The $50,000 budget reduction came as no surprise to the Veishea executive board. Having dealt with a similar-sized budget cut in 2009, the committee was fully aware that the planning of this year’s celebration would require creativity, modifications and some thorough preparation.

“After the committees were selected, they looked at their budgets for this year and the budgets from 2009,” said Hallie Satre, senior in earth science and Veishea general co-chair. “They all had to look for ways to scale back or cut their expenses to fit this year’s budget.”

“We took a look at the big picture and tried to evaluate every item to decide which were serving us well and which we could cut,” said Nicki Cortum, senior in public service and administration in agriculture and Veishea general co-chair. “Cutting doesn’t mean that we got rid of events, as much as adjusted the way we ran it to reduce costs.”

Veishea’s funding comes primarily from the president’s allocation fund, which is a specific foundation account that is used at the discretion of the president of the university and is completely independent of the university’s operating budget. The fund comes from the Miller Endowment, which was established as a private gift a number of years ago. The fund supports many activities, including the university lectures program, student scholarships, graduate fellowships, the Ombuds Office, as well as Veishea, President Gregory Geoffroy said.

“Just like everything else, the amount of funds available to be spent has been reduced because of the economy, and so we have had to reduce the allocations for programs like Veishea,” Geoffroy said in an e-mail. “The income for this fund comes from the earnings on the principal of the fund which is invested in stocks, bonds, etc., as part of the overall regents investment portfolio, and as you know, the earnings from all investments like those have been relatively low in the last few years because of the performance of the market … and that reduces the amount of funds we have available to spend.”

Prior to the 2004 Veishea riots, the event’s budget was to decrease intentionally from year to year, in an effort to make the celebration a self-sustaining event. In 2005, Veishea was suspended and a task force was formed to assess the underlying causes of the 2004 disturbances and to assure the success of Veishea and other student-community celebrations.

In 2006, when the celebration returned, the university took more of a role in funding the event as a result of suggestions given by the task force, mainly the suggestion that Veishea hold more on-campus events.

“Even after the university’s increased involvement, the plan was still to decrease funding to Veishea so it would become a self-sustaining event,” Satre said. “This is not as apparent right now, the [current] dropping of the funds are the result of budget cuts and the economy.”

Along with the president’s allocation fund, sponsorship that is acquired by the Veishea sponsorship committee proves an important source of funding to the event as well. The committee has found it increasingly difficult to secure businesses’ sponsorship, given the economic downturn that the country is currently experiencing.

“The main [challenge] is that people aren’t as willing to give money,” said Amy Peyton, junior in agricultural business and sponsorship co-chair. “This year we focused on contacting more companies and expected to get turned down, but hoped to acquire new sponsors. We went back to lists of sponsors from two years ago and found some businesses that didn’t sponsor Veishea last year, but were willing to this year. It’s just hit-and-miss process.”

The sponsorship committee set a goal for this year of acquiring $25,000 from sponsors and recently wrapped up their first round of calling, which covered approximately 250 companies. Although they’re always searching for new sponsors, Peyton has observed that companies that have sponsored in the past are more likely to sponsor the event again.

“Once they [sponsor] they realize that it’s a good cause and want to help the Iowa State and Ames community,” Peyton said. “It helps that they know Veishea and what their money is going towards.”

Despite the ebb of university funds and the challenges it creates, the Veishea executive board continues to strive to provide the same celebration that students and alumni remember. The continuation of the event is something cherished by the ISU community and committee members all work to keep it going so that they can return as alumni and enjoy the celebration themselves.

And despite the budget cuts, both Satre and Cortum feel that the biggest change students will notice to the event this year is the approach the board has decided upon to provide the daily lunches that are held on campus throughout Veishea week.

“This year, as opposed to supplying the traditional five meals to students, which were usually pretty skimpy anyway, we chose to skip Monday and provide four substantial meals to students Tuesday through Friday,” Satre said. “We aren’t spending any less on the food than last year, but we’re reorganizing the event so that students get more from it.”

Veishea’s president’s allocation funding:

• 2010 — $125,000
• 2009 — $175,000
• 2008 — $225,000