Welcome to (Funding) Hell: A Brief Explanation

On Sunday, September 22, representatives from Reed’s myriad of clubs convened for their biannual ritual: Funding Hell, officially known as Funding Circus. Though the results of Funding Circus are often shrouded in controversy, this article aims to demystify the logistical intricacies of the Student Body club funding process. 

In the days leading up to the much-anticipated event, clubs across Reed prepared their forces. At the start of every semester, students have the option to register for clubs after receiving signator training. Once clubs are registered, they can promote themselves by tabling at the Student Engagement Fair in the first week of classes and advertising through SB Info, social media, and every unclaimed inch of wall space on campus. These efforts are all intended to gain the student body’s attention and support in Funding Poll.

Funding Poll, which opened Monday, September 16, and closed at midnight on Friday, September 20, gives students the ability to vote for any of the registered student organizations. The end result of voting in Funding Poll is to determine the Top 40 clubs, which are able to receive funding through Senate based on the budgets they propose at Funding Circus. Students’ options for voting in Funding Poll fall under two categories: Top 6 and upvoting. 

Voting Top 6 shows the highest level of support for a certain club. Each student has a maximum number of six Top 6 votes they can bestow upon up to 6 individual clubs. The number of Top 6 votes each club receives is used to calculate its ranking, from which the Top 40 clubs can go on to receive funding. 

Once Top 40 is determined, the Top 6 clubs within the ranking receive a distinguished status in the Funding Circus budget proceedings. Rather than the customary five minutes allotted to other Top 40 clubs for presenting their budget to Senate, Top 6 clubs have a luxurious ten minutes to present.

Often lost in the midst of the Top 6 hubbub is the forgotten younger sibling of Funding Poll: upvoting. Upvoting is a quantifiable measure of support for a club, which does not affect its Top 40 status. Unlike Top 6, there is no limit to how many clubs one person can upvote. 

While upvoting does not contribute directly to a club’s place in the ranking for Top 6/Top 40, it can be used as a tiebreaker when two clubs receive the same amount of Top 6 votes. In that case, the club with the higher number of upvotes receives higher status in the ranking. 

Another aspect of Funding Circus is identity funding. Identity funding is allocated to groups connected to historically marginalized identities, allowing them to receive funding consideration apart from Funding Poll in order to serve as resources for communities that may otherwise be inadequately represented at Reed. Each club has the option to apply for identity funding when registering, subject to approval by Senate. Identity funding clubs can also have Top 40 status, but do not require it as a condition to be able to receive funding.

Head Treasurer Lucy Knight-King ‘26 explains the function of identity funding further. “If an ID status club does not make Top 40, this will not necessarily decrease the amount of funding it receives. If an ID status club makes Top 40, this will not necessarily increase their funding, but will let SB Government know that many students see the club as necessary/important/valuable to have on campus,” Knight-King said.

The result of this process takes shape in Funding Circus itself. There, clubs deliver their budget proposals to Senate for consideration, upon which Senate deliberates before ultimately releasing the often polarizing funding decisions. 

In Funding Circus, each of the Top 40 clubs, in addition to identity funding clubs, presents their budget proposals in ascending order by rank. After, any identity funding clubs not included in Top 40 present their budgets.

Once the dust of Funding Circus has settled, Senate takes each club’s presentation into consideration while determining how much of their requested budget to approve. Final funding decisions are released a few days after Funding Circus and are published in this very issue of the Quest, where they will then be subject to the scrutiny of the student body.

“Top 40, ID Funding, and Senate are for the students, by the students, so they work as well as we make them work,” concluded Knight-King. “Voting in Funding Poll is one way to shape how Reed works to you.”