Tangible Change eases its funding application requirements

Change is becoming more tangible than ever within Penn’s funding sources.

Since 1999, student funding committee Tangible Change has received money from the Vice Provost for University Life to fund campus events that “bring disparate communities together for meaningful experiences,” College senior and fellow co-Chairman David Steinhardt said.

But this year, in order to reach a broader audience, the committee plans to drop its formal requirement that events must be sponsored by more than one student group.

“One of our goals this semester is to increase the efficiency of the organization itself. Not just looking at the events we’re funding but also how we operate — whether it’s equitable, whether it’s fair, whether it’s sustainable in the future,” Wharton senior and T-Change co-Chairman Rohan Grover said.

As long as the event is “bringing people who don’t typically interact together and fostering a discussion that will bring our community forward,” it will now be eligible for T-Change funding, Grover said.

T-Change is creating a common application for student groups to apply for funding. The application can be sent to T-Change, the Social Planning and Events Committee and hopefully other student funding groups, with a short T-Change supplement. For example, SPEC could fund bringing a speaker to campus and T-Change would fund the discussion afterward.

Already this semester, T-Change has funded Asian Pacific Heritage Week, a TEDxPenn speaker, the Penn Healthcare Conference, Theater for a New Millennium and the South Asian Political Awareness Conference — with more funding still available.

“In years past, we haven’t gotten rid of the $40,000” a year, Steinhardt said. “I’d encourage anyone who has a great idea to bring people together on Penn’s campus in a meaningful way to come forward.”

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the school year.

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