Making the most of Gift Aid
With Gift Aid, for every pound you give, your local church gets an extra 25p from HM Revenue & Customs. Your donation goes further - at no extra cost to you!
If you want to give money under Gift Aid, all you need to do is use a Gift Aid envelope or sign a simple Declaration. Ask your church Treasurer for a form.
Gift Aid - made easy: support and advice for parishes
Gift Aid paperwork is straight-forward, and HM Revenue & Customs simply send you the money! All your regular givers should be invited to sign a Gift Aid Declaration form. This enables you to reclaim the tax they have paid without any further work on the donor’s part. Please note that the wording of the Gift Aid Declaration is changing from January 2013 see here. Parishes are advised to amend their proforma Gift Aid Declaration forms as soon as possible, although HMRC will accept the old wording on Gift Aid envelopes until churches have used up existing stocks.
Our 'Gift Aid - made easy' resource gives step-by-step guidance on running Gift Aid in your parish. It was written with the help of 3 experienced Treasurers. It consists of 27 pages packed full of useful information for people who are newcomers to running Gift Aid, along with practical tips for old hands. Contents include:-
- Worked examples showing how to keep your records and fill in the HM Revenue & Customs claim form.
- Frequently asked questions, practical tips to make the most of Gift Aid and sample letters to parishioners.
- Examples of ‘borderline cases’ from a fictional parish.
- Notes on using computer programs to keep your records.
- Links to further help on the web.
To download 'Gift Aid - made easy', click here (1.5MB).
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)
A scheme will be introduced from April 2013 which will enable churches and charities to claim a top-up payment similar to Gift Aid on up to £5,000 of cash donations up to and including £20, without the need for Gift Aid Declarations.
Gift Aid guidance for parishes
The national church has produced a sheet of guidelines to help parishes adapt to the 2011 changes to the Gift Aid scheme - click here.
Magazine article to encourage Gift-Aided donations
Want to encourage Gift Aid take-up in your church? This article by Stewardship Adviser Andrew Rainsford may help - click here.
Transitional Relief ended April 2011
The amount that your church is able to reclaim on donations reduced from 6 April 2011. When the rate of income tax reduced in 2008, churches were able to reclaim a special 'Transitional Relief' tax, worth 3p on every £1 donated, effectively topping the 20% income tax rate back up to 22% to compensate charities for loss of Gift Aid income. This relief ended on 5 April 2011, so Gift Aid on donations from church members is now worth less. You may wish to make your givers aware of the effect on your church of these changes and encourage them to increase their giving where they can. We have produced a flier which you can send to givers or display in your church click here for flier or click here for flier with crop marks.
We need envelopes . . !
What about occasional worshippers and visitors? They too can use Gift Aid to increase the value of their donation. The most common way to do this is by one-off Gift Aid envelopes. Every parish should have a supply!
Gift Aid envelopes help people make tax-efficient gifts to your church. If you only need a small number (under 1,000) the Stewardship office can supply you at £4.50 per 100. All you need to do is add the name of your PCC to each envelope and put them out in church. Please send your cheque (payable to ‘Bath & Wells DBF’) to: Stewardship office, The Old Deanery, WELLS, Somerset BA5 2UG.
For larger quantities, it's cheaper to buy from commercial suppliers. They can also print a picture or church logo on your envelopes for you.
Get the Gift Aid logo free
The 'Gift Aid it' logo provides a positive, friendly and simple way of drawing attention to Gift Aid on your church's publicity. You can use the logo without any charge. Right-click on either of the logos to save or copy it to paste it in to your own documents.
Gift Days and ebay sales
Many parishes hold Gift Days as part of an appeal. Have you considered asking for goods as well as cash? There are people who may be unable to be as financially generous as they would wish but have ‘things’ that they could give. You could sell these locally, eg church auction, but there may be a limited market. An account with Mission Fish (www.missionfish.org.uk) allows you to sell goods via ebay at a significantly reduced charge. It is possible for others to sell goods on your behalf, often done when people are moving house. Something sells for charity every 2 minutes on ebay and over £11,000 per day is raised. Donated goods can be Gift Aided. To explore this further, please contact the Stewardship Office.
Please do not overlook the local route of sale as well - local auctioneers may have a specialist sale for specific items and be able to obtain excellent prices in their general sales. They will be aware of specialist auctioneers for the truly specialist goods and will be able to point you in the right direction. PCCs need to maximise income for the church but also need to ensure that we are supporting the local economy.
More Gift Aid help
We will happily give advice on ways of increasing Gift Aid take-up, or put you in touch with others who have made it work for them.
You can also get authoritative information direct from the HM Revenue and Customs Gift Aid website, which also allows you to download the relevant documents. Or you can phone The Charities Department, who administer the scheme, 0845 302 0203.
Register for e-bulletin
Keep up-to-date with news from around the Diocese with our e-bulletin. Sign-up now!