This year I’ve been working at Chisenhale Dance Space as trainee producer, helping Laura with work on fundraising- basically looking at some ways to make it a bit easier for people to support the organisation, and a bit clearer about what that support will do.

As you probably know Chisenhale Dance Space is a charity that has been a home for experimentation in dance and performance in the heart of East London for over 30 years.

Currently half of our income comes from space hire and pays for the building costs and staff to manage it. This means that all voluntary donations go towards artistic activity supporting artists and the local community.

Unknown; Panic Lab’s Rite of Spring; and Gille Kleiman’s The Mermaid and The Hammer

Voluntary donations often means grants from public bodies and trusts (for example we recently received a Grants for the Arts award for our Homegrown Associates programme) but individual donations are increasingly important for longer-term projects and work that doesn’t fit so simply into funders’ priorities.

Here are a three ways that you can help us help you (and other artists).

1. Just by shopping online

We’re registered with Give as you Live, a shopping and price comparison website that will earn money for us when people make a purchase online. It would be really great if you would think about signing up to help with our fundraising – without any cost to you at all!

There are loads of big sites affiliated with Give As You Live including Amazon, ebay, lastminute.com, Asos, Argos, Interflora and Apple. The rates vary but for example a £1,000 MacBook Pro from Apple would raise £10 for us and a £50 weekly shop from Tesco could raise up to £26 over a year.

All you need to do is register online then you can either shop through the Give as You Live site (where you can also compare prices) or download a Give as You Live toolbar or app.

2. Making a monthly donation

You can still make a monthly donation on our site. If you are a UK Tax Payer, we are able to claim Gift Aid on your donation which adds a further 25% to your gift, so please do declare this at the point of donation.

3. Giving a little cash

If you’d rather just give an occasional fiver (or whatever you can afford) when you visit us, we’ve introduced a donation box in the lounge. If you provide your details too, we can claim an extra 25p for every pound with Gift Aid and also stay in touch to let you know how your money is being used.

Every pound that we receive means something and does something.

It could help subsidise a kids class; contribute towards a free advice session for an emerging artist; or help us support a new idea through our Allotment programme. So no matter how or what you give – thank you.