It’s that time of year. The Government of the Student Body regular allocations cycle is upon us. For those who are unaware of what regular allocations are, allow me to explain. Regular allocations is the process by which student organizations request funding from GSB for the upcoming year. For the cycle at hand, organizations will apply for funds to be used from July 1, 2009 until June 30, 2010. Through regular allocations GSB distribute over $1.3 million in student fees to student organizations. To be eligible for the process, at least one member of the organization must attend one informational session. These sessions are taking place at noon on Jan. 27, and 6 p.m. on Jan. 29, Feb. 2 and Feb. 4. Each session will take place in room 3512 of the Memorial Union. To see if your organization qualifies, visit www.gsb.iastate.edu/funding/qualify.php to take a closer look at our criteria. If your organization is considering applying for GSB funding, please stop by one of the sessions and check us out. We’d love to have you.

It is also an exciting time, financially, for the GSB Senate. We have a couple accounts, which allow us to provide funding for organizations that have missed the allocations process, or have new and exciting ideas to offer. Having more than one account has allowed us to provide assistance to nearly 20 additional events and organizations, including: Cyclone Stampede Rodeo, Veishea, Association of Malaysian Students, the Blood Drive and the Memorial Union. The Senate is always looking for ways to better students’ experiences here at Iowa State and we’d love to partner with your organization to make this university better.

The executive branch is also working on the transparency of our financial process. It is their goal to have our last two years worth of allocations published on our Web site within the next few weeks. If you remember the campaign season, President Daniel Fischer and Vice President Maggie Luttrell listed improving the transparency of the GSB financial process as part of their campaign platform. Publishing our allocations and funding bills for the last two years will allow students to see what GSB is doing with student fee money. Feel free to check the funding portion of our Web site over the coming weeks and witness the changes taking place in the financial realm of GSB.

The Government of the Student Body is here to serve the student body of Iowa State. If you have an idea about how GSB can help you or your organization, please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. Also, please take a glance at our Web site, www.gsb.iastate.edu. There you can find a variety of information concerning GSB finances and the organization as a whole. We’re here to work for you; we welcome any and all feedback.

Tom Danielson

Senior

Civil engineering

GSB finance director