Charity 'Gift Aid' by phone.

Bendy_House

Hi all.

Had an interesting call from an organisation I had subscribed to for a year (the RHS - I needed their specific help with a specific issue. I'm not a gardening dude...) They asked if I'd like to Gift Aid my annual subscription, which I was obviously happy enough to do.

The thing was, all I had to do was say a verbal 'Yes' to their request, so that was dead easy, especially as I was driving (HF, of course...). That got me to thinking, could the wee local charitable yoof group I help out at do the same? They have recently asked parents to GA their subscriptions, but there seems to be a real reluctance to do this, as only a very few have done so.

It's the same at my local Primary school - it really helps in a number of ways if every child who is entitled to Pupil Premium funding does so, but again it's like pulling hen's teeth.

Anyone know if getting GA is really that simple - one phone call - for all charitable organisations, or does the RHS have something special going on?!

Thanks :-)

p00hsticks

Bendy_House said:

Hi all.

Had an interesting call from an organisation I had subscribed to for a year (the RHS - I needed their specific help with a specific issue. I'm not a gardening dude...) They asked if I'd like to Gift Aid my annual subscription, which I was obviously happy enough to do.

The thing was, all I had to do was say a verbal 'Yes' to their request, so that was dead easy, especially as I was driving (HF, of course...). That got me to thinking, could the wee local charitable yoof group I help out at do the same? They have recently asked parents to GA their subscriptions, but there seems to be a real reluctance to do this, as only a very few have done so.

It's the same at my local Primary school - it really helps in a number of ways if every child who is entitled to Pupil Premium funding does so, but again it's like pulling hen's teeth.

Anyone know if getting GA is really that simple - one phone call - for all charitable organisations, or does the RHS have something special going on?!

Thanks :-)

In my experience for the donee you're correct that it's just a tick box on a form or a verbal 'yes' if paying in person, although the charity needs the recipients details and the donor is supposed to confirm that they pay at least as much in income tax as will be reclaimed via the gift aid (I tend to decline for this reason). I'm surprised RHS didn't ask you at the point of getting your subscription - perhaps they simply follow up by phone on those who don't tick the box.

Details on how to claim (which from the sound of it the organisations you mention are already aware of) are here

https://www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid/what-you-can-claim-it-on

Savvy_Sue

The primary school may be a different matter because unlikely to be a registered charity, but something that's worth knowing for the local yoof group is the ability to claim Gift Aid on cash donations of up to £30, or more recently on card donations of up to £30. 

https://www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid/small-donations-scheme

You might find that a follow up to those parents who haven't 'ticked the box' is worthwhile, because it IS so easy - presumably you already have parents' names and addresses, so all you are asking for is whether they are taxpayers! However, in some areas that might be a question parents don't want to answer, and they might want to be reassured that who is and isn't gift aiding is kept highly confidential. 

If you can frame it in terms of 'what we could do if we had an extra £x this year' it might help increase takeup. 

Bendy_House

Hi pOOh, and thanks for the link. I have since received a letter from them confirming my acceptance, and to let them know if anything has changed.

I'll have a good read of that link - it should be interesting.

Bendy_House

Hi SavvyS.

Thanks for your link too - lots of reading  

Yes, the situation with the Primary School is different, but I just mentioned it as another example of many people's reluctance to sign up to such things, even tho' it's explained to them how incredibly beneficial it is to the organisation.

Lots of folk seemingly need to have the work done for them...