Society finances take a hit due to economic downturn

Society and event sponsorship has fallen by over £34,000, as businesses cut back on expenses during the economic downturn. Including sports clubs, the SU expects total sponsorship to fall by around £50,000.

In the 2007/08 academic year societies on campus had an aggregate of £84,407, which has dropped to £51,095.14 this year.

Societies large and small are feeling the credit crunch and this has been reflected in their events and activities. The Students’ Union promises it is still doing all it can to support societies and clubs.

Stuart Thomson, Students’ Union President, said that the Union is “doing a lot of work to help societies.”

However, some execs on societies who have spoken to the Boar, felt they were not getting enough support from the Union. Chris Schulze, who is on the exec of both the Economics Society and the PPE Society, said that the Union has not been helping to “source sponsorship” but that they do help with some funding at the start of the academic year.

He found that this year they had to go to a larger number of sponsors than previous years as companies were unable or unwilling to spend too much money on sponsoring student societies.

The Union provides funding for societies at the start of the year, but does not play an active role in societies’ search for sponsorship.

Sponsorship became a prominent issue for the Union earlier this year when Council passed a motion reinforcing a ban on sponsorship from oil companies. Thomson was outspoken about his opposition to this decision at the time and reiterated his point of view, saying “societies should be as free as possible to get money from wherever they can.”

One World Week, one of the larger societies, which usually attracts significant sponsorship, has also faced problems. Still in the early stages of finding sponsors for next year, Wafa Masfari, the Head of Sponsorship, said that it “has been quite hard…especially in the current climate.”

When asked if the new Union building was helping in garnering interest from potential sponsors she replied, “it may help with the sponsors we have” but that it would probably not help attract new businesses.

New societies like ShakeSoc have had difficulty getting sponsorship. They were too late to receive funding from the SU for this year, so they had to rely on their own fundraising methods, including open-mic nights.

Although the Fundraising Officer, Cathryn Moses, sent off letters to some companies, she did not receive any replies.

She said being a new society meant they were “not substantial enough to get noticed”.

However, some societies have managed to continue as normal. Irish Dancing Society’s co-President Laura Clarke said it “wasn’t too bad” getting sponsorship, with several Irish pubs willing to support them.

Sport clubs have also been hit; the SU estimates their funding has dropped £50,000 from last year. However, Warwick Sport is jointly run by both the Union and the University, so the numbers have yet to be confirmed.

Smaller sports clubs are feeling the pinch; Peter Westerlind Wigström, Captain of the First Floorball Team said the team does not even have all the equipment they need. They were not able to attract any sponsorship this year despite trying “a hundred different companies.”

On Union support he explained that they do get some financial support for specific events and that they “might get £300” for the Nationals in May. However, this may not be enough to cover costs for the whole team.

The girls’ Volleyball team can only afford to cover the costs of transport and games for the first team, so the second team have to pay for everything on their own.

These mounting costs may force some students out of sports clubs or society events as they too are suffering in the credit crunch.

Despite worsening Union finances due to the Rebuild and the recent delays, Thomson promised that the SU would “continue to fund societies the same as this year.”

Lucy Reynolds, SU Societies Officer, said that they are still waiting for budgets and suggested that changes there could affect funding. She added that it would be a similar amount to this past year.

They are looking at creating more grants and funds to societies as well.

In addition, a Sponsorship Committee is being set up which aims to help students with application documents. This will be available to societies next year says Thomson.

Both the incoming Sports Officer Alex Twiss and the incoming Societies Officer James Hall, who will take office during the summer, have pledged to work closely with societies and clubs to create a sponsorship handbook or database to help in the recession.

“Next year is going to be very difficult, the economy is not in the best shape its ever been in,” said Hall. He reiterated his commitment to financial advice for societies and a sponsorship database.

In the meantime students are having to rely more on their own, limited finances to fund their participation in societies and sports clubs, arguably a key part of being at university.