Answer: When it’s a Gift Aid tick box!

Did you know that according to the latest findings by HM Revenue and Customs a staggering 200,000 charities didn’t add a Gift Aid tick box to their donation appeals, and as such have lost out on an eye watering £600 million (yes that’s right, six hundred million pounds!)

It’s shocking isn’t it! How this simple box – which doesn’t cost the donor (eligible so long as they have paid income tax or capital gains tax that year) anything extra, yet earns the charity 25p extra for every £1 raised!

Gift Aid was introduced by HMRC in 2013 to help raise an additional 25% for charities. Now, in a push to promote Gift Aid, as these findings emerge, has seen 50,000 charities and community amateur sports clubs being written to; stressing the importance of adding the Gift Aid tick box option and highlighting the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS). Speaking about this push, Robert Jenrick, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said, “The UK has thousands of brilliant charities, all working hard to make people’s lives better. Through Gift Aid, we are already giving charities an extra £1.3 billion of funding so they can continue their important work.”

It also has come to light, that many charities and small ones in particular, are unaware of the fact that with GASDS – small cash or contactless card donations – under £20 do not need a declaration.

FACT – This means a simple tick box will suffice. All that is needed to secure an extra 25% donation!

At Purity Fundraising, we really believe in the value of Gift Aid for charities. As such, we recently implemented a dedicated Gift Aid project on behalf of one of our charity clients.

Here, Helen Mackenzie, our CEO of Purity Fundraising, explains, “The good Gift Aid is doing is incredible. Around £1.3 billion of additional funding is being raised for UK charities through this scheme. Yet that sum could be nearly £2 billion if Gift Aid was added. As such we have worked on a dedicated Gift Aid project for a client. As well as being able to increase the original donation – free to the donor – it gave us the amazing opportunity simply to say ‘thank you’ to our donors.

Our team of professional telephone fundraisers really loved this project. It was such a special chance to show real appreciation for what the donor had done. We were able to share news on the charity’s good work and the fact, that without their donations that might not have been possible. In a society when all anyone wants to do is complain, to grumble or nag, it was like a breath of fresh air to simple say ‘thanks’. The feedback from those donors we called was overwhelming. They really wanted to engage with our Fundraisers. They loved the fact they were being thanked. And they were delighted that they could do even more good by agreeing to Gift Aid. It was a total ‘win, win’ for both our client and ourselves.

It goes to show that not all telephone activity in the third sector is asking for money. It’s about building relationships. It’s about raising awareness. And, as this project proves, it’s about expressing a deep and genuine show of gratitude – a social good over profit if you will.

This whole project is in complete keeping with Purity’s ethics and ethos – everything we do is about quality and integrity. Telephone fundraising, we truly believe is invaluable to the third sector. The collaboration we have with our with charity partners not only raises invaluable funds, but it also gives the charities a chance to connect with their donors, both new and existing.

The biggest driver for this, and what we believe makes Purity somewhat unique, is our special team of Fundraisers. It’s far from just a ‘job’ for them. They live and breathe good causes. As a company, as a group of friends, we actively support good causes… coming together in our shared beliefs we march on rallies, we participate in environmental clean ups, we support fairness and equal opportunities in our free time; and not just in the UK but overseas too. It’s our passion.

As a result, it’s this passion that has seen us raise over £2 million in just 8 months.