John Wanamaker, an American retailer, famously said: “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

At times I feel something similar as to our investment in fundraising: “half the time I spend on fundraising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Thus, we try different approaches and ascertain which if any are those that can deliver the greatest return on our investment – in terms of time and cost. Here are just three of our current activities:

– SURF has just set up an account as a registered charity with MissionFish. You can now buy greeting cards handmade by widowed survivors from eBay. Through MissionFish, anyone selling items on eBay can choose to support SURF either through a direct donation or through donating part of their sale to us.

– On Friday 16th October, SURF is going to have its first charity collection day at West Brompton station. Our request to be the nominated charity at our local London Underground station was accepted. We have chosen a day when there will be a high footfall (when The Baby Show opens at Earls Court) so hopefully we can raise a few pounds. If you can spare an hour to help us with the collection, then please do let Flavia know.

– We have set up a SURF JustGiving account so that it is easier for our supporters to donate. Though it is quite an expensive way of donating (JustGiving take 5% of every donation, and we pay a fee of £15 a month to be registered) it is very easy – and a great way for people overseas to donate. We have supporters that are donating their wedding presents to us, as well as one young supporter who raised money for us from The Marathon of Marathons.

We will be announcing new initiatives over the next few months, so please do check back here. In the meantime, any support that you can offer to raise awareness of the above will be, as ever, greatly appreciated. Thank you.