R&G Week fundraising halved despite full-time Ents role

[dropcap style= boxed]F[/dropcap]ollowing on from a highly successful Raise and Give Week in 2013, last February’s incarnation of the annual event has raised €20,000 for three well-known charities, Breakthrough Cancer Research, the Cope Foundation and the Children’s Ward at Cork University Hospital. However this figure amounted to less than half of the €42,000 raised by the event a year previous.The €20,000 R&G Week fund was supplemented by a charity boxing night last November, which aimed to raise €20,000 alone, but reached only a fraction of that target.

R&G Week fundraising falls by €22,000 in 2014

Thus, despite efforts to remove the focus on alcohol while increasing the previous year’s record fundraising total, R&G Week raised the least money since 2011. However, unlike previous years, the UCC Students’ Union Entertainment Officer for the 2013/14 academic year, James Murray, was the first to take payment for the non-sabbatical role.Previous Entertainment Officers had accepted the position as an unpaid, part-time role; however the Students’ Union told the UCC Express last year that a referendum held four years ago allowed for the position to be paid €10,500 over a period of six months, from September until the end of February.Murray’s decision to accept payment for the role did not come without controversy, as at the time the UCCSU failed to produce a copy of its constitution to verify that a change to the definition of the Ents Officer role had been passed by UCC students.

Ents Officer was paid €10,500 for the first time

While the decline in money raised by the event may have been expected given that 2013’s figure of €42,000 far exceeded the amount raised by any post-Celtic Tiger year, the failure to minimise the decline may reignite the debate over the Ents role being paid.In addition, the success of charitable societies in raising funds through events without the alcohol stigma and risk of damage to areas surrounding the college may force a questioning of whether R&G Week still fulfils its principle purpose.Several non-SU events proved that the UCC population are more than willing to dip into their pockets. For example, last year the flagship event of the UCC Cancer Society, Relay for Life, raised in excess of €45,000 in aid of the Irish Cancer Society. This, despite the fact that the event took place just one week after R&G Week, when students had already been asked to dig deep for charity.Efforts were made to contact both James Murray and previous SU president, Padraig Haughney, in relation to the matter but neither made any comment about the R&G Week total, or the controversy surrounding Ents Officer becoming a paid role.With preparations already getting underway for R&G Week 2015, the new UCCSU may face the unexpected challenge of trying to re-establish the event’s status as UCC’s fundraising kingpin.Updated 16th September - comment from James Murray:

Dear Editor,I'm writing this in response to your article “R&G Week fundraising halved despite full-time Ents role.” This is not a defensive letter against any criticisms, I appreciate feedback on how students feel my position was handled and the direction it should take.However I felt your article perpetuated a negative image of R&G Week. “Fundraising halved” was compared with the impressive €42,000 raised in 2013, but failed to acknowledge that this figure essentially doubled the amount raised in other years (2012 - €24,000, 2011 - €8,000, 2010 - €20,000). This, juxtaposed with the controversy over me accepting payment, leads me to believe that this was an article written with an agenda.Regarding my payment, students should rightly debate this – it is important that there is dialogue on these issues – but again, there was a referendum on the matter. Importantly the money is not taken from student funds but is set aside by UCC each year.This allowed me to dedicate my time fully to the Ents role and, although I did not achieve some of the targets I wanted to (R&G Week fundraising included), I believe the Ents role is of value and will prove its worth over time. There has already been progress in the area; however the full value of a full-time Ents Officer will not be seen over one academic year. It is difficult to instigate actual change when coming into a position for such a short time; it is a gradual progress as we build on our predecessors.In terms of whether “R&G week still fulfils its principle purpose” there was over €100,000 raised in 5 post Celtic Tiger years and several needy charities to strongly disagree with questioning its value. There has been a strong focus towards returning the former RAG Week back to Raise & Give Week. The community and awareness aspect of R&G week has improved and has even been praised in the last few years as a result of these efforts.The article belittled the fundraising achievements and community efforts of all those involved in R&G Week. The week was in no way a failure. The amount raised by UCC students through societies, SU, clubs, classes and individual initiative is a testament to the nature of all involved.I would like to thank the student population for awarding me such a personally rewarding year and I hope I showed my worth for it.James MurrayUCCSU Entertainments Officer 2013/4

Image: Emmet Curtin