The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) announced the creation of a new $30,000 diversity fund to support cultural organizations on campus in an Instagram post on April 2.

According to GUSA President Jaden Cobb (CAS ’25), the fund will financially support club events such as Rangila, Georgetown’s South Asian Philanthropic Performing Arts Showcase and the Visions of Excellence Ball, the Black Student Association’s celebratory event. Cultural clubs will be able to apply for funding starting in August, with the GUSA Senate forming working groups in the next few months to plan how to allocate the money and prepare clubs to apply. 

Cobb said the fund’s establishment comes as a result of discussions between GUSA and various student cultural organizations on campus. 

“One thing that we heard was that there was a need for an increase in funding for cultural organizations because of the significance they hold in creating and cultivating a supportive society here at Georgetown, specifically for marginalized communities,” Cobb told The Hoya. 

GUSA partnered with the Finance and Appropriations Committee (FinApp) to establish a $15,000 fund as part of the 2025 budget passed in March, with the university matching GUSA’s contribution with another $15,000. 

A university spokesperson said Georgetown is committed to improving cultural organizations on campus. 

“This effort is an example of Georgetown University’s shared commitment to an increase in the quality and quantity of student-hosted programming celebrating diversity and inclusivity on campus,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “It will enhance the student experience and help foster a truly inclusive campus environment for all Georgetown students.”

Cobb said GUSA will allocate the funds to organizations on a case-by-case basis, and that cultural organizations will apply for money through a process GUSA is currently refining.

“We don’t try to define a cultural organization, but ideally, it’d be for clubs that have relatively big populations — Black Student Association, Asian American Student Association and South Asian Society — things of that nature that have three, four or five hundred kids,” Cobb said. “We’re going to have conversations with cultural organizations so they can have an input on how we allocate the funds.”

Cobb said the process of allocating funds to organizations is an ongoing effort.

“We are still in the development stage of figuring out what’s the best way to allocate the money now that we do have the money,” Cobb said. “That’s one of the things that we’re going to work on over the summer so that we can launch it in August.”

Rachel Tao (CAS ’25) and Akshadha Lagisetti (SFS ’25), presidents of the Asian American Student Association (AASA), a student group that hosts events that support the Georgetown Asian American community, said they believe that the fund will have a positive impact on their organization.

“Having specific carved-out funds for these types of large, significant cultural events will be incredibly helpful for AASA and many other cultural organizations,” Tao and Lagisetti wrote to The Hoya. “AASA can relax a little bit more, stress a little bit less about funding these events that are so significant to our community. The diversity fund will really promote our creativity and ability to plan more impactful ways to serve our community.” 

According to Tao and Legisetti, AASA’s funding board ran out of money this spring, which prevented them from hosting some of their planned events.

“Unfortunately, AASA actually had to cancel one of our end-of-year celebrations because we did not have the budget for it that we had expected to get from our funding board,” Tao and Lagisetti wrote. “We also experienced a long delay in funding our other capstone celebration, our night market, which gave us a lot of uncertainty for a while.” 

Cobb said the goal of the fund is to ensure that cultural organizations can host events without financial worry. 

“We want to make sure that we’re more adequately able to help these students with these organizations because these events are not only for students to have fun, but also to build a contributing environment for the student body,” Cobb said. 

Cobb added that the diversity fund is not just an accomplishment for GUSA, but an accomplishment for the Georgetown community as a whole. 

“This is going to be huge for cultural organizations because it is something we have been trying to work on for a long time,” Cobb said. “I am very happy that we’ve been able to finally get funding for cultural organizations, as they do hold a big significance to the support, the safety and the sense of belonging here at Georgetown.”