Donaldson's (The Governors of Donaldson Trust) is a registered Scottish Charity, number SC017417.
As a Grant Aided Special School (GASS) supported by the Scottish Government, Donaldson’s has a significant fundraising requirement to support the highly specialised education, therapy and care that we provide. Fundraising events and projects are regularly implemented to purchase specific items of equipment across a wide range of priorities. We are members of the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB). All members have to adhere to the Fundraising Promise. To view a copy please click here (PDF, 120KB).
To donate online please visit:
www.justgiving.com/donaldsonsschool/raisemoney
Fundraising News
 Donaldson's Charity Christmas Cards
Help Donaldson's this Christmas by purchasing the new Donaldson's charity Christmas cards which are currently on sale for £3.50 for a pack of 10 cards. They are very high quality cards and come in three beautiful designs.
All profits from the sale of the Christmas cards will go towards fundraising projects for the pupils at Donaldson's.
To purchase Christmas cards please contact Gill Sinclair, 01506 841900 or info@donaldsons.org.uk. We accept cash, cheque or all major credit/debit cards and are happy to post out cards if required.
 
Stuck for Christmas Gift Ideas?
We still have copies of the Donaldson's Cookbook on sale. The cookbook contains recipes from many well known celebrities, politicians and friends of Donaldson's including Gordon Brown’s favourite, Rumbledethumps and Alex Salmond’s recipe for Cullen Skink. It is now available to purchase, please contact Gill Sinclair, 01506 841900 or info@donaldsons.org.uk.
Donaldson's Fashion Show
 On Thursday 29 October Donaldson’s was transformed into a Milan Catwalk for the first Donaldson’s Fashion Show, which was a huge success.
Over 100 people attended and over £1000 was raised towards Donaldson’s projects.
The fashions were provided by Lavande of Dunfermline and were modelled by staff and friends of Donaldson’s. The models were escorted down the catwalk by four male members of staff and the husband of a member of staff.
 The MacDonald Houstoun House Hotel donated the wine, C J Lang the canapés and the guests were entertained by the Linlithgow Reed Band prior to the start of the show and during the interval.
Donaldson’s Fundraiser Gill Sinclair said:
 “It was a great evening and everyone enjoyed themselves. We are very grateful to Liz and Carolyn of Lavande, the models, dresses, escorts, volunteers, in fact everyone who was involved in making the evening such a success, a big thank you.”
Some more pictures from the event:
     
 
 
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Hearts’ Legends Kick-Off for Donaldon's
 A team of pupils, staff and former pupils from Donaldson’s School took on the might of former professional footballers from Heart of Midlothian FC on Sunday 11 October.
The Hearts’ Legends match kicked-off at 3pm at Linlithgow Rose FC, Prestonfield, to raise funds for the school. Players confirmed to participate include: Gary Mackay; Henry Smith; Scott Crabbe; Jimmy Sandison; Brian McNaughton and Steve Boyack. Boys and girls from Donaldson’s will take on the coveted role of ball boys. Approximately £1000 was raised at the event and all proceeds will go to the school.
For further info please visit the news page
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Collection from the Bairns
On Saturday 26th September Janice MacNeill (Principal), Shirley MIller (PE Teacher) and a team of volunteers from Linlithgow Grange and Cumbernauld Rotaries did a bucket collection at the Westfield Stadium, home of Falkirk Football Club. The collection raised a fantastic £591.17. Thanks must go to Falkirk Council and Falkirk Football Club for arranging this and also to the staff and volunteers for your help and not forgetting the Falkirk and Kilmarnock supporters for their kind generosity. All money raised will go towards the Donaldson's Project Fund that directly benefit our pupils who are deaf or have severe speech and language difficulties.
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Photos from the Donaldson's Summer Fayre 2009
Donaldson's School held its first Summer Fayre in Linlithgow on Saturday 5 September. Despite the rain there was a great turn out for the event and a wonderful £2200 was raised towards the Sensory Garden Project. This amount also include a donation of £1000 from the East of Scotland Deaf Children’s Society in support of our Summer Fayre and Sensory Garden Project – we would like to thank them very much this kind donation.
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning attended the event with her family and even had a go of the 'Test your reactions on the Speedway bike'! Tom Kerr, Provost of West Lothian and a member of the Board of Governors at Donaldson’s, was the fastest on the Speedway bike up until the last few moments when he was beaten by one of the children who attended the event. So well done to you!
A huge thank you must go to Lothian & Borders Fire and Rescue, Lothian & Borders Mounted Branch and Dalziel Agility Dogs who braved the rain and provided the outside entertainment for all the guests.
Thank you also to all the West Lothian Soroptomists, Linlithgow & Bo’ness Rotary, Linlithgow Grange Rotary, Local Guilds, Linlithgow Brownies, Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway Team, Anne Daly, Firefly Theatre, and Shirley Lamb for donating their time to run stalls, activities and the tea room. Also thank you to Dunipace Mill Nursery for donating plants for the plant stall and a prize for the raffle.
And finally thank you to all the staff and volunteers both from the school and their friends and families who made the event possible by donating their time or prizes for the event.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Supporting Donaldson's has never been easier! (June '09)
 We’ve teamed up with Justgiving.com, the UK’s leading online fundraising website, so you can donate and raise funds for Donaldson's online.
Using Justgiving saves us costs and reduces our admin burden, so going online is by far the most efficient way of supporting us. It’s easy to make a single or monthly donation with a credit or debit card online.
All you need to do is visit Donaldson's page by click the logo above or by following this link: www.justgiving.com/donaldsonsschool/raisemoney
Justgiving reclaims Gift Aid automatically and pays your donation directly to us at the end of every week, and the site is 100% secure. Justgiving also makes it easy to raise money: you can create an online fundraising page in minutes to collect donations for any sponsored event or appeal. Fundraising pages are just like paper sponsorship forms, except they’re online, so you don’t have to traipse around collecting cash and cheques. Simply personalise your page with a photo and message and email the web address to all your contacts. Friends, family, work colleagues and anyone else, from anywhere in the world, can then make a donation to your appeal, and therefore support Donaldson's, using your page.
You can create a fundraising page for absolutely anything. You could get sponsored to run, swim, cycle, get fit, grow a moustache or have your head shaved. The only limit is your imagination. If you have any questions regarding how to use Justgiving then feel free to contact Gill Sinclair, Donaldson's Fundraiser, who will be able to help.
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Donaldson's Celebrity Charity Recipe Book Now Available!
The Donaldson's Cook Book features recipes from celebrities, politicians and friends including Gordon Brown’s favourite, Rumbledethumps and Alex Salmond’s recipe for Cullen Skink. It is now available to purchase. With a limited print run make sure you get your copy for only £8 by downloading an order form below or calling into Reception. All proceeds come straight back to the school via The Governors of Donaldson Trust, registered charity SC017417.
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Fundraising Events
December
- Christmas Shopping Evening
Thursday 3 December 2009 at 1930, Donaldson's, Preston Road, Linlithgow, EH49 6HZ
A variety of stalls including: Arran Aromatics, handbags, jewellery, candles, Donaldson's branded goods, books, cards, Christmas cards, Virgin View, Body Shop and gifts. Mulled wine, mince pies and cup cakes (courtesy of Truly Scrumptious) will be served, music by Sambalistic, Linlithgow's Samba Band. Tickets for the event cost £5.00 each. For further information or to purchase tickets please contact Gill Sinclair (contact details below).
Gill Sinclair, Donaldson's Fundraiser
01506 841915 (direct line)
07595 117 868 (mobile)
Email: gsinclair@donaldsons.org.uk
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Fundraising Update 2009
Special thanks go out to all of the individuals and organisations who have recently made a contribution and/or donation to Donaldson's via their own fundraising events or by supporting ours. Thanks to your support here are some of the recent contributions:
- Donaldson's Christmas Cards made the school £721 profit
- The Body Shop Evening held on 21 November 2008 raised £700
- Collecting Cans over the last few months have raised £435.89, thanks to Burger Depot, Motherwell, Heart of Midlothian Football Club, Edinburgh, Oliphants, Linlithgow Book Shop, Golden Chip, Blast-Off Books, Taste, all in Linlithgow and the Smiddy Inn, Cumbernauld and the BDA Conference for having our collecting cans.
- Donation from Anne Hall of £2000
- Carnwarth Gardening Club - £320
- Major Finnie - £600 + Gift Aid
- West Lothian Chamber of Commerce - £1570
- Blackness Woman’s Rural Institute - £43.50
- Tern TV - £90
- Team Bible Class, St Michael’s Church £50
- Ladies Club, St Michael’s RC Church - £20
- Donaldson, Alexander, Haddow and Russell - £500
- Alastair Montgomery - £50 + gift aid
- Mary Reid - £25 + gift aid
- Jean Walker and Family - £400
- 50+ Ladies Group - £81.46
Donations have been used to purchase a drum kit, acoustic guitars and Class in a Box Software for both Primary and Secondary Departments.
For the Transition Project
- Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland - £10000
- Hugh Fraser Foundation - £10000 over two years
- The Equalities, Policy and Community Sector - £50000 over three years
- PEST/Article 21 - £700
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For the Open Door Project
- £6250 from PF Charitable Trust, The Celtic Charity Fund, Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust, Dullatur Foundation,
For the LED Wall Display in Residence
- Alan Menzies - £1000 + Gift Aid
- W M Mann Foundation - £900
- Anderson Burgess Charitable Trust - £1000
- Martin Connell Charitable Trust - £2000
Sensory Garden Project
- Linlithgow Floral Art Club - £300
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Major Funding Boost for Donaldson's (8th January. 09)
As Donaldson’s celebrates the first anniversary of its new school in Linlithgow, news of two funding boosts marks the culmination of a highly successful year. The grants have been made in support of the school’s superb transition work, helping pupils integrate into the community after they leave school. A sum of £50,000 has been awarded by the Scottish Government Equality Unit, with a further £10,000 given by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland.
To read the full press release please click here (opens a PDF,119KB)
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Donaldson's Bowled Over with Kind Donation
 Donaldson's wishes to thank the Junior Section of the Bellsburn Bowling Green for their kind donation of £123. Pictured here (from left to right) are Sandra Green, the President of Bellsburn Bowling Green, Susan Napier from Donaldson's Residence, Donaldson's Fundraiser Gill Sinclair and Deputy Head Teacher Carol Binnie along with pupil Jordan Denley.
Donaldson's also wishes to thank the following organsations and individuals for their recent donations to The Governors of Donaldson Trust. Every penny goes towards the education and care of our pupils and providing the very best resources and opportunities for all.
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Top Hotel Chooses to Support Donaldson's (8th May, 2008)
 
To mark Deaf Awareness Week (5-9 May), Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel has announced that Donaldson’s will be recognised as the hotel’s charity of the year.To celebrate the announcement, Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel has pledged to donate picnic tables, benches and two brick-built barbeques worth over £3,000, which will be located in the school’s extensive woodland grounds.
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Can you help us raise money for Donaldson's?
Volunteers
We are always looking for volunteers to help us with fundraising events, please let us know if you can spare a few hours now and then to help out. Simply contact our Fundraiser Gill Sinclair with your details.
Other ways we raise money include:
- Grant-making Trusts and Foundations
We have been fortunate in having the support of a number of grant-giving trusts and foundations, each making a valuable contribution to the cost of elements of our work and helping with the purchase of essential items of equipment. Fundraising from trusts and foundations will remain a key element of our fundraising strategy as we seek to expand our work and find new areas where we can influence the development of education and support for the needs of the children with whom we work.
If you have any links with a charitable trust or foundation, and are interested in supporting us, we would be very pleased to tell you more about Donaldson’s, the school and our work. Contact us to find out more
There are many ways in which a company can support Donaldson’s, including sponsorship, in-kind donations, payroll giving, Charity Of The Year nomination and challenge events fundraising. Obtaining sponsorship from the corporate sector is a priority for us with our new school in Linlithgow offering many interesting opportunities, large and small, for companies to get involved. If you or your family and friends work for a company which could be interested in sponsoring part of our new school please contact us for further details. We would like to express our particular thanks to companies who have been supporting us in different ways, including:
Allied Irish Bank (GB)
CALA Homes
The John Lewis Partnership
SPIFOX
Corporate support should be a two-way relationship and we will, of course, give full recognition to any help we receive from companies, wherever possible on site, and certainly on our web site and in any literature we might issue.
If you are participating in any organised events such as marathons or walks and would like to raise sponsorship on behalf of Donaldson's we would be very supportive of your fundraising and naturally very grateful. If indeed you want to organise your very own fundraising event to benefit Donaldson's we would also be very supportive and help in any which way we can.
There are a number of ways in which individuals can support Donaldson’s and its work and we will be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to make a difference to the lives of the children with whom we work, in this way.
Some of the options you might like to consider include:
- Single gifts – whatever you can afford will be very much appreciated and, if you are a UK taxpayer, your gift can be increased by 28 per cent simply by completing a Gift Aid declaration - download a copy (PDF, 120KB).
- Regular gifts – a commitment to regular monthly donations is very helpful to us as it allows us to plan our future funding needs and thus make the most of your donations
- Payroll giving – a monthly donation from your salary is an easy way to donate and allows us to plan ahead with confidence
- Legacy giving – by remembering Donaldson’s in your Will, you will be helping to support our work in the years to come. You do not have to be wealthy to leave a charitable bequest which is easy to include in your Will
If you would like to find out more about fundraising opportunities at Donaldson’s, or if you can help in any way, then please get in touch with our Fundraiser Gill Sinclair on 01506 841 900.
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*deaf is used to cover Deaf pupils, hard of hearing and deafened
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