Headlines or bread and butter? Behind the scenes with the fundraising team

Bread and butter. These are not the exciting items on my shopping list. They are definitely not as exciting as the All Saints jacket I really want or the red dress I was eyeing up for Reprieve's annual fundraiser on 10 November. I'd always much rather spend my money on exciting things - wouldn't you? But the exciting items aren't the really important ones. It is the mundane items on my shopping list that keep me alive.

Fundraising is difficult at the best of times. In case anyone hasn't noticed it is currently far, far from the best of times. And getting money - be it from individuals or from trusts and foundations - is always easier for the 'exciting' items on Reprieve's shopping list. There are some cases or elements of Reprieve's work that people are just more inclined to give money to: cases that hit the headlines regularly; cases that are supported by celebrities or politicians; cases that have fast results and give a lot of bang for your buck.

But like my shopping list not all items that sustain Reprieve, that keep those people we assist alive, are exciting. Some are downright dull. Some cases can't be publicised, for confidentiality or fear of safety for those involved. Some cases go on and on and on and so people may donate money and see no bang for that particular buck until thirty years later. And sometimes the cases and the people that need your money the most are those that don't hit the front page of the Guardian every day, and which don't have politicians screaming from the roof tops about the injustice of it all. But that doesn't mean that that money doesn't make a difference. Possibly quite the opposite. For those cases that are poorly funded or attract little press attention each pound donated may very well have more of a marginal impact.

Currently on Reprieve's mundane shopping list, for example, are two new net-books (see what I mean by mundane?). At any one time at least a third of our staff are out of the office either on investigations, in Guantanamo, or in the courts in Washington, DC. At the moment we have only one net-book to share between them. Two further net-books would enable more of our staff to work more efficiently while they are away.

Net books cost just £300 each. It's not exciting, it's decidedly mundane. But it is literally our bread and butter.