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November Gift Aid Blog

 

I

21 November 2014

 

Gift Aid has been very much in the news this week following the publication of HMRC’s latest research paper: “Gift Aid and Understanding Donor Behaviour”.

This is not a large piece of research but it is significant and we all need to be reminded of how important Gift Aid is to the Charity Sector.

 

Commenting on the HMRC research, NCVO said, “Gift Aid is already worth over £1bn to the voluntary sector, but according to the National Audit Office around £2.3bn of donations are not currently being claimed for Gift Aid. While not all of these donations will be eligible, charities are potentially losing out on hundreds of millions of pounds of tax repayments.”

 

The Guardian’s fundraising expert, Alastair Petrie wrote an interesting piece:  “Gift Aid – five ways charities can maximise the potential of Gift Aid.” It is worth a look.

 

The HMRC report includes a section “How to explain Gift Aid” and another, “How to present Gift Aid”.  If you have time, it is worth reading the whole report but NCVO and Guardian Voluntary both offer clear commentaries on it.  I have put some links to interesting articles below.

 

I would also recommend the general HMRC website sections on Gift Aid, they are very clear and it is always worth talking to the office if you have any questions.   The potential of Gift Aid is too important to make mistakes or to miss opportunities of maximising every donation where it is applicable.

 

Do you know about the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)? That can be tremendously helpful for small charities.

 

If you have any questions or need any advice on the subject do contact me.

 

Best wishes

 

Paul.

 

Links to websites and articles follow:

 

The HMRC report “Gift Aid and Understanding Donor Behaviour”

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/372221/report344.pdf

 

NCVO Blog on the report:

http://blogs.ncvo.org.uk/2014/11/17/teach-a-donor-about-gift-aid-and-your-charity-will-benefit-for-life/

 

Alastair Petrie’s article for Guardian Voluntary:

http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2014/nov/19/gift-aid-how-charities-make-most-of-it

 

HMRC Gift Aid Toolkit on the main website:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift-aid-toolkit.htm

 

 Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) guidance on HMRC website

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gads-helpsheet.pdf

 

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