How you can support a charity

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You can donate financially or donate your time (as a volunteer or a trustee) and talent in a way which reduces the amount that would otherwise be spent.

Financial donations are most valuable to a non profit when they are given over time and reliably and through a tax efficient route. Here are some examples.

Regular giving and gift aid

Making a regular gift by standing order or direct debit  from your bank account accompanied by a gift aid declaration to cover all such gifts from you is the optimum way to donate from the charities point of view. They can rely on the income and know how much and when it will be, they can receive the gift-aided uplift back from the Inland Revenue, they are administratively straightforward and inexpensive to process.

So for example a monthly gift-aided and committed donation of £20, gift-aided, with a prevailing basic tax rate of 25 per cent means that the gift costs the donor £20, an additional £5 (25 per cent) is added by the Revenue giving the non profit £25 to spend in achieving its charitable purpose.

Increasingly, non profits are seeking to benefit from the gift aid uplift on one off donations by asking individuals to make use of gift aid envelopes which carry a gift aid declaration or to add your own declaration when responding to a particular appeal.

To benefit from gift aid, the donation must be made by someone who pays income or capital gains tax at least equivalent to the amount of the uplift. It requires the donor to give their name and address to the benefiting organisation alongside. If you do not wish the organisation to contact you for other purposes you can stipulate this.

Gift–aided sponsorship is also actively encouraged and provided for by good on-line giving facilities as well.

Simply visit a charity's website or call them up ask how you give a regular gift.

Gifting shares

It is also possible for individuals to gift shares to non profits tax effectively; where this is done professional advice is likely to be beneficial.

Legacies

Legacies are another way of donating whereby an instruction is contained in your Will to distribute cash or other assets to a named non profit organisation. Your solicitor can readily advise on how to do this.

CAF cheques

CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) provide CAF accounts whereby individuals can lodge a lump sum into their CAF accounts and then write CAF cheques in favour of particular non profits as and when they wish to donate. CAF cheques may only be used for donations and not for purchasing items being sold in aid of charity.

Employee-giving

Regular giving schemes such as payroll giving enable regular amounts to be deducted at source and passed on to non profits if employers offer such a facility. Sometimes employers will commit to matching (sometimes up to a fixed cap) their employee’s committed giving in this way. 

Employers may also encourage staff to undertake fundraising activities the proceeds from which they may match and they may also encourage staff to volunteer time, during work hours, in working as a volunteer in a charity or other non profit organisation.

Encouraging children to give

School children are frequently encouraged by their schools and supported by their parents to develop the habit of engaging with non profit organisations by a committed programme of fundraising activities and events and volunteering where appropriate.

Later on, in tertiary education or through social ,sport and leisure groups  are motivated to work together to devise and participate in fundraising for chosen non profit beneficiaries; these include organisations such as Rotary, Round Table, Inner Wheel, the WI, and a host of special or mutual interest groups  Religious groups are regular fundraisers and donors to non profits.

Have your say

If you're new to non profits, why not join in one of the discussions and learn from people who are already working in the sector.  Ask questions and share your thoughts on one of KnowHow's discussion forums.