A surprising number of employers will match what their staff give to charity, or what they raise, and a surprising number of staff never find out. Banks, insurers, the larger supermarkets, most of the utilities and a good number of engineering firms all run schemes. Some match pound for pound; a few match at two to one.

It usually takes one email to HR or a form on the staff intranet, and it is normally worth more than any amount of extra fundraising effort. Two parents did it last year and between them added GBP 1,800 to the Christmas Fair total without anyone baking anything.

If your employer does match, tell us - we can provide the charity number and whatever paperwork the scheme wants. The same applies to gifts to the Centenary Fund, where matched giving and Gift Aid together can turn GBP 100 into GBP 250.