Gift Aid

The Give It Back George campaign has united the charity sector unlike any other issue in recent times.

Charities are about to find it harder to maintain their Gift Aid income. From 5 April 2011 the Transitional Tax Relief on donations by Gift Aid will come to an end.

I know Gift Aid can seem dull, but it really is worth getting right, especially with regard to higher rate taxpayers. I picked up a good tip recently for charities looking to maximise their return from wealthier donors. It works like this.

New Gift Aid was introduced by the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, as part of his ‘Get Britain Giving ‘campaign.

The rise in higher rate tax to 50% taxpayers which comes into effect on 6 April 2010 is good news for charities in terms of Gift Aid.

1. Introduction

It is common knowledge that Gift Aid has regrettably not been the success hoped for when the new version was introduced in 2000 by the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown MP.

A recent report by CAF and NVCO estimates that almost £750 million is lost to the sector in unclaimed Gift Aid.

The news that the Gift Aid reclaim period is dropping from six to four years should be a huge ‘fit up yir @rses’ for a lot of people (excuse the Scots but I’m sure you can work out what it means).

I met with Gift Aid specialist Barry Gower in London yesterday, ahead of UK Fundraising's half-day training course which he will be presenting next week on 5 May in London.