Budget Preparation: GUF process
UConn Foundation
List Funds
Additional Funds
Student Fund Raising/Ignite and misc. fund raising.
Adjustments/Creativity/Savings
The primary annual expenses of the band are Preseason Housing, Preseason Meals, Transportation to Football, Basketball, and Hockey GamesGames and Performances, Meals for Students at Performances, Auxiliary Staff (percussion and color guard, drill writer), uniform apparel, equipment maintenance and repair, miscellaneous rehearsal equipment and supplies, music licensing and arranging costs, published music. These costs are estimated for budget purposes but whenever expenses in these areas can be reduced more money can be made available for Capital items (instruments, uniforms, and vehicles) Here are some of the Cost reducing efforts that make our budget go further:
Meals:
- Pre Season Pizza Nights: Normal dinner in the cafeteria runs about $16 per member (about $5160) For unlimited pizza, salad desert, and fountain drinks we pay about $2250--a nearly $3000 savings. (2 nights makes the savings $6000 (almost enough to buy a Sousaphone!)
- Pre-Season On the Town: Similar to above, students receive $10 for lunch and are go with their section or "Big Buddies" to local eateries. This saves about $2000. With two meals that makes a savings of ($4000) Students love gettin out on their own, new members like getting to explore downtown with the older members.
- Game-Day Meals: great savings have been made possible by UConn Food Services by preparing travel meals for the entire band. The band simply has to pay for meals for students not on a meal plan.
Equipment Maintenance
- Drum line maintenance sessions: twice a year the drum line comes together to disassemble all drums in use, clean shells and hardware, lubricate appropriate parts, install heads. Most hardware parts are supplies free of charge from Yamaha. (thousands of dollars saved in professional maintenance and increased
- Brass Cleaning Day: Each May for the last 20 years all university owned brass instruments are cleaned and reconditioned in a massive process through the efforts of 30+/- volunteers, the directors and staff. 32 trombones 25 baritones, 32 mellophones, 22 Sousaphones are disassembled, bathed, slides and valves removed and lubricated, reassembled, and shined. An on-site repairman performs whatever small repairs and instruments with other repair needs are marked and set aside for transport to the repair shop. Cases are cleaned and vacuumed. Trucks are thoroughly cleaned out. Instruments are re-loaded and returned to storage ready to be issued in the Fall. The event has been held at the directors house utilizing garage, driveway, and backyard, water and hoses, vacuums, and supportive equipment and tools. The day is physically demanding and requires diligent efficient work from many volunteers with organizational management by directors. Food is provided throughout the day to keep workers happy, well-fed, and enthusiastic. (Estimated savings is somewhere around $25000 in annual repair/maintenance costs and many more thousands in prolonging the life of the instruments)
Uniform Care/distribution/maintenance:
- Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma supply all labor in preparing, distributing, altering pant length, maintaining, and collecting uniforms. Countless hours of labor are freely given by the Brothers and Sisters to accomplish this huge task. These services would normally run about $100 per uniform for professional maintenance a $32,500 savings.
Arranging and Drill Writing:
- About half the costs of arrangements and drill design and charting are saved through the efforts of our directors performing this duties rather than contracting others.