TGIF strives for greener UCLA
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 15, 2010 9:23 p.m.
The USAC President’s Office has made sustainability a key priority on its agenda this year.
It has dedicated much of its resources and creative energies to publicizing The Green Initiative Fund, a fund established in 2008 to raise $200,000 annually for sustainable practices and programming. Its main objective has been to encourage students to join a campuswide movement to make UCLA a more responsible and environmentally friendly community.
During the 2008-2009 academic school year, TGIF had seen very few successes, because students were unaware of its potential to reduce UCLA’s negative contributions to the environment. Sadly, there were only four applications submitted that year, demonstrating the lack of awareness of this opportunity ““ an opportunity to finance sustainable student programs.
Acknowledging how unproductive and wasteful this consequence was, the USAC President’s Office began promoting TGIF this year, with the hopes of improving its efficacy to the student body.
As of now, Patty Zimmerman, TGIF grant coordinator and student support services manager, has received 36 funding proposals for TGIF money within two funding cycles this year.
It is likely that all the money designated for TGIF will be given out this year, an astonishing success for the program and an inspiration for other programs across the University of California.
According to testimonials from applicants this year, the tote bags distributed on March 3 by the USAC President’s Office were an effective catalyst for much of the increased awareness of the funds.
It was through these tote bags, according to several groups that applied during the last funding cycle, that they found out about TGIF for the first time, while others acquired more information to assist them in the application process.
Even with this triumph, advocates of TGIF continue to strive for improvement and efficiency. The issue with the former process of allocation has been its applicability in accommodating all types of projects that students need. With only two funding cycles per year, the application process was dreadfully arduous and thorough. As a result, students are usually dissuaded from investing in TGIF, especially if they require only modest funding.
Kennan Cronnen, TGIF director in the USAC President’s Office, addressed the concern about expanding TGIF to include applicants who needed smaller amounts of money but were discouraged by the current hearing process with the “TGIF Mini Fund.”
The Mini Fund would make TGIF funds readily accessible for those projects that require less than $1,000. And so, in time to meet this year’s last TGIF funding application deadline, the USAC President’s Office submitted its own application to do just that. The goal of this project was to divert $10,000 of the total TGIF to this USAC President’s Office so that it may distribute it to projects that support sustainable practices on a smaller scale.
Of course, granting such with this responsibility creates issues of liability, so the TGIF Grant-Making Committee (composed of four students and three faculty members) decided to implement the proposal itself.
Granting a student-run office this responsibility creates liability issues, so the TGIF Grant-Making Committee decided to implement the proposal itself, but the exact details of this process are still being determined.
In summary, expect to see TGIF next year with a separate channel for programs under $1,000 ““ there will be a shorter application process that includes monthly evaluations, supplementing the thorough, once-a-quarter hearings for larger projects (as is currently the case).
However, the same two funding cycles at the end of each quarter (fall and winter only) will remain. The success, to be told, is the establishment of monthly funding cycles accepting applications for sustainable projects needing less than $1,000.
Currently, the USAC President’s Office is working to digitize the application process in order to help smooth evaluations. Outreach efforts and promotion of the fund will continue.
The Office has also helped to design the logo, Web site and Facebook fan page for TGIF at usac.ucla.edu/tgif/index.php.
Quan is the director of Public Affairs in the USAC President’s Office.
