Highlights from the Division III Strategic Planning and Finance Committee conference call on Nov. 13:
- The committee agreed to allocate $250,000 each for the forthcoming joint basketball championships, which will be held in conjunction with Division I and Division II. The Presidents Council approved the concept last month — a men's event and a women's event will be held by 2024. In addition to using the division's funds in excess of its mandated reserve, the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee agreed to allocate money from the Division III Identity Initiative fund to help cover additional costs given that the events carry marketing and exposure benefits for the division. The joint championships dates and sites will be determined in the future.
- The committee approved allocating funds for Division III University, an online learning management system for head coaches and athletics administrators. It will be similar to a system recently implemented by Division II. The initial learning modules, anticipated for January 2019, would include a Division III overview, student-athlete well-being, sexual assault prevention, and compliance, among others. The modules already exist, but the cost to license them would be $25,000-$30,000, which the committee agreed to reallocate from unused funds in the division's $104,000 Injury Surveillance Program budget.
- The committee approved a pair of recommendations from the Conference Grant Review Subcommittee. The first is a clarification, noting that conferences may retain unused conference grant funds in excess of $1,000, provided they submit a detailed plan regarding how they will be used and that plan is approved by the subcommittee. However, if the funds are not used by the following year, they must be returned. The second permits unused tier-one professional development grant funds to roll over to the next year, in limited situations, without penalty if written notification and a plan for their use is provided beforehand.