What is OUDS Funding?
As well as encompassing all student productions, Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) is also the main funding body for student productions in Oxford alongside the Cameron Mackintosh Drama Fund (CMDF). We provide funding in the form of pro rata loans, while CMDF provides grants (see here for more information on CMDF).
This page will give you all if not most of the information on OUDS Funding. If you have any questions, feel free to email the treasurer or any members of the committee here.
Type of Funding Offered
OUDS provides funding in the form of pro rata loans. ‘Pro rata’ is simply a fancy way to describe the dividing of a whole amount into equal portions, based on the share of the whole amount.
In practical terms, that means we ask that repayments for the loan make up of:
Our original loan money back
The % we make up of your budget
For example: If Apple Productions has a budget of £1000, and we give a pro rata loan of £100, that £100 will make up 10% of Apple Productions’ total funding.
At the repayment stage, two things can happen:
If Apple Productions makes a profit: OUDS will receive our original £100 + 10% of the profits.
If Apple Productions makes a loss: we would allow them to take away 10% of their loss from their repayment, rather than demand all our money back. (i.e. OUDS will receive = our original £100 – 10% loss).
The purpose of implementing this type of loan is to:
Reduce the burden of financial risk on one student production company (through decreasing the loan when a loss is made)
Ensure the viability of future long-term financial support from OUDS to student productions in years to come (through taking a small portion of your profit for the society’s financial growth)
Application Deadlines
OUDS funding is open to applications all year round and does not have any set deadlines. You can apply for funding at any time (although processing may take longer outside term times). Usually, the treasurer will put out calls each term to remind people of OUDS being a source of funding.
A form of deadline may be temporarily introduced for efficiency and to help the general organisational purposes for the treasurer and president when there is a high concentration of applications within a short time frame. However, these deadlines are flexible and missing these deadlines will by no means stop applications being considered. Missing these deadlines may cause a slight delay in when your bid meeting will occur when this high concentration of applications is being considered, but this is purely due to the timetables of committee members being Oxford students themselves.
Application Requirements
To be considered, productions need to meet the following requirements:
To be a registered production company under OUDS
Have a production company email address from which communications will occur between you and the committee (this cannot be your personal or university email address)
Have a production company bank account - we will not send money to a personal bank account.
Have a production welfare officer.
No application will ever be rejected purely on grounds of a technicality. We, the treasurer and president, are here to help guide production companies to put together a strong application that aligns with our ethos and commitment to the society.
We will also require the following documents from you:
Bid document - see here for guidance in how to put together a bid document, and here for the OUDS funding provocations (what OUDS looks for in a funding bid)
Budget – see here for a link to a template.
Risk Assessment – this is a list of all things that might put someone at risk of harm, the likelihood of it happening, and the severity of the harm that might be caused. See here for a link to an exemplar.
Script – this is only needed if the show is a piece of new writing. This is to ensure the script we may support is not a welfare concern from our end.
How to Apply
To apply for OUDS funding, fill in the form on this application page along with the required documents, or email the information asked for on the application page to BOTH the president and treasurer.
After your application is received by the treasurer and president, we will be in contact via your production company email. This email will confirm all required documents, the amount of funding you have requested, and a suggested time for a bid meeting.
Bid Meeting
A bid meeting is a ~15 minute meeting between at least 2 members of the production (usually producer and director) and the OUDS treasurer and president (or another member of the committee). If either of these committee members are involved within the project, appropriate alternative executive committee members will step in instead.
Within this meeting, the president will discuss the artistic and directorial visions for the project with you, whilst the treasurer will go through any concerns or questions surrounding the budget provided. The treasurer or president will make notes during this meeting to inform the rest of the committee of what was mentioned during this meeting – so please don’t be alarmed if you hear some typing (it is not them being rude!)
These meetings are not intended to be an interview, but a collaborative space to share advice, suggestions, or concerns, surrounding either the project, the budget or conflicts with the by-laws/welfare manifesto. Please don’t stress or over-prepare for them, and if you have any concerns you are more than welcome to contact any members of the committee prior to the meeting.
For convenience, this usually happens via Zoom; however in-person meetings are also a possibility.
Application Results
After a bid meeting has occurred, your bid documents and meeting minutes are shared with the committee, who will then vote on whether your project will be given a loan. During this process, the financial viability of the project, in addition to how the project aligns with our ethos as a society, will be considered.
If your project is approved via this voting process, then a contract will be sent to you within a confirmation email, which will include:
Loan amount
The % this loan makes us of your total budget, to inform the pro rata rate (this will be set and will not change at repayment)
Production dates and location
Contact details of the production team
The signatures of the director and producer, and of the treasurer
Your production company bank account details
The current OUDS bank account details
An agreed date for loan repayment
Following the return of this contract, the agreed upon amount will be sent to your production company bank account.
If, unfortunately, the committee decides to not accept your application, then you will receive an email stating this fact in a timely manner.
Still have questions?
If you have any concerns, questions, or would like further guidance, please contact the treasurer or any other members of the committee here.
No question is too big or too small – we understand that this process may appear confusing, but we are here to help and guide you to the best of our ability!