The Glasgow University Students’ Representative Council (SRC) made a loss of £4.57 on its Movember campaign in 2015, after the organisation spent a total of £264.86 and donated £260.29 to the Movember Foundation.
Documents obtained by this newspaper show that £175.86 was spent on stick-on moustaches; £39.00 was spent on marketing and communications; £20 on photography; and there was a £30 cash prize awarded to the team which won the Movember quiz.
Ameer Ibrahim, who has been vice president (student activities) since July 2015, is responsible for the organisation’s charitable activities. He reported to Council in mid-November 2015 that he and others “sold novelty moustaches at The Hive – students seemed very engaged and further managed to raise a substantial total.”
A source told The Glasgow Guardian, however, that up to 600 of the stick-on moustaches went unsold because the first delivery of them did not arrive on time, and another order had to be placed.
Ibrahim is currently running in the election to be the next SRC president. He denies any responsibility for what he has called an “administrative error”.
The issue was raised with Ibrahim at SRC Sabbatical Hustings on 1 March 2016, with one member of Council describing it as the “elephant in the room”.
Ibrahim told The Glasgow Guardian: “Due to an unforeseen administrative error, extra purchasing costs for the Movember campaign were incurred. However, extra materials purchased for this campaign can be used in the future. The total fundraising amount has yet to be confirmed.”
On Twitter, a member of SRC staff asked Ibrahim if he would name the member of staff responsible, and continue to take no responsibility himself.
Ibrahim maintained that, throughout the year, he had done a good job in coordinating the SRC’s fundraising efforts, and that some distinction had to be made between campaigning and fundraising. He said that Movember had promoted men’s health issues on campus, even if it had not made a substantial sum of money.
A former SRC president James Harrison pointed out on Twitter that Movember made £2,500 in 2011.
The SRC also raised £313.87 for Children in Need in November 2015, but spent £113.68 on a paddling pool, onesies, custard, napkins and a BBC Event pack, generating a net profit of £200.19.
The figure £313.87, however, appeared on a large ‘novelty cheque’ presented to Children in Need by the GUSRC. It is understood that the organisation had to donate the full £313.87, despite only raising £200.19 once costs had been deducted, to avoid embarrassment after the total had been publicly announced.
*Byline name added after a technical problems with the website 1/3/16
