There are three ways in which you can use the service.

1. Make an online credit or debit card donation. Justgiving will collect the Gift Aid element, if appropriate, boosting the value of the gift by 28%. The site now takes donations via Paypal too. You can make a one-off donation or monthly gifts.

2. Set up a fundraising page to collect sponsorship money for a sponsored run, walk, silence or whatever you want to do.

You can see an example of one already created for the appeal by Paddy and his friends.

3. Create an in memoriam page to raise funds in memory of a loved one or friend.

All income via Justgiving will for the time being be credited to the Roman Circus appeal, not to Colchester Archaelogical Trust’s general funds.

Over 8 million people have given to UK charities via Justgiving, so the chances are you are familiar with the site and its service.

Justgiving does of course charge a fee for running this secure service, handling donations and Gift Aid claims, and offering customer service to charities and to donors. This is 5% of the total sum, including any Gift Aid added. So, a donation by a UK tax-payer of £100 would be worth £128 with Gift Aid, and Justgiving would charge a fee of 5% of that £128.

Credit and debit card issuers also levy a charge.

If you’d like to donate online without paying a fee, beyond those charged by the credit and debit card companies, then please use our Charity Choice facility. This does not offer the regular gifts, fundraising pages or in memoriam pages of Justgiving.

After announcing the Justgiving page at the end of last week, we’ve received £190 in donations over the weekend plus £47.50 in Gift Aid, a total of £237.50.

We’re delighted to report that the Dine Like A Roman feast event tomorrow night is sold out.

The event is being put on in aid of the appeal by Don Quinn of Snake in the Grass Ltd. We shall let you know how much it raised. Meanwhile, we’re looking forward to a very enjoyable night of food, drink and entertainment tomorrow night.

We’ve got other events coming up, and we need them with the extended deadline for the appeal falling one month away today. We’ll publish details as soon as venues and timings are confirmed, but we can tell you that they involve some of our well-known patrons visiting Colchester, and there will be events and activities for children over half-term.

Snake in the Grass’ event was put on for the appeal, rather than by the appeal’s volunteer committee. Do you have some fundraising ideas? If so, we’re setting up a Justgiving.com account to make it easy for you to collect the funds quickly and easily. More on that soon too.

Image: jspatchwork on Flickr.com