There are lots of small ways you can help NASS without having to cough up any cash yourself.

Give in celebration

Celebrating a birthday, anniversary or special event this year? Receiving a gift on these occasions is always a joy. Imagine the joy in giving a donation to the cause dear to you. Imagine the difference a donation can make to that cause.

Celebrating your special event by supporting NASS will help raise vital funds to inform and empower people with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) so they can achieve the best possible outcome in managing their condition.

There are many occasions where you mightask your family and friends for a donation instead of a gift:

• Birthdays

• Engagements

• Weddings & wedding anniversaries

• Father's day

• Mother's day

• Retirement

If you would like to know more or would like to let us know that you intend to support NASS in this way, please contact Jill Hamilton on 020 8948 9117 or send an email. We can also provide a selection of materials to help promote your gift to NASS including invites,certificates, pens, t shirts and wristbands.

Apply for Waitrose 'Community Matters'

Each month every Waitrose branch donates £1,000 (£500 in Convenience shops) between three local good causes that you choose. At the checkout, you'll receive a token. Just place it in a box of the good cause you'd most like to support. The more tokens a cause gets, the bigger the donation they receive. Go to the Waitrose website to find out your nearest branch and how to nominate NASS.

Shop online

TopCashBack - www.topcashback.co.uk is a shopping site whereby members can get cash back on any purchases made. You can also elect to donate your cash back to a charity. NASS is registered with this site and so you can start shopping and start donating!

Give as You Live - A part of Everyclick, this is a service which allows you to raise money as you shop. Simply go to www.giveasyoulive.com and when you've set up an account you'll be ready to shop! A wide variety of retailers are involved such as Apple, Tesco Direct and British Airways, each giving a percentage of the purchase to NASS. When you have signed up don't forget to share on Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, Linkedin or by email and earn an extra £5 for NASS for every friend that signs up!

Easyfundraising.co.uk - This is both an online shopping website and a search engine. Fixed percentages or amounts for any online purchases made through the website will come directly to NASS. There are literally thousands of retailers to choose from including big names such as Tesco Direct, Amazon and Blockbuster. To sign up go to easyfundraising.co.uk.

The Giving Machine - When you shop online via TheGivingMachine, a sales commission is received from the participating shop. 75% of this is converted into a donation on your behalf and sent to your NASS. 25% is retained to contribute to costs of maintaining the website and distributing donations. When you sign up just choose ‘National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society' as your chosen beneficiary. Sign up at www.thegivingmachine.co.uk.

Ebay for Charity - Have you got some items around the house that you just don't want anymore? How about selling them on ebay and donating 10% to 100% of your profit to NASS. Why Give it a try by registering at www.ebay.co.uk and choosing NASS as your charity.

Recycle cartridges and cars

Cartridge recycling - This is a simple but very effective way of raising money. All you have to do is email jill@nass.co.uk, we'll send you an envelope, pop your empty cartridges in the envelope provided and send them off in the post. And the best thing? It costs you nothing and NASS get £1 for every cartridge and up to £30 for every mobile phone. If you have larger print cartridges at home, or work somewhere that you could collect larger volumes of cartridges, Recycle4Charity can also provide boxes. Just tick the box on the back of the bag when you send in your cartridges and they will send one box or 10 bags to you for free. Alternatively go to the Recycle 4 Charity website to order bags and boxes. You will find a recycling envelope inside this edition of the newsletter.

Give a Car - NASS is working with fundraising initiative Giveacar, which can tow away your unwanted car and donate the profits to NASS, and it won't cost you anything!

How it works:

Step 1 - Contact Giveacar via www.giveacar.co.uk to let them know you would like to donate your car. Don't forget to select NASS as your charity of choice - you can choose to donate anything from 10% to 100% of the cash from your car to NASS.

Step 2 - A tow truck will arrive within 1 to 3 days to pick up your vehicle.

Step 3 - The vehicle is then disposed of in an environmentally-friendly way either through recycling scrap or auction.

Step 4 - Giveacar will donate the proceeds (after administration costs and VAT) to NASS.

Do an online search

Everyclick.com - This is a search engine which gives money to NASS when you do an online search - simple as that! To use Everyclick as your search engine go to www.everyclick.com/nass.

Affilyon - This is a new search engine powered by Yahoo which donates half its advertising profits to charities. Supporters must use the specially created search engine for NASS.

Share your shares

Giving shares is a simple and effective way to support NASS and reduce your tax bill at the same time. If you donate shares to NASS via Sharegift you can get tax relief on your donation and you may also qualify for a reduction on any Capital Gains Tax that may apply.