One of the primary roles of the MSA Treasurer is to draft and maintain a transparent financial plan that supports the well-rounded services the MSA offers. This page offers a few resources that will be helpful in fulfilling this responsibility.
¶ Master Budgets
At least twice a semester, the Treasurer is expected to draft and revise a Master Budget. A Master Budget is a document that outlines all of MSA's current assets and expenses such that it may be clear to Board Members and other MSA Leadership whether we have the resources to carry forward certain initiatives.
Use the following template to get started.
Master Budget Template A prefilled master budget that you can modifyAt the beginning and middle of each semester, the Treasurer must update the Master Budget to reflect our existing assets and new events that we have planned. When doing so, the Treasurer should preserve previous Master Budgets for the sake of record keeping. By doing so, the Treasurer will find the different revisions of the Master Budget helpful for extrapolating spending trends and when asked for spending information in grant applications.
¶ Approving Master Budgets
Every time a new Master Budget is drafted, the Treasurer must share the draft with the entire board and provide at least one week for review. Although the Treasurer is responsible for drafting budgets, s/he is not granted absolute power to restric spending as they please. That is a decision that the entire board must participate in and reach concensus. During a board meeting, the Treasurer should make it clear that if approved, s/he will enforce the Master Budget on behalf of the entire board. The Master Budget must be approved at a board meeting.
The Master Budgets must be stored in the
UCBMSA > Finances > BudgetGoogle Drive folder. The Treasurer should make it clear that the board can access it for reference at any time.
¶ Event Expenses
In the Master Budget template linked above, you will notice suggested amounts included for each event. This section will cover what goes into the general expense of some of MSA's most common services.
¶ Friday Prayer
Jummah prayer is one of MSA's most consistent and widely-attended events. The recurring expense consists of the honorarium that we offer scholars for their sermons. This honorarium ranges between $100-$150 per sermon. In addition, the Friday prayer's may require maintainance fees. In 2018, the MSA invested around $500 for its own microphone and speaker system to avoid having to rent out unreliable equipment from the university every week. In 2019, 14 rolls of carpet were bought to replace uncomfortable straw mats costing around $3,000. These maintenance expenses are not regular and may be easily financed through one-time fundraisers.
¶ Ilm Classes
Ilm classes are a central part of the Islamic educational resources our MSA provides. The recurring expense consists of the honorarium that we offer scholars for their lectures. This honorarium ranges between $100-$150 per hour or $100-$300 per class depending on the length.
¶ Socials
It is expected that the MSA conducts one social of each kind (brothers, sisters, joint) per month on average. The most common source of spending for socials is food. For a group of 30 people, $200 is usually sufficient. For more on food expenses, see the food heading.
Occasionally, the MSA may choose to organize a larger scale social that requires transporting students to an events center (ie Bowling, Escape Room, etc) and subsidizing the entrance fee. The upfront cost for these socials may add up to $1,000. Choosing to charge students a small fee of $10 for participating may help cover up to $400 of this expense. Charging a fee also helps ensure a good turn out of committed attendees. To further offset the cost of a large scale social, plan a budget-friendly social for the next month so that you can borrow some of the next month's allocated socials funding. In conclusion, with a little flexibility, the cost of large-scale, memorable socials is manageable.
¶ Community Nights
Community Nights are a more formal opportunity for the community to hear updates and provide feedback to the board every month. Like socials, the primary expense for this event is food. For a group of 40-50 people, $300 is usually sufficient. For more on food expenses, see the food heading.
¶ Welcome Week
Welcome Week is an important time when new students learn about the MSA and get situated with the their fellow Muslim students in Berkeley. Welcome week consists of many of the same activities that occur throughout the semester. The distinguishing factor, however, (as is particularly true about the fall semester) is that these events are done at a larger scale. For example, the Welcome Community Night targets an attendance of 60-100 students and is therefore allocated around $400-500 for food. The Welcome Community Social is allocated around $300. The brothers and sisters Welcome Dinners each attract around 60 people with a total expense of around $400 for both. Tabling supplies and stationary (stickers, flyers, etc) are also often integral during Welcome Week and are allocated around $100.
¶ Committees
Committees are the life-line of community member involvement in some of MSA's key initiatives. Each committee is offered around $100-$150 as an allowance each semester for miscellaneous spending that does not require the approval of the board. This allows Committee Heads to freely by snacks for their meetings or plan a small-scale committee social during the semester.
In addition to this allowance, committees are not restricted in the amount of funding they can request from the board for the events they plan. Although Committee Heads may initially ask the Treasurer whether the MSA can afford to finance their event ideas, the ultimate decision falls on the entire board. From precedent however, the association has begun to understand which committee events have been successful in the past and are generally valued by the community. Examples of these events include Project Downtown, high school college application workshops, technical skills workshops, podcasts, and political speaker events. Each of these events generally costs between $200-$300 which is enough for an honorarium and food. The Master Budget should anticipate a number of committee events and allocate funds for them (see template linked above).
¶ Winter Retreat
The Winter Retreat is a fundamental community-building experience that happens every year. The major components that comprise the total expense of the retreat are cabins, food, and transportation. As a general rule of thumb, weekend retreats (depart Friday, return Sunday) cost about $150 per person for the entire trip. For a group of 50 and 100 people this is equivalent to a total expense of $7,500 and $15,000 respectively. To make this expense manageable, the MSA typically requires an early-bird and a regular registration fee of $70 and $100 repectively per person. This will cover half to two-thirds of the overwhelming expense.
¶ Spring Banquet
The Spring Banquet is MSA's end-of-the-year celebratory event that highlights our community's accomplishments. It attracts around 150-200 attendees and cost between $4,000-$5,000. This expense is comprised of catering and venue costs as well as performance/speaker honorariums. The MSA generally sells tickets for this event of $10-$15 which is donated to a specific cause each year to encourage giving charity within the community.
¶ Board Leadership Retreat
The Board Leadership Retreat is the annual leadership training outing that is attended by the new and old board. As is true with the winter retreat, this weekend-long trip costs around $150 per person. Accounting for 16 board members (8 current and 8 new) this totals to $2,400. This retreat is mandatory for all incoming Board Members and is therefore paid for completely by the MSA. Board Members will not be asked to pay a fee. Board Members will be informed that this training opportunity was paid for by the association as an investment in its future leadership.
¶ Common Costs
This section will cover common costs associated with a variety of events.
¶ Food
Food is a great way to bring community members together and incentivize hungry students to come out to events. As a general rule of thumb, food expenses are calculated as $10 per person. Often times you can get by with food that costs less and sometimes you may be willing to invest into some higher quality food. There are many food options that can fit a variety of budgets. Reference the MSA Food guide for a list of food options and expenses.
MSA Food Guide Halal food options and expenses¶ Honorariums
Bringing scholars and speakers with unique backgrounds and talents is a service that our students deserve. Honorarium amounts differ depending on the speaker and occasion. For most events that last 1-2 hours, qualified professionals are awarded an honorarium between $100-$150 an hour. For widely-known keynote speakers at large events you can expect an individual's honorarium to add up to $800-$5,000. For small-scale events on a tight budget, you may be able to get by with a small gift (chocolates and card) costing $20-$50. In most cases, honorariums require that the MSA submit a Personal Services Agreement Purchase Request so that the university can issue a check from our university-managed accounts. This type of Purchase Request requires that a contract be sent out to the awardee and signed. Make sure to reference the Reimbursements page for more information.
¶ Retreats
It is often advantageous to take a group of students outside the city limits for focused reflection and development. Most retreats span the duration of a weekend (leave Friday afternoon and return Sunday evening). As a general rule of thumb, account for an expense of $150 per person for a weekend retreat. See the breakdown here:
| Expense | Cost per Unit | Number of Units | Total per Person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabins | $30 / night | 2 nights | $60 |
| Food* | $10 / meal | 6 meals | $60 |
| Transportation | -- | -- | $30 |
| Total | $150 |
*$10 per meal is an average estimate. You may find that some meals cost $15 per person at eat-in restaurants. Other bulk food orders (ie pizza or home cooked meals) will cost $5 per person.
¶ Comprehension Quiz
If you were instructed to read this page as part of an online training curriculum, you must submit this quiz and answer all questions correctly. In the case that you do not answer a question correctly, you may view which questions were incorrect and take the quiz again.
