On Aug. 12, the WUSA Board of Directors passed a motion to increase club funding, which would see club funding increase from $75 to $200 termly. This increase would run as a pilot model from Sept. 2025 to August 2026, and the results will be discussed in next year’s annual member’s meeting in March 2026. If clubs are using funding effectively and it is noted as beneficial, consideration will be given to making the fee increase permanent.

Understanding the motion

In the notice of motion form to the WUSA board of directors, Damian Mikhail, the 2025-2026 WUSA president, described how club funding has remained at $75 for several years. Most notably, this funding amount is among the lowest provided to campus clubs in Ontario. It is worth noting that WUSA does offer clubs other kinds of support, such as bookings and AV and IT support. In the motion, he further outlined how small and medium-sized clubs typically lack the capacity to raise sufficient funds or receive sponsorships. He emphasized, “Without a reliable and substantive funding stream, it can be difficult [for such clubs] to build up the financial resources to hold successful events and continue to scale.”

To summarize the motion, Mikhail highlighted the need to run a pilot program that would enable testing of “whether increased club funding would lead to higher club funding utilization, better resources for small-medium clubs, and better club training attendance.” By noting the results in each of these areas following the pilot program, the aim is to understand if students benefit from supporting an increase in club funding in the future.

How was club funding discussed during the board meeting?

During the meeting on Aug. 12, Mikhail brought up the topic.  The motion, Mikhail described, “would allocate $90,000 to this pilot fund from WUSA’s general reserves and it would direct the executive director to include termly reports on club funding utilization and club training attendance for [the] board to better understand the impacts of increased club funding.” Mikhail added that they would seek to make the continued funding increase “contingent on whether or not students find the value and the data for this new program [effective] at the next annual members meeting.”

If you’re interested in listening to the board meeting in which the motion to increase termly club funding was discussed, check out the recording here: WUSA Regular Board Meeting: August 12th, 2025.