Gift Aid is a Government initiative that promotes charitable giving. It enables charities to reclaim the tax made on donations by UK taxpayers. As such, Gift Aid could boost the amount you raise, and the amount we receive, by 28%.
Using Gift Aid means that for every £10 you raise, we get an extra £2.82 from the Inland Revenue. It doesn’t cost you a penny, and just requires a simple declaration from each of your sponsors or donors.
Gift Aid can be applied to donations from all UK taxpayers – whether they pay low, basic or high-rate income tax. To qualify for Gift Aid, what a donor pays in income tax or capital gains tax must at least equal the amount that we will claim in the tax year.
For low rate and basic rate taxpayers, we will claim back around 28% of the total value of their donations in that financial year. With higher-rate taxpayers, donors can claim back the difference between the standard rate which we will claim and the amount of tax they have actually paid the Inland Revenue.
Your sponsorship forms will include a simple Gift Aid declaration and a tick-box to enable us to reclaim the tax on each donation. JustGiving processes Gift Aid reclaims on online donations for charity automatically.
You will need to consider the following information when asking your sponsors to make their donation Gift Aid-able:
Your sponsors must fill in their first name and surname, their full home address and their postcode to enable us to reclaim tax on their donations.
This information is not for use with our mailing database – it is a requirement of the Inland Revenue.
Gift Aid does not cost your sponsors anything
The Gift Aid declaration is a simple statement that the donor is a UK taxpayer who wishes the charity to reclaim the tax on his \ her donation.
No signature is required to make a Gift Aid declaration.
A final note - please keep your sponsorship forms safe. We will eventually need them all in order to make our Gift Aid claims!