Daffodil Day may be over while Trocaire's Lenten campaign has just come to an end but around the corner is the Women's Mini Marathon.

A steady stream of such high-profile, traditional events remains the fund-raising mainstay for most charities, but a growing number are also adopting more modern techniques to raise money.

In recent years, a greater sense of professionalism has crept into the approach of the major charities to raising funds. While many still rely on volunteers and events from cake to car sales to raise money, most of the bigger ones now employ full-time fundraisers, many of them drawn from the business world.

These people are increasingly bringing their experience of a commercial environment, and disciplines such as marketing and public relations, to bear on the process of raising funds.

"Previously charities relied on spontaneous support from the public, things like street collections," says Mr Paul Artherton, a fund-raiser with the Simon Community. "But this is now an increasingly small part of what charities do."

In addition to growing public resistance to handing over money in such an unaccountable fashion, charities - like their counterparts in the commercial world - are keen to establish an ongoing relationship with their donors.

From the charity's viewpoint, this has obvious advantages but it also means the donor can be kept better informed of what happens to the money donated.

Public donations continue to account for a sizeable chunk of most charities' funding but there are growing efforts to put this on a more regular footing.

Typically, different charities tend to do well at different times. Simon, for instance, gets a lot of donations at Christmas when people become more conscious of the plight of the homeless while money flows into Third World charities whenever there is a major international disaster.

But as Mr Artherton notes: "We all run services 365 days a year and need ongoing funds."

As a result, many charities now encourage their supporters to set up standing orders or direct debits which provide them with a regular income stream rather than one-off contributions.

Trocaire, for instance, says that it raised £340,000 through some 2,500 standing orders last year and currently is in the process of introducing a direct debit payment method.

Its public relations officer, Ms Caroline Lynch, describes such methods as "a cost effective way of securing a steady stream of income" which allows the charity to focus on long-term development and planning for the future.

The use of direct mailing techniques is also being employed by many charities to encourage donations and while it has been slow to take off to date, some charities believe the Internet could become an important source for funds.

Experience in the US suggests that the Internet has proved particularly useful for those who need to raise money quickly for disaster relief. Most leading charities now have sites for the provision of information, but also offer a facility to contribute although the flow of funds from this has been slow to date.

Legacies are another important but unpredictable source of funding for certain charities. The Irish Cancer Society, for instance, advertises regularly to invite people to include the charity in their wills but national co-ordinator, Mr James Cassidy, says it is hard to budget for it. "It tends to be a very mercurial thing."

This has led many charities to consider new links with businesses besides the traditional forms of business support such as direct donations or sponsorships.

Case-related marketing, where a small portion of the cost of a product goes to a certain charity, is perhaps best known from the sale of Christmas cards but has been extended in recent years to other products.

The use of affinity cards, where the charity earns commission for every customer that signs up to a co-branded credit card offered by the charity and a financial institution, are also becoming popular. Among those to have taken advantage of this form of fundraising is the Dublin Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA).

At present, there is little regulation of the charitable sector in the Republic although many leading charities would welcome it as a means of protecting the sector from the few bad apples that invariably emerge.

Unlike Britain, where the British Charity Commission acts as overseer, the only place Irish charities need to register is with the Revenue Commissioners if they wish to obtain tax exemption status.

However, a Fund-raising for Charitable and Other Purposes Bill is in the early stages of preparation although it is unlikely to be published before next year.

The Bill, which forms part of the Government's legislative programme, is aimed at reforming the law in relation to the administration and regulation of charities.

In the meantime, most reputable charities publish annual audited accounts and donors should be able to obtain a copy upon request. Those which receive money from the State or the European Commission are subject to further checks.

"Anybody who supports a charity reluctant to give out their accounts should think twice about it," says Simon's Mr Artherton.

As well as detailing the work undertaken during the year, the annual report should contain a breakdown of costs, including how much is spent on administration.

Trocaire, for instance, says that it has drawn up a donor charter, based on a British model, which commits it to keeping administrative and fund-raising costs to a minimum. Over the past three years, an average of less than 5 per cent of income has gone on administration while just 7 per cent has been used to meet fundraising costs.