Extra money with a side of progress please

Deputy President (Clubs & Societies)
Thursday 27 September 2018

So it's time for the first blog....

And my oh my have I got some news for you!!!!!!

Too long didn't read (tldr):

  1. £500,000 in Harlington is up for grabs! Don't miss out!
  2. Ethos fees have gone up, but here's what we've done about it and what extra you're getting for your cash!
  3. It's been two months now... here's what I've done.

£500,000 up for grabs through Harlington (yep...)

You may have recently seen in Felix that we've got £500,000 up for grabs for clubs and societies through the Harlington Trust this year. Clubs are able to make minimum applications of £25,000 to go towards improving the student experience and making a lasting impact within their areas. Blue sky thinking and whacky ideas are strongly encouraged for this, we've already received proposals along the lines of rockets, drone delivery services and the building / improvement of our facilities, as long as your proposal will affect a large number of people and will feasibly last over a number of years, we'll help you look into it and apply! Just send me an email for more information.
 

Ethos Price Rise

As many of you will have noticed, the membership structure at Ethos has recently changed from being a one off £40 orientation fee to an annual £30 fee. This change was in line with the Be Active strategy so that the overall sport offering could be dramatically improved, most notably including the complete gym floor refurbishment (which has now been completed, and wow is it swish!). Find out more about the gym refurbishment, including a CGI walk through.

A price rise is never welcome, and having received feedback from students we worked proactively with Sport Imperial to explain and improve the new offering. As a result of this, off peak swimming times are now included within the basic (free) membership which covers the majority of the week, and if there is any surplus income, it will be the students decision as to how this money is spent. Find out more about this piece of work and why the model was changed. Later this term a piece of work about how sport is funded at Imperial will be released, as well as lots of new things including:

  • Completed refurbishments of Charing Cross and Hammersmith gyms
  • An activity tracking and reward scheme app (yep, get rewarded for doing exercise from Imperial!)
  • The work so far that has gone into a new dedicated sports hub

If you've got any questions around this, or feedback on the new changes, just let me know at dpcs@ic.ac.uk 

 

Manifesto Update

Goal 1 - Expand Ethos Gym

Progress made:
  • September
    • A project proposal exists ( :O ) and I'm currently searching for some funding working with Sport Imperial. The new refurbishment has been a huge improvement on the quality and type of equipment we have, and has highlighted that we need even more space. Any comments on an expansion? Let me know! 
Status: Good progress, now relying on the funds coming through

Goal 2 - Create a dedicated sports hub

Progress made:
  • September
    • Sport at Imperial is damned confusing. Do we go to the Union? Do we go to Sport Imperial? Who knows.
    • I’ve been working with student volunteers, Sport Imperial and Sports Board to come up with a framework for the release of a dedicated sports hub, a one stop shop which sports clubs can go to for all their needs within sport. Students will sit at the top of this to ensure the best interests of the student body are always at the forefront of every decision that is made.  
Status: Good progress is being made, hopefully we'll start getting feedback and rolling out a very basic form soon.

Goal 3 - Improve our union processes and get more bookable space

Progress made:
  • September
    • Why am I spending months filling out forms when all I want to do is run the club?!?!
    •  So far I have started with one of the biggest burdens to our clubs, annual budgeting. The plan is to redo this process from the ground up, with a new, easier to use system, and a much more transparent method of grant allocation. The process needs to speed up to make volunteers lives easier and more importantly, make the grant allocation process fairer to our clubs. I have not yet started on getting more bookable space, but hope to soon.
Status: Started but a long way to go.

 

Goal 4 - Create an online CSP Support Portal

Progress made:
  • September
    • All I want is for my event to be approved, is it really that hard?!?
    • I’ve been meeting with a few Imperial tech startups to see if we can create a “one stop” portal that automatically directs students to the relevant person or area of the website they need to get to for help. Whilst information is currently available, it is not in an accessible format and we want to aim to improve that.
Status: Started, but a long way to go

 

Goal 5- Easier, better and more relevant consultation forums

Progress made:
  • September
    • For local scale, I have setup fortnightly town halls for all students, where I will be bringing information about the work I have been doing and allow for any and all feedback that you may have, so that I’m keeping the students voice at the forefront of my mind. However, for long term consultation I’m working with the team behind the Student Experience Survey and other OTs (Rob and Alex) to make it easier for us to identify the actions that need to be taken and lobby college for change around them.
Status: Started, but this is a large project that will go on for the duration of the year