Student funding

A real budget, competing requests, and a written decision. The stakeholders did not work in software.

As a senator in Iowa State’s student government I reviewed funding requests against a pool of more than $2.6 million and voted them through with a record. I also carried infrastructure proposals across facilities, administrators, and student organizations.

Problem

Every group believes their request is the urgent one. The pool is finite. An undocumented yes creates a political problem later, and an unexplained no creates a louder one. Infrastructure requests died when they had no owner between committees.

Process

I evaluated requests against the funds actually available, not against the story in the room. The allocation was written down for the people who would ask next semester. Infrastructure items got a path: who has to say yes, in what order, and what “approved” means so it does not stall between offices.

Solution

• Budget decisions recorded against the available funds.
• A path for non-software projects that still needed a scope, an owner, and an approval chain.
• Status that administrators and student groups could both read.

Results

• $2.6M+ Annual portfolio
• Written Every allocation had a record
• 3 Kinds of stakeholder on the infrastructure path
• 1 year Term

Justin Moran · Product Manager · Chicago, IL · LinkedIn · Resume (PDF)