Category two clubs can now receive supplemental funding through the Undergraduate Finance Board, according to UFB Chair Naomi LeDell ’26.
Category two clubs rank second on a scale of four club categorizations that correlate with increased funding opportunities. Prior to September, only category three clubs could apply for supplemental funding.
Following UFB’s budget crisis last academic year, the board established the four-tiered group categorization system in place today. Category one clubs, which are typically newer clubs, only receive baseline funding. Category two and three clubs receive a lump sum of annual funding at the beginning of the year, but category three clubs can apply for supplemental funding throughout the year.
Category four clubs receive a special lump sum at the start of the year. This fourth category is meant for clubs with high expenditures, such as the Brown Lecture Board and the Brown Concert Agency.
While funding opportunities remain the same for the others, the rules have changed for category two clubs.
The problem with this four-category system, according to LeDell, is that it means clubs in category two, which could once formerly request supplemental funding prior to the recategorization last spring, can no longer do so under the new rules.
“Having that being taken away felt really silly to me,” LeDell said.
This September, in response, LeDell changed UFB policy to allow category two clubs to apply for supplemental funding.
Now, there is no functional difference between categories two and three, according to LeDell.
The primary distinction between the two groups is that category two clubs are represented primarily by UFB’s first-year representatives, while category 3 clubs are designated more experienced representatives.
“There's no difference in their accessibility to funding or anything like that,” LeDell said.
“While (the annual lump sum we were given) did significantly fall short of our annual spending as an organization, we’ve found UFB this fall incredibly responsive and helpful in working with us through the supplemental funding process,” Brown Political Union President Logan Tullai ’25 wrote in an email to The Herald.
Tullai added that BPU, a category two club, has applied for and been granted supplementary funding. “The availability of these supplemental funds has been tremendously helpful in us being able to run large-scale, campus-wide events,” he wrote.
Leah Koritz is a senior staff writer covering student government beat. Leah is from Dover, Massachusetts and studies Public Health and Judaic Studies. In her free time, Leah enjoys hiking, watching the Red Sox and playing with her dog, Boba.
