The RAG societies at Oxford and Cambridge universities are proposing a joint sponsorship partnership with BNY Mellon to raise money for charity. They outline opportunities for BNY Mellon to gain exposure to students through RAG events and on social media in exchange for a £5,000 sponsorship fee from each university's RAG. Specific sponsorship benefits include branding at RAG balls and casino events, meetings with driven RAG committee members, and promoting BNY Mellon's recruitment materials. Funds raised would support RAG's administrative costs and allow them to raise even more money for their charitable causes.

1. 1
CAMBRIDGE RAG & OXFORD RAG
Sponsorship Proposal
2015 - 2016
Cambridge RAG
ChariTea Party

2. At Oxford RAG and
Cambridge RAG, we aim to
raise as much money as possible for
charity by organising a series of fun and
innovative events and campaigns. Many of these
events have grown to become key features of balls
and student social calendar’s, and so Cambridge RAG and
Oxford RAG have the combined ability to reach out to an extremely
wide audience of students at both universities. The two RAGs are
therefore putting any friendly Oxbridge rivalries aside and coming together for
this joint sponsorship proposal, created exclusively for BNY Mellon. Our
proposal sets out what we would be able to offer in return for our suggested
sponsorship fee of £5,000 for each society. Having previously worked with your
organisation during the Boat Race, we are extremely excited about the
prospect of undertaking more joint ventures and we hope that our proposal is
of interest to you.
2
INTRODUCTION
Cambridge RAG
Jailbreak

3. Why work with RAG?
A partnership between RAG at Oxford and Cambridge and BNY Mellon would be
beneficial to both parties, bringing BNY Mellon unrivalled brand exposure across the two
university student bodies, while providing the base cash injection necessary for us to grow
and raise more for our charities. We believe that partnering with the Oxford and
Cambridge RAGs would bring BNY Mellon three key benefits:
1. Exposure
As one of the largest student societies at both universities, Oxford and Cambridge RAG
can offer the opportunity for BNY Mellon to have virtually unrivalled levels of brand
promotion.
2. Committee
Both RAGs have committees made up of teams of highly driven students who, as a result
of their involvement with RAG, have proven skills in teamwork, communication and
organisation. As a sponsor, BNY Mellon would be in an excellent position to establish
valuable relationships with RAG Committee members.
3. Social Responsibility
Association with RAG would reinforce BNY Mellon’s existing achievements in this area
and reflect its commitment to communities. Building from our previous work together
on the Boat Race, BNY Mellon would enter into a mutually-beneficial
relationship with the two RAGs.
3
Oxford RAG

4. 1. Exposure – Getting your brand out there
OXFORD
By partnering with RAG, BNY Mellon can gain unbridled insight and access to the student
population of Oxford University. We occupy provide a unique opportunity to spread your
message across college and subject boundaries, and can promote your organisation in
the following ways:
•
RAG’s own mailing list contains more than 4,000 Oxford students
•
As the official fundraising arm of the Oxford University Students’ Union RAG has
the unique opportunity to promote its event through the student union’s weekly
mailout which reaches the inbox of every student at Oxford University, totalling
more than 20,000 undergraduates and postgraduates
•
RAG has a strong presence on social media with the Facebook page for this
year’s ball already on 3,000 likes, and our system of reps in every college
(including postgraduate colleges) provides us with the ability to promote our
events in all online college pages and groups
•
As part of the student union, RAG enjoys a place of pride at the OUSU Freshers’
Fair which will be attended by all 3,200 new undergraduate and 4,500 new
postgraduate students, with a minimum of four stalls dedicated to our activities.
This event is new students’ first introduction to the many extracurricular
opportunities available at Oxford, and is therefore a prime opportunity to increase
your organisation’s exposure
•
Our famous RAG Ball is one of the best attended balls in
Oxford with over 1,200 attendees in 2014
In exchange for your contribution Oxford
RAG would offer BNY Mellon
sponsorship of our RAG
Casino.
4
Oxford RAG
Casino

5. Staffed by thirty trained croupiers, our RAG Casino is present at over 20 college and
society balls a year, in addition to 15 smaller events. These events range from poker
nights, to boat parties, to commemoration balls costing over £200 a ticket. By choosing
to sponsor us BNY Mellon would have a presence at all of these events. Sponsorship of
the Casino provides a number of opportunities and could take the form of:
• Branded tablecloths for all our table games
• Branded poker chips
• Branded visors worn by our croupiers at all events
• Promotional material handed out at all non-ball events
• Advertising space on the Casino website
We would also provide the benefits of general sponsorship, including:
• Inclusion of your logo on all marketing materials, including our website
• Inclusion in the sponsors’ section on our website and referencing on social media
• Inclusion of your logo on jumpers and polo shirts worn by volunteers at all events
• Promotion of BNY Mellon recruitment materials through our social media accounts
5
Oxford RAG
Ball

6. CAMBRIDGE
At Cambridge RAG, we benefit enormously from having the ability to promote our events
to an almost unparalleled audience throughout both the university and the wider city. The
following is a list of some of the ways in which we are able to reach students:
•
Our Facebook page has 2,440 likes and our Twitter account 800 followers.
•
The Cambridge RAG mailing list currently has 3,000 subscribers
•
Each year Cambridge RAG recruits a team of 30 College Representatives for
each college, whose job it is to organise RAG events within their own college and
to advertise events and campaigns organised by the society. They provide RAG
with a valuable reach of exposure and developing the role of the College Reps is
a key focus of RAG for the coming academic year.
•
As of 2014 – 2015 RAG has begun to collaborate increasingly with the student
union of Anglia Ruskin University, meaning that RAG now advertises city-wide
throughout Cambridge.
•
We also in recent years developed an excellent relationship with the student
media, and in particular with ‘The Tab’, who in the past have published articles
advertising RAG events. The Tab is an online student newspaper which is the most
popular at the university in terms of the number of hits it receives and which
currently has almost 8,000 likes on its Facebook page.
In return for your sponsorship fee, we would like to offer BNY Mellon sponsorship of
two of our flagship events: our ‘hitch’ events, ‘Jailbreak’ and ‘LOST’.
LOST, taking part in the Michaelmas term, is one of the newer events
which RAG organises, but it has quickly become a high
point of the RAG calendar. In 2014 – 2015 around
200 students took part, and the event
made £2,000 more than it
ever had before.
The basic
6
Cambridge RAG
Christmas Raid

7. idea is that students take part in teams of two and are dropped off in a mystery location
around 100 miles from Cambridge. The teams then have 24 hours to make it back to
Cambridge without spending any money, completing a series of fun challenges along the
way.
Jailbreak, a similar event which happens over a weekend during the Lent term, has in
recent years become firmly established as one of the key events in the RAG calendar.
The premise is that teams of two students have 36 hours to get as far from Cambridge
as they possibly can using none of their own money. In 2014/15 84 students took part,
with the winning team managing to travel an impressive 5,956 miles to finish in Thailand!
Teams in recent years have also made it to locations such as Miami, Singapore, Rio de
Janeiro and Turkey.
Both are extremely fun and popular events which are heavily publicised and advertised
throughout the university.
Sponsorship of both events will provide the following advantages:
•
BNY Mellon’s logo included on all advertising materials for the event (including both
printed publicity and social media).
•
BNY Mellon’s logo displayed on the relevant section of the RAG website for the
event.
•
Inclusion of BNY Mellon’s logo in the design for the t-shirts worn by participants
during both events.
•
The possibility of creating a ‘BNY Mellon Challenge’ tied in with both events
for participants to complete.
•
Subsection of the ‘Sponsors and Contributors’
area of the RAG website dedicated to BNY Mellon.
•
An approved piece of text about
BNY Mellon to be included
in the email
7
Cambridge RAG
Jailbreak

8. signature of the committee members responsible for the event and all publicity
emails for the event sent to the RAG mailing list, which currently has over 3,000
members.
•
BNY Mellon’s website link on RAG Facebook and Twitter feeds when publicising
the event.
•
During the events ‘The Tab’ has in the last few years run a very popular ‘live-blog’,
keeping students updated on the teams’ progress, and there would be scope to
mention BNY Mellon as being the sponsor of the event within this article.
•
Promotion of BNY Mellon recruitment materials and messages through our social
media outlets and through the distribution of printed materials.
8
Oxford RAG
Firewalk

9. 2. The Committee – GETTING TO MEET STUDENTS
At both RAGs, we realise that with graduate schemes becoming increasingly
oversubscribed, companies such as yours are looking for more than simply promotion for
your brand when attracting applicants. Therefore in addition to promoting the BNY Mellon
brand to a wide audience at the two universities, we also want to offer opportunities for
you to meet and engage with our talented and hardworking committees and society
members. Our members at both universities have a wide range of career aspirations, but
whether they aim for the City or the third sector, they all take with them the skills and
knowledge gained from their time working with RAG. Arranging blind dates for 3,000
people or a hitchhiking event with students travelling as far as Thailand requires a great
deal of teamwork, organisation and hard work, and so these experiences means they are
well equipped to enter the world of work.
We are therefore eager to arrange opportunities for interaction between our members
and BNY Mellon as part of the proposed sponsorship partnership. The following are
examples of how we see this working in practice:
•
The Boat Race – We would really like to see a large scale RAG-organised event
taking place in conjunction with the boat race. This could take the form of a
‘raid’ (bucket collection) at the race itself or something different entirely.
•
Events based in Oxford/Cambridge – We would also like to have one or two
events each term based within the universities themselves. Ideas that we have
had in the past for such events include creating a ‘penny mile’ at a lecture site,
and we are open to whatever suggestions you might have as well.
• Weekly meetings – Both RAG committees meet once a week during term time to
discuss future plans and events. We currently often host speakers at these
meetings from the charities we support, and we would be more than
happy to host representatives from BNY Mellon to come
and meet and talk to committee members.
9
Oxford RAG
Ball

10. How is the sponsorship money used?
It is preferred by both RAGs that funds raised from the student body and members of the
public are donated directly to our charities. We therefore intend to channel most
sponsorship income towards covering our administrative costs. Both Cambridge and
Oxford RAG operate with our overheads maintained at an absolute minimum. The funds
you provide will facilitate our future fundraising, and allow both organisations to develop
further and raise even larger sums for charity. Both Oxford and Cambridge would keep in
constant contact with your representatives, ensuring you are kept informed of how the
funds are spent and how our activities will benefit your organisation.
Summary
Oxford and Cambridge RAG would very much like to have the opportunity to collaborate
with BNY Mellon over the coming academic years and to provide you with a personalised
plan for publicity at our respective universities and the greatest possible value in return
for your sponsorship fee.
In this document we have outlined the sponsorship opportunities we are proposing and
suggested sponsorship fees. Any of these options would provide BNY Mellon with high
levels of publicity across both Universities, something that we are keen to help you to
achieve.
We are very much open to additional suggestions and would welcome any level of
support possible.
10
Cambridge RAG
ChariTea Party

11. Contact details
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us:
OXFORD
Chris William, RAG President 2015 – 2016: rag-president@ousu.ox.ac.uk
Gabriel Lawson, RAG Treasurer 2015 – 2016: rag-treasurer@ousu.ox.ac.uk
Oxford RAG website: www.ousu.org/get-involved/raise-and-give/
Oxford Raise & Give, 2 Worcester Street, Oxford OX1 2BX
www.facebook.com/OxfordRAG
https://twitter.com/oxfordrag
CAMBRIDGE
Olivia Sinclair, RAG President 2015 – 2016: president@cambridgerag.org.uk, 01223 330 286
Eliza Jones, RAG Sponsorship Officer 2015 – 2016: ragsponsorship@gmail.com
Cambridge RAG website: www.cambridgerag.org.uk
Cambridge RAG 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1RX
www.facebook.com/cambridge.rag
https://twitter.com/cambridgerag
11
Oxford RAG
Ball