We are considering employing a fund-raiser to fill in grant applications on a commission basis but would like to talk to a knowledgeable person first as we have no experience. Any suggestions - or first hand experience yourselves? Corporate membership is another idea but, again, we have no information or experience. Do you know anyone that can talk us through this please?

We are a charity offering support to bereaved children in Berkshire, we need to raise around £165,000 annually to maintain the current service. We currently use excel as our main database tool. We need a database to record supporter details, mailing list info, donor info, client info etc.. We are in the process of researching a more efficient, easy to use database software package, I'm aware that Raiser's Edge is used throughout the sector but this is too large and expensive for us. What product would you recommend for this size of charity?

I am looking to hold a fundraising event with minimum investment and maximum return. We have a budget of about £100 to cover costs. Do the experts have any suggestions about the type of event that might do this?

Do you have a checklist for planning a fundraising event?