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What is RAG?
What is RAG?
RAG ('Raising and Giving') is a working committee, made up of students, at Sheffield Students' Union. We raise money, and help others raise money for charities around Sheffield, South Yorkshire and beyond!
We organise lots of different events over the academic year. We run everything from film screenings, charity abseils and night hikes!
All events we run, and charities we support, are decided by students!
Our History
Our History
Sheffield RAG started out in 1920 as ‘Hospital Saturday’ where medical students raised funds for local hospitals.
Between the 1950s-2000s, RAG transformed the streets of Sheffield into a week long fundraising celebration. The RAG parade showcased student's handmade floats using rubbish collected in the weeks leading up, and fancy dress using charity shop clothing, often associated with fun or satirical themes! Dance parties, boat races and more were all packed into one week.
Alongside the festivities, RAG sold a student-led magazine to aid fundraising efforts, packed with cartoons, jokes and student-written articles on student life, local issues and global news.
Sheffield's RAG traditions have changed a lot since then. We now support students all year in organising over 150 events, raising over £100,000 a year, aiming to make fundraising accessible to every single student here in Sheffield.
As of 2025, RAG has facilitated 105 years of student fundraising, and plan to continue for decades to come!
RAG Committee 2025-26 - Intros coming soon!
RAG Committee 2025-26 - Intros coming soon!
How does it work?
How does it work?
All of our money is raised through exciting events run by us, or by you! We support everything from bake sales to bungee jumps to spinathons to raffles!
Some of our big yearly events include:
Baby Bummit – A charity hitchhike from Sheffield to another city in the UK
Big Bummit – A charity hitchhike from Sheffield to a country in Central Europe
RAG Week – seven days of events, working with societies and clubs across the University to raise money for charity
Visit our events page for more information on upcoming and past events.
Our charities
Our charities
Sheffield is our home! We aim to donate 85% of our annual total to local charities in South Yorkshire and the North Derbyshire area. However, you can find us fundraising all over the place! We always try to make a big difference to smaller charities who cannot afford large-scale fundraising programmes.
Raising money with us
Raising money with us
If you are a student at the University of Sheffield and you’d like to know how to fundraise with our help, visit the 'Get involved' section of our website.
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