This year shall mark the start of a new era for the May Ball tradition in Cambridge: in a meeting on Wednesday night, May Ball presidents agreed to work towards greater collaboration, and in particular, towards greater charitable giving.

Many of the colleges will be working together to raise money for charity through an optional addition to standard May Ball ticket prices. It will be the first time that a collective pot has been raised by multiple colleges.

Speaking to Varsity last week, Nick Chapman, President of Trinity May Ball and effective founder of the initiative, said: “While the May Balls are a fantastic experience for all of us, and we certainly deserve to enjoy them after a year of hard work, there is an element of elitism and decadence that the national press often criticises in May Week itself and we’re hoping that this will serve as a good news story, especially in a time of economic hardship.”

At the meeting, the May Ball Presidents for the colleges holding balls this year voted to donate the collected money to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice, a Cambridgeshire-based charity supporting young people with life threatening conditions. This is one of 10 charities supported this year by Cambridge RAG, who are working closely with the May Ball Presidents to coordinate their charitable efforts.

Some of the Presidents at the meeting objected to the idea of supporting another charity which might make them appear to have political of self-publicizing motives. RAG President Emma Cooper, who has been working closely with Mr Chapman, said: “I am not doing this for glory, I’m into charity.”

Consequently, all the Presidents were keen to support East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice as a small local charity. The donation would also have greater net effect than for a larger national or international charity.

Not all of the colleges have been able to give money to the collective pot this year, but the lack of contribution was not through a lack of enthusiasm. At a meeting in November organised by Mr Chapman and his colleague, RAG President Emma Cooper, Presidents of all 17 colleges holding balls this year signed an ‘in-principle’ petition, saying that they were in support of every single college making a charitable donation.

However, some colleges had difficulties getting involved with the scheme this year, either because their Ball had already happened, such as the Selwyn Snowball, or because they had already chosen to support specific charities, such as St John’s, Pembroke, Emmanuel and Queens’ Colleges.

St John’s College have been supporting SOS Children’s Villages for several years, but the May Ball Committee were keen to be a part of this new venture and therefore have decided to auction four pairs of tickets on Ebay, so that the additional raised money can go towards the collective pot. Magdalene College are also aiming to sell extra tickets to alumni, in the hope of raising another £1000 for the cause.

Pembroke College, meanwhile, will be supporting Campus Children’s Holidays, but have pledged to donate to the communal fund starting from next year. Other colleges, including Queens’ College, also promised to support the scheme from next year, since this year their College has asked the May Ball Committee to give the money raised to a college-supported access programme.

Mr Chapman and Miss Cooper realised that the colleges’ combined donation would be smaller this year but they were keen to “get the ball rolling”. To ensure that collaboration continues between the colleges in future years, they have set up an official May Ball Presidents’ Committee.

The Presidents have already chosen on a charity to support next year to guarantee that all the colleges are able to implement the scheme and do not suffer from administrative difficulties or prior commitments to other charities.

The charity for 2012 will be IntoUniversity, which works to help children from deprived areas to gain access to higher education, who usually are 6 times less likely to gain a place. The charity is exemplary at minimizing managerial costs, with 98% of their received money going directly to the cause.

IntoUniversity helps potential candidates through schemes such as mentoring sessions and by providing bursaries. Supporting this charity will also coincide with the first year that students will pay the increased tuition fees.

While it is the charity element that brought the Presidents together, the May Ball Presidents’ Committee will aim to increase collaboration between the colleges in other areas as well. For example, the colleges, through the Society’s meetings, will be able to discuss which companies, for matters such as catering and marquee supplying, provide a good service and which ones should be blacklisted.

With greater collaboration in such areas, different colleges may be able to bulk order from the same companies, set up cheaper deals and therefore have more money to spend in other areas. Mr Chapman hopes that this will result in balls that are better value for money.

At the end of May Week the May Ball Presidents’ Committee aim to invite representatives from the charity to another event to present them with a cheque for what they hope will be around £20,000. To ensure a continuation of the successes of this year, all the May Ball Presidents for next year will be invited to attend, so that there is a period of overlap and a ‘handing over ceremony’. Next year they hope to raise a sum of over £50,000.

In an earlier speech to the Presidents, Mr Chapman said: “We have to do this before Oxford does…only Cambridge has balls”.