Our committee roles available for our 2020/21 are listed below.
Our committee roles available for our 2020/21 committee.
Join our 2025/26 committee
Edinburgh Raising and Giving (RAG) is an initiative of Edinburgh Students' Charities Appeal (ESCA).
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Why become an ESCA volunteer at RAG?
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Build skills and confidence in a fun community whilst raising funds for important causes.
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Gain skills employers are looking for by joining one of our committees.
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Build confidence in budgeting, time management, leadership, organisation, marketing, research and event planning. Discover your strategic prowess and dynamism in the face of a challenge.
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Get funding, advice and training. ESCA’s appeal coordinator helps our volunteers reach their full potential throughout their time with us and beyond.
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Have your say on the causes we support; vote for our chosen charities for the upcoming academic year.
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Innovate; we love it when volunteers pioneer ways to raise funds with new and exciting events.
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Gain board experience. ESCA is governed by a board of trustees, many of whom were volunteers in the past.
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Achieve the Edinburgh Award in Charitable Fundraising and receive recognition for volunteering on your degree transcript. Please note this is for University of Edinburgh Students only. ​
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What qualities is ESCA looking for in a RAG or Meadows Marathon volunteer? ​
Above all, our volunteers are enthusiastic and passionate about raising money for great causes. They are great communicators; every volunteer will work with the appeal coordinator, fellow volunteers, businesses, members of the public and the wider student community. They are creative, innovative and always ready for a challenge.
We need dedication, as volunteering with us is a significant time commitment. During term, every volunteer attends weekly committee meetings and sub-committee meetings, as well as spending time researching and planning our fundraising events. Our committees are teams, and volunteers are all expected to be available to help with events throughout the academic year.
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What does the RAG calendar look like for the academic year?
We meet before the summer to agree on key dates for the upcoming year and plan recruitment events for Welcome Week. We have recruitment events and our first committee meeting and social during Welcome Week. Shortly after, volunteers get an introduction to ESCA and its board of trustees at the induction
Our flagship first semester event is Race2Paris, a charity hitch hike in which teams of 2 compete to get to Paris fastest without spending a penny of their own money. The committee spend the weekend of the event tracking participants around the clock to ensure their safety.
Second semester events RAG Ball, Race2? And RAG Week all take place around February and March. The sub committees will have been planning and organising these events since the first semester to ensure they are executed seamlessly; however this is still a busy time of year no matter how prepared we are.
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Find out more about available committee roles below
2025/26 Edinburgh RAG Committee Roles
President
The president oversees all RAG’s activity, ensuring RAG’s creative ideas turn into real, successful events and projects. It is up to them to direct overall strategy, identify any areas of weakness and make RAG bigger, and better than before.
As RAG’s leader they are responsible for empowering the committee to succeed.
The RAG president must be driven, confident and well-organised. They are able to balance assertiveness with consideration of the needs of their team.
Responsibilities
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Organise and chair committee meetings
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Oversee all Edinburgh RAG events and business
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Empower coordinators to succeed in their events
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Coordinate the committee to work smoothly
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Contribute to and guide RAG’s future
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Critically assess the running of events and specific roles, and adapting roles and committees if necessary
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Be prepared to answer questions committee members when possible
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Take on responsibility for all events and step in to do practical tasks when needed
Vice Presidents
The vice presidents assist the president in overseeing all the events in RAG's calendar. They collaborate with coordinators and their subcommittees, often attending sub-committee meetings, always offering support to ensure key deadlines and responsibilities are met.
The president and VPs decide who takes responsibility for different aspects of running the committee. For example, in the past there has been VP events and VP community & outreach.
The VPs play an important role in guiding Edinburgh RAG’s future direction and acting as an ambassador to external stakeholders. They plan and organise committee socials and are generally ready to help out whenever needed.
Hitches Coordinator
Hitches Coordinator
The Hitches Coordinator is responsible for ensuring the successful organisation of Edinburgh RAG’s two hitchhikes Race2Paris and Race2?. They get the coveted job of deciding on the destination for the second hitchhike race!
The Hitches Coordinator oversees the logistical organisation of the event, participant recruitment and registration. With the help of the president, they arrange tracking of event participants to ensure their safety.
They are responsible for working with the Marketing Coordinator to develop a marketing plan in order to maximise participation in the hitchhikes. Additionally, they must ensure that a budget and risk assessment are completed and proposed to the trustees in a timely manner.
Responsibilities
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Lead hitches subcommittee in planning and execution of Race2Paris, Race2?
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Plan & chair regular subcommittee meetings – ensure there is a clear agenda, that
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minutes are taken and disseminated to subcommittee and that they include clear directions for Officers
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Create budget monitor spending to ensure event runs on budget
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Update risk assessments and tracking protocols for each event
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Run information sessions for potential participants
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Liaise with Marketing Coordinator to ensure that marketing materials and a marketing plan are developed in a timely manner
Hitches Officers
We will recruit 2-3 hitches officers to assist the coordinator. These events are a significant logistical task, so we need dedicated, organised and enthusiastic people for our hitches team.
Ball Coordinators
Leads in planning and organisation of RAG's annual Edinburgh Charity Ball. This role is hands-on, with visiting potential venues, sourcing entertainment, decorations, working sponsorship and finding raffle prizes. The ball coordinator is skilled at teamwork and delegation; they know their teams' strengths and weaknesses and can split tasks appropriately.
You will need a great imagination, strong time management and self-motivation. Ball is less time intensive than some other committee roles, but it needs a constant commitment and enthusiasm to keep things moving.
The busiest time is the lead up to the ball in second semester, however you will have a meeting once a week from the start of the year, so be prepared to start committing from the beginning.
Responsibilities
• Overseeing the RAG Ball committee
• Making final decisions on organising the ball
• Being the main point of contact for ball committee and other people involved with the ball such as outside vendors
• Delegating tasks
• Ensuring everyone on the ball committee completes task on time
• Liaise with Marketing Coordinator and Graphic Designer to ensure that marketing
materials and plans are developed in a timely manner for all events
• Create event budget for approval by trustees
Ball Officers
We will recruit 2-3 ball officers to help with organising the ball.
RAG Week Coordinator
We are looking for a RAG week coordinator who can bring RAG Week, our 7 days of fundraising events, to Edinburgh, bigger and bolder than ever before.
This person is an innovator, ready to take action and bring together student groups on campus in a huge fundraising effort. They are confident in organisation, logistics, time management and delegation.
The RAG Week Coordinator will maximise engagement from students across Edinburgh universities as well as devising new strategies for engaging the City’s wider community. They develop the timetable of events across the week, including RAG’s flagship events and coordinating different groups in organisation of their own events. They work closely with the Marketing Coordinator to develop a marketing plan. They ensure a budget and risk assessment are completed and proposed to the trustees in a timely manner.
Responsibilities
• Lead subcommittee in the successful delivery of RAG Week
• Chair regular subcommittee meetings, provide agenda and ensure minutes with actions are taken and circulated
• Devise and oversee the organisation of RAG events within RAG Week
• Develop timetable for events organised by other groups
• Engage as many student groups as possible
• Devise strategies for engaging the city’s wider community in RAG Week
• Ensure RAG week officers have clear roles and monitor their progress with tasks
• Liaise with Marketing Coordinator to ensure that marketing materials and a publicity plan are developed in a timely manner
• Create and maintain a budget for RAG Week
RAG Week Officers
We will recruit 2-3 RAG week officers to assist with the planning and implementation of RAG week.
Events Coordinator
The events coordinator plans and organises events to widen student engagement and raise more money for charity. They devise and implement smaller events throughout the year to retain engagement from students. Think pub quizzes, movie nights, run clubs and pottery painting. They offer support on core events such as hitches and RAG Week.
Responsibilities
• Create and propose new innovative events throughout the year
• Be available to support core events
• Ensure events officers have clear roles, monitor their progress with tasks
• Liaise with Marketing Coordinator to ensure that publicity materials and plans are
developed in a timely manner
Events Officers
We will recruit 2-3 Events Officers to assist with the planning and implementation of events.
Marketing Coordinator
The Marketing & Graphics Coordinator is responsible for developing and delivering a marketing strategy for all RAG events and services.
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They plan marketing materials alongside their graphics team and marketing assistants. They devise innovative ways of engaging students and have creative skills to assist the graphics team with their designs. They liaise with coordinators to determine marketing requirements for their events and work with the graphic designer to develop marketing materials and schedules.
They should ensure that a consistent and professional brand and message is presented across all channels.
Responsibilities
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Ensure a high-profile presence of RAG and events across all social media platforms
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Maintain all social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) – including scheduling and producing social media content
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Liaise with media outlets such as FreshAir, Edinburgh Live etc
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Liaise with student associations and university services (e.g. Library) to get RAG featured in their publicity – e.g. on screens, social media sharing etc
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Organise marketing meetings with each event team to ascertain promotion details
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Create and maintain a document of all the necessary details for each event
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Develop & disseminate a social media schedule before September and adapt it as required
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Organise printing & distribution of paper publicity materials required for events
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Work with appeal coordinator and event teams to organise paid social
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Delegate work to the designers, ensure they receive clear briefs and deadlines but also work with their specific skill sets
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Ensure photographers are arranged for all events, edit and post photos on social media
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Ask event teams to provide descriptions for social media posts wherever needed
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Check all graphics are complete and consistent before they are published
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Ensure a consistent brand and message is presented across all media channels
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Be prepared for unexpected marketing requirements as events can pop up last minute
Graphic Designer
The graphic designers design graphics to promote events on social media. You will work closely with Marketing Coordinator to plan RAG's social media content calendar.
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Design graphics for any committee needs in keeping with the brand guidelines
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Work closely with the Marketing Coordinator to develop a strategy and plan content for the year
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Work with events teams to understand their requirements for the year
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Be prepared for last minute requests
Support Officer
Unable to make the time commitment of a titled role but still want to get involved? Sign up as a support officer and volunteer the time you are able to help out the committee.