How charitable are St Andrews’ charitable balls? Part 2

Here’s what we figure from part 1: the amount of ball ticket revenue going to charity probably isn’t all that impressive, and balls aren’t a terribly efficient way of raising money unless renting out La Bamba has some crazy Keynesian multiplier we’re not aware of. Throwing a ball involves a huge list of expenses, which is why proper grown-up black tie events cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Instead, because we’re students, we’re left in this awkward middle ground where we’re mostly just paying for the expenses of a really glamorous event. Surely balls aren’t afforded the privileges we mentioned because of their sterling charitable reputations, so is the status quo justified because the events contribute so much to the community?

Given that not everyone can afford to attend all the balls that dominate the social calendar, we think probably not. Of course, one can elect not to attend balls, and these events certainly aren’t obligated to be inclusive – VIP tents and invite-only events suggest that exclusivity is part and parcel of the glamour that is at the core of the business model – but it’s shitty that these are the events considered so important to The St Andrews Experience.

Event runners are competitive, so they’re inevitably going to compete to see who can pull off the most impressive event rather than who can be the most charitable. This race to the bottom, as well as the self-perpetuating nature of committees – younger committee members protect and try to impress older ones (who are themselves beholden to their predecessors, etc.) – paint a fairly bleak picture for events getting more inclusive / charitable / transparent. Disillusioned former members have told us how committees can be almost cult-like, and this anecdote has been mirrored in all our interactions with ball committees, from researching this article to the control they exert over event reviews and press passes. From the outside looking in, the culture surrounding ball committees seems fairly poisonous, and they probably don’t want to engage in public disclosure at least partially due to the status and power they attribute to their positions. People take events very seriously in all the ways that should matter least.

None of this is to say that what committees do is illegal or immoral: balls don’t have to include everyone in St Andrews, and they certainly don’t have to be nice when we try to rain on their parade. But to justify the culture and the ticket prices in the name of charity, when charity does not appear to be a priority and transparency is nearly non-existent, that’s where we take issue.

We don’t think there’s anyone perniciously stealing money destined for charity, and we’ve tried to avoid the spiteful tone that ball-related critiques often take. We do really enjoy these events, and committees generally do a fantastic job of organizing them. Plenty of digital ink has been spilled in these pages praising every night of drunken dressed up shenanigans.

But we can’t ignore the systematic apathy towards charity and transparency at the heart of so many events. We wrote articles highlighting each event’s listed cause without asking the sorts of questions you expect from journalists (e.g. how much money is really going charity?), and we regret it. This was our attempt to rectify that, and we don’t think it’s good enough. We tried, but there’s a concerted effort to ensure important financial information stays inside committees.

The simple act of public disclosure would help ensure balls make a more positive contribution to life in St Andrews. If this ethos of charity we’ve alluded to exists in limited supply in St Andrews, we hope the time and effort put into charitable balls doesn’t mean that spirit is being misspent. Most events are over now, and our only hope for next year is that charitable events are run with the transparency and charitable focus one would expect of any organisation that calls itself a charity.

Any events or organisations that want to help out in this effort, email us at [email protected], we’ll happily publish a report tomorrow.