What is the Green Fund?

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Goucher’s Renovation plans. Photo credit: Goucher Blogs

The Green Fund was created in 2013 with the goal of making the college more environmentally friendly. Every student living on campus pays a Green Fund fee of $18 a semester or $36 a year, for an approximate $50,000 a year, depending on the number of undergraduates living on campus. The money from the fee also rolls over from year to year if not all of it is used.
Every year, $5000 of the fund is allocated for student projects. Students can access this money through a grant-style application process, for which applications are processed by GESAC. Previous Green Fund grants have funded research on bicycle use in Towson, and the purchase of beekeeping supplies.
A portion of the fund goes to the GESAC itself for administrative costs such as advertising for the Green Fund, and the fulfillment of reporting requirements for sustainability initiatives, such as the President’s Climate Commitment. Money from the Green Fund fee also pays for consultants and for Goucher’s memberships to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Education (AASHE) and the President’s Climate Commitment.
GESAC also acts as a link among representatives from various sectors of campus (IT, Communications, and Bon Appetit, for example), who report problems and discuss problem-solving strategies in their different areas. For example, GESAC and FMS are currently working on an interactive online user interface to monitor our energy and water usage in near real-time, called Energy Dashboard.
The remaining funds of the Green Fund fee go to Facility Management Services (FMS) to support campus projects related to sustainability, like the Energy Dashboard.

Click here to read about decisions involving the sustainability coordinator position, or here, to read about the new student environmental coalition.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article published the Green Fund fee as being $84 a year when it is in fact $36.

Madeline is an English/Spanish double major. She grew up in Hawai'i (no, she doesn't surf) and is happy to experience life on the opposite side of the U.S.. She is immensely glad to be part of the Q and proud of everyone who makes it run. You've probably seen her behind the library help desk in the Ath. Next time you do, please say hi.

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