For Funding Circus this Spring, Beer Nation is Requesting You HEAR US OUT!!!

by Kiana Fields and Amanda Heaslip

To the current signators’ relief, Beer Nation has been working its way back up the Top 6 ranks to our former glory (it’s the revival, baby!). Now, before it comes out in the funding results, we want you to hear that we requested $35,008 this year from us first. This year we placed 16th, which was the exact position we got in spring 2023. Back then, we requested $27,435 ($7,573 less than this year) and were allocated 60.4% of that ($16,577). There are a few justifications for the large increase between years, including a larger senior class and an increase from 2 bottles of champagne/senior to 3 bottles (+$3,125), an additional (albeit mini) garden (+$3,442), new kombucha days (+$378), long overdue one-time equipment replacements (+$927), and, uhh, inflation, probably? We know we are asking for a lot, and, quite frankly, we submitted the budget under the expectation that we would have to cut the extra garden, buy less champagne, or shorten RF1 (boooo!); all we are hoping for is that we get an allocation that allows us to maintain our presence on campus and host more events, especially given the 309% increase in Beer Garden attendance reported by Treasury this past semester. 

This explains why our budget request has increased from previous years. However, there still begs the question of why it is so high to begin with. Treasury and the Quest have pointed out in various articles/correspondence that Beer Nation receives an amount of money disproportionate to the clubs surrounding us in Funding Circus. Take this Quest report from last Funding Hell: 

“Notably, Beer Nation (#20) requested $27,648, of which Senate granted $6,070. This was the largest amount requested by any club in the Top 40. Even with only 21.9% of their original budget approved, Beer Nation still claimed the third-largest funding allocation.”

As we’ve explained time and time again, Beer Nation’s requested budget is so high compared to other clubs because the nature of our events demands more money: kegs are expensive, permits are expensive, catering is expensive–much more expensive than hosting a movie with some snacks a couple of times a semester. 

Yet, we recognize that $35,000, or even $27,000 to return to Spring ‘23, is still a ridiculously high number. So, the current signators have taken the liberty of providing a visual breakdown of their Spring ‘25 budget request. Hopefully, this helps to explain some things. 

We would like to highlight: 

• The champagne for graduating seniors alone comprises 23.9% of our requested budget 

• The booze/kombucha for the 3-day(!!) RF garden will cost as much as every other garden put together (21.3% against 20.7%, respectively) 

• Catering and permits make up another quarter of the budget (13.1% and 11.6%)

We would also like to remind the student body of two things. The first is that Beer Nation is the only club on campus permitted to buy alcohol using student body funds; we would like to use that privilege to benefit the whole student body. Since Beer Gardens inherently exclude part of the student body, we are trying to find creative ways to utilize our allocation to engage minors and sub-free students. Beer Nation brought a kombucha keg to the engagement fair this semester, and students seemed excited by free booch! We would love to host three (free!) kombucha days especially as the weather gets nicer outside (Spring Fling kombucha keg anyone?). Additionally, two-thirds of our non-RF gardens this semester are going to be collaborations with other groups on campus. Our first garden on February 28 will be a Carnaval Celebration in partnership with Brazilian Student Union and International Students Club. The Apéro Garden, tentatively planned for April 4, will be hosted in conjunction with the French Language Scholars/Department. We are the only club that can buy booze, but we would LOVE to use that fact to help promote community-building and engagement with other groups on campus. 

Secondly, there is a misconception that the money Beer Nation makes from Beer Gardens goes back into our club. This is not true. Beer Nation is the only club on campus that gives the money charged for events back to Treasury, i.e. student body funds. This puts us in a unique position with Treasury in that we request a crazy high amount of money, but we generate money to compensate. Of our allotted $8,489 (Funding Poll + FinCom) last semester, we returned $2,402 (28.3% return) through pass sales alone. Given that the champagne is going to cost so, so, so much more this semester, our projected return for spring is, using estimates on the lower end, $5,865 (16.75%). 

Maybe you’re thinking wow, we give you all that money and you only give back 16%? To that we have to say that, by nature, our Beer Gardens are not designed to produce a profit. We only charge $10 for a booze pass, which includes kombucha and catering. This pass is bottomless (though if you are plastered we WILL cut you off, we <3 harm reduction and also the OLCC), and when we’re spending anywhere from $3,000-$4,000 on food and drinks for a garden, we obviously cannot expect to make it back in full. We aren’t a business, and increasing the prices of the passes is not consistent with the goals of our club. All we want is to create a safe space for people to come together and drink and have a super awesome fun time. We would like for y’all to keep the above (and the fact that we are just two girls with big hearts and big dreams) in mind when you see our seemingly outrageous budget request next week <3. The TLDR is Please Be Kind To Us :o 

Response to Budget Allocations: 

Our vision behind writing this article was to explain what we requested and why, since there has been a lot of confusion and intrigue about what Beer Nation’s budget actually goes toward. We have since received notice of our allocation: $8,875.42 (25.3%) out of the $35,008.91 requested.

We are deeply disappointed and surprised by this allocation. It is not enough for Beer Nation to be functional, as we cannot throw the traditional number of gardens and purchase champagne for graduating seniors. We are especially disheartened given the aforementioned increased engagement, which we hoped to be able to maintain and also give our fellow seniors the celebration we all deserve. 

While we understand the financial constraints placed on Treasury and that other clubs are disappointed with their allocations as well, we hope to be able to continue this conversation with Treasury. We will be using half of our allocation to move forward with the Carnaval Garden, as we already have the permits and don’t want to rescind our promise to the groups involved. We may also seek out alternative funding sources in order to avoid having to cut our April Garden, the champagne for graduating seniors, or the Renn Fayre celebration later in the semester. As of right now, it is highly unlikely we will have the means to do kombucha days for minors and sub-free students, or the mini St. Patrick’s Day Garden.