Several University of Wisconsin registered student organizations will not receive event grant funding this spring semester, an Associated Students of Madison spokesperson said Thursday.

UW has more than 800 RSOs, but the university has limited funds to distribute them to all organizations, ASM Finance Chair Andrew Kidd said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. 

The funds RSOs receive are based on a first-come, first-served basis, Kidd explained. They are asked to make the funding request six weeks prior to the event, he said. 

ASM spokesperson David Gardner said it is not unusual for some RSOs to be denied funding, as all funds are tentative.  

An RSO president who asked to remain anonymous said their organization was not upset by the lack of funding, but because they were notified so late they would not receive their event grant.  

The student explained ASM damaged their organization due to the untimely notification of denied funding.

After noting all common procedure was followed and his organization applied for funding six weeks prior to the event, the RSO president said their group is now forced to work independently of ASM to still organize an event.

“We are now investigating alternate funding without, I should add, any assistance from ASM, and are scrambling to put our event together,” the student said. “We will be able to make it happen one way or another, but we are very worried about the future of the conference if ASM continues to manage its grants process this way.”

ASM Chair Andrew Bulovsky said it would be ideal for every RSO to have all the money they need, but at the same time, the money is coming from the students on campus. 

It is impossible to meet every group’s desires, Bulovsky said.   

“It is all about balance,” Bulovsky said. “There is a give and take relationship between the funds that go in ASM and the money that RSOs receive.”

The president from the small RSO mentioned above said they understand they are not guaranteed ASM funding, and his group has to justify its requests to ASM each year.

However, he said he does not understand why ASM did not let him know earlier his grant funds were expiring.

“If we must move our event to the fall semester to have any chance at funding, why not tell us this”?

The RSO president does say his organization “hopes to have a good relationship with ASM in the future”.  

While some organizations did not receive funding due to the first-come, first-serve basis, other organizations were declared ineligible for separate reasons and directly denied funding, Student Services Finance Chair Ellie Bruecker said.

She added Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow were denied eligibility because they could not prove the majority of CFACT’s time was spent on activities directly associated with its group’s objectives.  Bruecker also said Wisconsin Student Lobby was denied eligibility because they failed to prove fiscal responsibility.  

Kidd said there is about $7,500 remaining to allocate in Event Grant funds and the final meeting to do so will be Tuesday.  

“ASM is working to make [funding] more efficient and accessible in the future for more RSOs,” Kidd said.