DUNFERMLINE Children’s Gala has gone “outside the box” with their latest fund-raising initiative.

In the vein of the Pars’ ‘Centenary Club’, ‘Friends of the Gala’ encourages West Fifers to donate a minimum of £2 to provide vital cashflow throughout the year to the gala, which costs at least £35,000 a year to run.

And if the scheme is successful, the gala committee hope to progress it to a ‘Gala 100’ club, where donors are entered into monthly prize draws.

Gala chair Ruth Young came up with the idea after attending a social media training course at work.

She told the Press, “We’ve had Just Giving in the past and it worked OK but it wasn’t very successful.

“After some research we found that BT offered a free fund-raising service and it doesn’t cost anything or charge fees.

“We thought it would be too ambitious to get 100 people committing to it but if we could get a certain number of people donating every month, that would be great.

“We’re trying to think outside the box and it would be nice if we got huge donations, but that doesn’t happen too often – but £2 or £5 a month, you don’t really miss it.

“Right now we’re looking for people who are very supportive of the gala who wish they could do a bit more.

“Even if we get 100 people donating £2 a month, for the next 12 months, that’s still a nice wee boost. If a lot of people do it, it all adds up for us.

“People are realising that the days of putting in £50 or £100 into something is just not happening – small donations from a larger number of people is the way to go.” And importantly, the initiative doesn’t require much effort – unlike the gala’s two main fund-raisers, ‘Wheels in the Park’ and the charity concert by West Fife schoolkids.

Ruth continued, “They take an awful lot of organising and the gala itself takes the whole year.

“People say, ‘Oh, you need to do more fund-raisers but sometimes we don’t have the time to do it and we only have a small group of volunteers.

“We do get people saying, ‘Oh, I’d like to help out more but don’t have the time’, and we thought one of the things we could build on was the donations side of it.” To sign up, go to www.btplc.com/mydonate/index.aspx and search for Dunfermline Children’s Gala. Personal registration is required but one-off donations are also welcome.

The gala is also looking for volunteers to help out at events – email dunfermlinegala@hotmail.com.