Grant pool created from underbudget
Incentive budget allows for department projects
Matthew Frierdich
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: News
Special projects and initiatives throughout the Drury community have been funded in part due to the Budget Incentive Program.
The program was developed by President Todd Parnell and was instituted during the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
According to vice president of Academic Affairs, Dr. Charles Taylor, the program is aimed at encouraging responsible financial stewardship and rewarding responsible stewards.
"We have always had fairly lean budgets with a high priority placed on investing in students," said Taylor, "but trying to reduce costs as we can is the right thing for this university to do, especially considering the current economic situation."
When any department comes in under budget, the difference between the projected budget and the actual expenditures is put into a pool. At the end of the fiscal year, half of this pool is evenly distributed to each department that came in under budget. The other half is divided among the four major divisions of the University (Academic, Student, Alumni and Development, and Athletic and Community Relations), based on their total percentage of the Incentive pool, to be allocated at their discretion.
For the 2008-2009 allocation, Taylor said that Academic Affairs was given roughly $100,000 to allocate to acceptable projects.
The definition of "acceptable projects" according to Taylor was any initiative that "specifically addresses at least one element of the university's strategic plan."
"We wanted to make sure that grants we approved actually served our priorities. If they were not connected to a central priority, we deferred those," said Taylor.
The method of allocation was not specified by President Parnell, and each division had different specific criteria for determining who received funding beyond strategic relevance to the university.
Taylor said that in his division, grant proposals were generally capped at $4,000. Also, there was no limit to how many grants any one department or faculty member could apply for. However, people generally only applied once, according to Taylor.
The program was developed by President Todd Parnell and was instituted during the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
According to vice president of Academic Affairs, Dr. Charles Taylor, the program is aimed at encouraging responsible financial stewardship and rewarding responsible stewards.
"We have always had fairly lean budgets with a high priority placed on investing in students," said Taylor, "but trying to reduce costs as we can is the right thing for this university to do, especially considering the current economic situation."
When any department comes in under budget, the difference between the projected budget and the actual expenditures is put into a pool. At the end of the fiscal year, half of this pool is evenly distributed to each department that came in under budget. The other half is divided among the four major divisions of the University (Academic, Student, Alumni and Development, and Athletic and Community Relations), based on their total percentage of the Incentive pool, to be allocated at their discretion.
For the 2008-2009 allocation, Taylor said that Academic Affairs was given roughly $100,000 to allocate to acceptable projects.
The definition of "acceptable projects" according to Taylor was any initiative that "specifically addresses at least one element of the university's strategic plan."
"We wanted to make sure that grants we approved actually served our priorities. If they were not connected to a central priority, we deferred those," said Taylor.
The method of allocation was not specified by President Parnell, and each division had different specific criteria for determining who received funding beyond strategic relevance to the university.
Taylor said that in his division, grant proposals were generally capped at $4,000. Also, there was no limit to how many grants any one department or faculty member could apply for. However, people generally only applied once, according to Taylor.
Article last update: 2/2/10 at 8:25 PM CST
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Cincinnati movers
posted 2/03/10 @ 2:34 PM CST
Interesting report. It's nice to have a grant pool at the school.
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