I'm leading the forecasting group at the University of Washington, and I can't express enough how helpful OPTIC (and in particular Saul) have been to setting everything up! I've been working with Saul for the past few months on creating the forecasting curriculum and planning out every aspect of the UW club. So far, I think we've seen incredible success for the beginning of a long-term project; we've signed up multiple universities in the US and even one in Argentina!

Like Misha, I would use any funds granted purely to run the club--registration fees, food, prizes, etc...I want to emphasize the truth behind Misha's quote "I've observed food and prizes to be a significant factors for college students deciding what events to attend :)", could not be more accurate, we're all broke!

In addition though, one of the lead drivers of getting people in the room (and thus achieving Goal 1) is to attach corporate sponsors to the club. Nowadays, especially at UW, college is primarily about securing a solid job ahead of all of your other classmates. Corporate sponsorship, or at the minimum, demonstrated interest, is the largest pull factor we as a club can provide. If funding via regranting is not on the table, we'd also love to connect with any companies/organizations who would be interested in hiring applicants talented at forecasting. If you know of such an organization, reach out to me (jasuch@uw.edu) or Saul!