Laser Printer

naiveandhopeful

Hi all, I'm new here and this is the 1st time I've posted on here so firstly I apologize if I'm either posting this in the wrong place or if it has already been covered somewhere else.

I've just started working for a small charity which provides various services to support disabled people. The project I'm working with provides a free advice and guidance service to disabled people (a little bit like citizens advice bureau).

We've got grant funding to run the service but unfortunately not for all the office equipment we need. We have been donated a couple of ink printers but as we do so much printing we're finding the cost of replacing ink is really eating into our budget and as we also have to print quite lengthy documents we could really do with a couple of laser printers.

Can anybody advise me of any companies I could approach who might donate 1 or 2 laser printers to us? I'm not sure if approaching local companies or larger organisations would be best and as I'm new to working in the charity sector I'm not sure if it would be seen as a bit cheeky to ask for something like a laser printer as it's an expensive thing to ask for.

Any suggestions or advice will be much appreciated

forever.insane

naiveandhopeful wrote: »

Can anybody advise me of any companies I could approach who might donate 1 or 2 laser printers to us? I'm not sure if approaching local companies or larger organisations would be best and as I'm new to working in the charity sector I'm not sure if it would be seen as a bit cheeky to ask for something like a laser printer as it's an expensive thing to ask for.

Any suggestions or advice will be much appreciated

Phone local, biggish businesses (big for the area) and tell them about your printing needs and see if they can help.

Or maybe phone a place that sells the ink you buy and see if they can help. Worth a try.

if that doesn't work then phone the local Currys, PC world ect and see what they say. I doubt they would, but worth a try.

Savvy_Sue

First, welcome, and second, is this part of your job or is there someone else within the organisation who is responsible for fundraising? If there is, have they maybe got contacts you could approach, and advice on doing it?

When we were considering our need for a small colour laser printer, I chatted to the chap who refills our inkjet cartridges, and he was very helpful. He could probably have introduced us to someone from HP who could have got us a refurb model, but in the end we bought new because we also wanted it to be a fax machine.

SueMaggie

In Kind Direct often has printers and ink cartridges etc in stock.

Look under Work and Office on the website.

This is a brilliant organisation that is a central point for companies to donate surplus goods. Charities can register and order what they need. You'll need to pay a handling charge when ordering goods, but this is usually around 10%-20% of what you would pay in the shops and includes delivery to charities’ doors.

naiveandhopeful

Thanks for your replies. I will get in touch with some local businesses and see if anyone can help. I know it's a long shot but as long as it doesn't seem too cheeky to ask (I don't want to give our charity a bad name especially as I'm new) I suppose I can't do any harm by asking. We don't have a specific fundraiser and unfortunately I have been told we can't even afford to buy a refurbished laser printer but thank you for the link to In Kind Direct. I didn't know about them so that is very useful

Savvy_Sue

You might find some more useful information on the Small Biz & Charity Organisers board, so I'll move you over there.

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