fundraising for a secondary school common room

Thanks to Justfun for responding.

Otherwise, I'm afraid you might not get much of a response from this forum. It's designed for professional fundraisers ie. people who work for charities to fundraise, not members of the public fundraising for a favourite or particular cause.

That said, have you tried signing up to your local Freecycle network? Plenty of people and organisations give away good quality and sometimes very nearly new items to charities and good causes, as well as to other people:

www.freecycle.org

As for fundraising from companies, you did very well to get the money from Jaguar. Otherwise I'd suggest this is not your best use of time. Most companies nowadays are looking for partnerships with local or brand-name charities who can help them boost business in some way. Company donations or grants are pretty much a thing of the past.

So, it's events really that are going to be your main focus. Events for parents, people who know the school and other local contacts.

One thought - can you tap into any alumni network that your school has? Nowadays it needn't be a formal group: doubtless someone has set up a Facebook group or Bebo page about your school. Can you post your appeal there?

Good luck.

Hi go and have a look at the following sites,

www.justgiving.com
www.help.co.uk
www.bmycharity.com

Just looking at them my self and asking for feedback from others who have used them in the past.

Cheers