Finance Council will serve as a venue for participatory decision-making recommendations related to policies, procedures, and the strategic issues related to organizational finance. These may include (but are not limited to): co-creation of strategy related to financial projections, with a goal of identifying and/or creating tools that are reliable, easy-to-understand, and applicable to ongoing College issues; and creation of and support for budget development processes that ensure community engagement.
The Finance Council makes recommendations on the planning and stewardship of the current and future use of college resources in an equitable manner that is centered on serving students and fulfilling the college mission.The Finance Council, is a place where representative stakeholders from the College come together to discuss issues and make decisions within certain guidelines and make recommendations for bigger, higher impact decisions to the Oversight Council.
To do this work effectively, we will:
● Consider the “human factors” of a decision
● Facilitate the planning and stewardship of the current and future use of College resources in an equitable manner that is centered on serving students and fulfilling the College Mission.
● Qualify resources relating to this Council
This Council’s structure is intended to help empower engagement with policy, procedure, and strategic direction related to the Council’s area of focus. This could include:
● Creating a schedule of financial policy review, so that policies get regular attention over the span of multiple years. This schedule could include:
○ Procedures for budget requests
○ Student fees/penalties
○ Discussion for universal fees (hybrid/online fee vs tuition increase)
○ Allocation for Bond projects, innovation funds or other funding discussions.
○ Policy gaps that need to be addressed
Strategic topics the Council will focus on are:
● Updating the College approach to unique financial issues (e.g. assessment of fee fund process, with a focus on equity issues)
● Updating the College approach to key processes that have a financial impact (e.g. non-faculty position opening request process)
● Financial strategies that are budget related (large budget related issues, such as academic reductions, plans for sunsetting grants, allocation of grant indirect funds, etc.)
● Partnerships relating to revenues (PGE, growing community partnerships) ROI (return on investment).
● Service to outside groups:
○ Small scale example is Events rental scale.
○ Larger would be “hey, Boeing wants to rent our buildings”
In addition to the ad hoc consideration of topical policy and process issues that come up over the course of any academic year, Shared Governance Councils also help the College identify areas of strategic opportunity, and help organize an appropriate response. Councils use retreats and other work sessions to identify priorities related to their areas of emphasis, and rally necessary attention to those priorities.
As priorities are established, Councils will collaborate with relevant experts and role players to identify outcomes/goals for the work, align the resources needed to do the work, and name additional criteria for the work (if needed). Councils will then delegate work to appropriate subcommittees or work groups, or collaborate with CCC departments whose function relates to stated priorities, to co-create timelines and plans for action. Council chairs and members should maintain awareness of progress related to these priorities through ongoing Council meetings, and help working groups overcome challenges as they arise.
The Council anticipates collaborating with other Councils (and related subcommittees) to address issues that cross boundaries.
By fostering collaboration and engagement among College stakeholders with relevant experience and expertise, and with stakeholders that will be impacted by financial decisions, the Council will support engagement, innovation, and continuous improvement of our use of financial resources