Launches are easy, the devil is in the detail....

The past few months since the launch of the IIOFF has witnessed many meetings, conference calls and zoom sessions.

To give you a summary of where we are:

The strategy for the IIOFF has been agreed upon and centres around three ‘pillars’:

1. Bishops Community Week
2. Corporate and Individual fundraising
3. Friends of Bishops activities

1. Bishops Community Week

Our energetic committee headed up by Dedry Weich is far advanced in organising the week’s events, which include:

Art exhibition

Musical soiree

Best of Bishops fine dining, wine and music event

Golf day

Online auction

ODU AGM

ODs vs Bishops sport

All of this is scheduled to happen between 4-11 October

Nicole will be sending much more details over the next few weeks within the newsletters and special BCW communication.

2. Corporate and Individual Fundraising

Fund-raising is a professional activity and a group of part-time committee members cannot expect or be expected to fulfil this function to its greatest potential.

Consequently, we are negotiating with three different Fundraising companies to select the most appropriate one to help us in our efforts. This process is well advanced and we hope to announce the successful bidder soon.

Bridging finance for this to get underway will be provided by the OD Union and our partners, Citadel.

We will be targeting companies for bursaries and subsistence support and this will include events in Cape Town, Johannesburg, London and potentially Sydney and Toronto. 

Our OD strategy includes reaching out to class reunion organisers to start a programme to informing their class members of the IIOFF and to enlist their support.

3. Friends of Bishops

This informal group, under the guidance of Charmaine Cheminais is already involved heavily with the Vusa Rugby Academy and we will be interacting with them to see where we can find areas of common interest.