How much do you give to charity?

sassyblue

I put £1 in whenever there's a charity collector outside our local supermarket which is most weeks, donate loads of clothes to the air ambulance bags that regularly get collected from us.

IPAlarms

Nothing. Not since I played golf with a charity collector who explained how little actually reached the people in need.

I prefer to directly help people who I find that are struggling a little in life.

bryanb

Approx 10 hours work per week, Also I don't claim expenses. Red Cross.

Coveredinbees!!!!

Zero, I don't do charity.

Nottoobadyet

I give £20 a month to a small local charity in which I am very involved. I know that 100% of it goes either to the very necessary running costs (phone for people in need to call, etc) or directly to the beneficiaries, as I have seen their accounts. I also contribute to people running, will put in £20 for a spot at a pub quiz, etc. I don’t give to most of the big charities, mostly because I don’t have much to give and because I personally believe it is important for big organizations to be accountable to their government donors in a way that individual donors can never hold them to.

I also work for a charity full time (and evenings and weekends!!) and volunteer for two, so I reassure myself that my karma isn’t totally shot!

Frosti

I was in a similar position a few years ago - paying about £60pm via DD to about a dozen charities. Then my personal crunch arrived, and DH insisted that ALL non-essential payments were stopped as part of sorting out my debts.
During the following year I only made one charitable payment that included gift aid; £5 after a funeral instead of buying flowers. Naturally I included it on my tax return - and was horrified to be charged £6 tax on my £5 donation!
Now I regularly support one tiny charity, by buying gifts for the charity's recipients. This comes from my personal spend (between £30-60pm, depending on other commitments). I also shake tins or make neighbourhood collections for the charities I used to support via DD, or do sponsored stuff - anything so long as the money doesn't go through my bank account and can therefore be ignored when I'm doing my tax return.

I had no idea charity DD payments with gift-aid were increasing my tax liability so much

Neeny82

I also do not pay charities any money via direct debit monthly payments. I also heard that the amount the people/animals in need actually receive is pitiful compared to how much is donated. (I obviously don't know this for a fact). My friends son spent some time recently working for a charity as one of the people you see in town, door knocking to get you to sign up to the monthly donations. He received £20 for every person who signed up. I'm assuming that that money comes from the donations people make.

However I do donate for sponsorship eg. Race for Life, etc and at my workplace we collect for a different charity each month which I always pay in to. I just don't feel comfortable setting up a regular direct debit payment for a charity. I do donate clothes and have helped out at charity functions before.

paulwf

Some of the smaller charities spend very little on admin, I agree some of the larger charities seem to be run more like a business.

How much I give depends on how much spare money we have at the time, sometimes £50 p/m and sometimes zero. That helps budgeting for us a lot better than direct debits.

To me where I spend money is probably just as important, it's no good giving £20 to charity then spending hundreds every month with unethical companies.

clairehi

Frosti wrote: »

I was in a similar position a few years ago - paying about £60pm via DD to about a dozen charities. Then my personal crunch arrived, and DH insisted that ALL non-essential payments were stopped as part of sorting out my debts.
During the following year I only made one charitable payment that included gift aid; £5 after a funeral instead of buying flowers. Naturally I included it on my tax return - and was horrified to be charged £6 tax on my £5 donation!


I had no idea charity DD payments with gift-aid were increasing my tax liability so much

This sounds completely wrong. You may want to check this with the Tax Office as, assuming you are paying enough UK income or CGT, you should not be taxed on a charitable donation, in fact if you are a higher rate tax payer you should be able to claim further tax relief via your SA form.

https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/giving/gift-aid.htm#4

From HMRC website

"Claiming back higher rate tax

If you pay higher rate tax, you can claim the difference between the higher rate of tax (40 per cent) and the basic rate of tax (20 per cent) on the total (gross) value of your donation to the charity or CASC.
For example, if you donate £100, the total value of your donation to the charity is £125 - so you can claim back 20 per cent of this (£25) for yourself. You can make this claim on your Self Assessment tax return if you were sent one. For more information see section below ‘Telling HMRC about your Gift Aid donations’."

clairehi

neneromanova wrote: »

I don't give anything to any charities as I have read up on each of these charities.

Could you tell us which charities you mean, and what have you read up on them?