once again passes unanimously. The new Cuisine budget passes as the sections of the crowd start banging on tables.

15:49 – A question is asked about Pangea’s budgeting of 70 euros for hoodies, considering AUCSA finances the hoodies for all boards. Pangea responds that they want to use the money to buy second-hand sustainable hoodies.

15:50 – Pangea’s budget is unanimously approved.

15:52 – Pub Quiz’s budget is also approved.

15:55 A question is raised about some of the common room decorations of ZEN. A discussion issues about why these items are budgeted for as some of them were already budgeted for last year. To which Alexander Sleeckx responds;

Hi I’m Alex, CAO of ZEN, and this is an entirely new board, all the things that were in there are entirely unaccounted for, we don’t know were it is…/…but they [the new ZEN board] do really need it.
Alexander Sleeckx, AUCSA Committee Affairs Officer

15:58 – Jet de Vries asks if the discussion around the items that are for the ZEN common room needs to be had as the same discussions took place last-year and items like tea pots are long term investments. The crowd responds with a resounding yes.

16.00 – Alexander Sleeckx reiterates that the ZEN board is entirely new and that they should not be held accountable for the fact that last years board did not store the items properly. A comment is made about the risks of storing items in common rooms to which the issue of the lost/stolen items of Dormsessions is briefly mentioned.

16.10 – A discussion commences about the yoga mats and teacups that ZEN wishes to purchase as long term-investments.

16.11 – Alexander Sleeckx says there are plans to invest in a lock budget for committees that keep their items in the common rooms.

16.14 – Slay UC’s budget has been unanimously approved.

16:16 – Groans resound through the room as AIMUN’s budget begins discussion. AIMUN is expected to total -1,441.55 euros. A question is asked about how AIMUN predicts the number of participants and the costs of these. AIMUN answers this is based on previous years, but is difficult to predict. AIMUN mentions that their delegate fees differ, as these differ per conference.

16:20 – A motion is raised to decrease the number of delegates, both for the income and cost for travel and accommodation for HamMUN. However, this had already been approved previously, hence it remains unchangeable by motion in the GA.

16:21 – AIMUN’s budget is approved unanimously

16:22 – The Catch budget is discusssed.

16:24 – Bluma Brecher from the Diversity Comission asks the question why the budgets for the teams are split for “female” and “male” football teams.
Catch explains that the male football team is part of a league (Zeeburgia), which requires a certain budget. They also have a female team in order for females to play as well. Bluma asks what would happen is someone is gender nonconforming, as this division is based around “someone’s genitalia”. Catch’s response is that if someone wants to play for a team it is “a personal choice in the end.”

16:26 – A question is raised about Catch’s loss of -3043 euros. Treasurer Julien Vandermosten says this is a work in progress due to mistakes from past boards.

16:29 – A motion is raised to increase Catch’s transition costs from 40 to 60 euros.

16:32 – The motion to increase the transition budget by 20 euros fails.

16:34 – Catch’s budget is unanimously approved.

16:36 – Preksha Bapna asks whether TEDx has secured sponsors. TEDx responds that they have a database that they rely on for sponsorships, and have created a backup budget if they do not raise the necessary amount.

16:38 – A question about tote bags is raised. Ted x says that this year, they printed the logo of TEDx on their tote bags only, so that they can reuse the tote bags every year. The previous tote bags had the year’s theme written on it, not allowing them to reuse them. Every visitor gets their own tote bag with a pen, a notebook, and sponsor gifts.

16:43 – A question is raised by Maxime about why there is a budget deficit if TEDx has a contingency plan. She also asks whether the budget deficit will decrease if more money is procured through sponsorships.

TEDx responds that a part of the money will certainly go towards the deficit. However, they say that despite being an AUCSA comitte, they are also part of the TED organization, and therefore have to cruise between two guidelines they have to follow. If they have less sponsors, they make substantial cuts, whilst trying to “organize a beautiful event”.

Maxime restates the question why there is a deficit if a contingency plan exists. TEDx says that this is a backup measure only, and they would rather not have to decrease the quality of the events unless forced.

16:44 – A question is raised why TEDx has only budgeted 10,000 euros of sponsorship money for this year’s budget GA, in comparison to last years 12,000 euros. Nilesh Lalbahadoersing responds that this is due to “the legendary Rajiv” who was able to break the record of raised sponsorship money last year. TEDx has budgeted 10,000 euros as they are unsure whether they will able to reach this record-level of sponsorship money this year.

16:46 – The TEDx budget is passed and a break commences.

16:50 – The GA is resumed, and the Inprint budget is discussed.

17:03 – A motion is raised to remove the budget for two editor dinners, both worth 20 euros. The motion is passed.

17:04 – A motion is raised to correct a typo in the spreadsheet. The motion is passed.

17:05 – Inprint’s budget has been unanimously approved\

17:06 – SEC’s budget is discussed.

17:07 – Preksha Bapna asks if SEC has already confirmed sponsorships. Koh Okuno, treasurer of SEC, says that due to their successes in past events and the fact that they are inviting more companies this year, sponsorships should not be a problem.

17:08 – Preksha asks what happens in the case that they do not get the sponsorships. Koh responds that the sponsorships are not important concerning the income, as the companies they invite do not ask for much money as they benefit from marketing and networking during SEC’s events.

17:09 – The ART board’s budget is discussed.

17:10 – ART launches a motion in order to raise each snack budget by 2 euros, an increase in 10 euros total.

17:12 – The motion is passed.

17:13 – A question is asked about whether the materials budgeted are for the teachers teaching the workshops or the people coming. Art responds that it is for both.

17:14 – A question is raised whether a software program should be considered an investment if the subscription only lasts for a year. ART responds that perhaps the term “investment” should be altered, but that the program will also be used for ART’s website.

17:15 – The Dormsessions budget is discussed. Dormsessions is expected to be in a -2693 euro deficit

17:16 – The question is raised how Dormsessions will promote their event. Dormsessions responds that the 40 euros allocated will be used for Facebook advertising.

17:17 – A question is raised by PlayUC about monitors. Dormsessions responds that the monitors allocated by their budget are free to be used by any committee.

17:19 – A question is raised about why Dormsessions uses analog photography as digital may be more sustainable. Dormsessions responds they use both, and that it is important to them as branding and PR material.

17:20 – A motion is raised for Dormsessions to “meet AUCSA in the middle”, as Dormsessions would like to sell tickets for “Dormsessions festival” for 9 euros, whilst AUCSA would like them to increase this to 12.50 euros. Dormsessions argues that they would like to compromise and sell the tickets for 10 euros. Dormsessions also argues that decreasing the price will motivate more people to come and make the event more accessible. AUCSA treasurer Julien argues that Dormsessions festivals are meant to cover the losses for the Dormsessions budget, and hence should be more expensive. Dormsessions rebukes that if the same amount of people come this year as they did last year, this should cover the losses. A comment is raised about how Dormsessions should strive not to just break even, but to attempt to cover their deficit more. Dormsessions argues that their estimates are based around the lower values, and they expect less people to come if they increase the prices.

17:32 – The Dormsessions budget is passed with a net deficit of -3043 euros

17:33 – The CUT budget is discussed.

17:34 – A question is asked whether CUT could not use more equipment from AUCSA in order to reduce costs. CUT argues that they are looking into getting equipment for free, but their budget is not excessive considering the cost of film equipment.

17:39– The beamer has stopped working. There are therefore no supporting visuals. One of the microphones has also died.

17:40 – CUT’s budget is approved: -525 euros

17:43 – PlayUC’s budget is approved: -700 euros

17:43 – Debating’s budget is discussed. A motion is raised to give them startup money, but Debating says this is unnecessary. A question is raised whether Debating will be able to host events as they did not have time to budget for them, as their board is new. AUCSA responds that they are working closely with Debating in order to ensure they have mobility.

17:48 – Debating’s small budget of -60 euros is passed

17:50 – A question is raised as to whether AUCMUN should not increase their unforeseen costs margin from 5% to 10%. AUCMUN says this will likely not be necessary. AUCMUN says that they already accounted for the possible outcome of less delegates attending than in previous years in the budget.

17:52 – The AUCMUN budget has been approved with a net positive of 1594 euros!

17:52 – The Scriptus budget is discussed. A question is raised about what the “release party 1 and 2 are”. Scriptus says that last year they had a release party for their 30th issue, which is good for their PR and was quite successful. Another question is raised what a magazine rack is. Scriptus says that this is a display for the magazines, and that people would be more interested in Scriptus and picking up the magazine. The magazine rack could also be used by other boards.

17:56 – A question is raised why there is a 1 cent difference between issue 1 and issue 2 in the Scriptus budget.

17:56 – The Scriptus budget is passed: -832 euros

17:58 – A question is raised whether Junket should perhaps raise their unforeseen costs from 5% to 10%. Junket argues that they made changes to the budget that would make 5% feasible for the budget.

17:59 – The Junket budget is approved with a loss of three thousand euros

18:00 – All the board budgets have been discussed and approved now the GA will now discuss the commissions and team budgets.

18:02 – AUCSA Acquisitions and Dormfest budgets have been approved.

18:05 – Question is raised about the events organized by the Diversity Commission. The budget is then approved.

18:06 – Audit Commission budget is approved without any questions.

18:07 – Discussions are held about the new Sustainability commission including potential collaboration with the new 180 degrees team, and if teachers have been contacted in regards to the 500 euros budgeted for research costs.

18:08 – Press Team’s Budget is approved.

18:12 – Within the small remaining crowd at the GA no one requests a final vote thus the entire budget passes

18:12 – Bluma Brecher has one more question for the GA.