We all know the importance of Gift Aid for getting the most out of your donations, but the increased demand on administration means that Gift Aid can be quite time consuming. Therefore, maximising the donations generated should be a priority for any Gift Aid officer.
Effective Social Media Use
Social platforms increase in users every year, and whilst there are a diverse set of social media channels to utilise, each serve a different and equally important purpose. Digital Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow you to connect directly to your audience by contributing to their feed with content and information about projects and campaigns. Instagram is currently in the “hot seat” of the social circles at the moment, and it bases itself around images as the primary source of content. Interesting pictures on social media are truly worth 1000 words. Or 1000 hashtags – whatever takes your fancy. Learn everything you need to know about instagram and hashtags here.
HMRC Charities Online
HMRC Charities Online provide Gift Aid claimants with a faster process for claiming on their donations. The portal allows charities to claim on upto 1,000 donations at a time and receive payment within 15 working days of filing their claim. On larger donation volumes, charities can also use their own database to submit claims which will result in quicker processing of claims.
Information is Key
How charities and businesses process information has become a critical component of any successful business and the utilisation of Gift Aid information is no different. You can not only minimise the time spent on the administration of Gift Aid, but you can use process your information to identify trends on donations, monitor success of campaigns and determine your most valuable Gift Aid donors. Consult a Gift Aid professional who can help you to structure your Gift Aid to work best for you or visit IT for Charities to see what Gift Aid software is most suitable for your organisation.
Promote and Educate
The benefits and importance of Gift Aid is still misunderstood by a great deal of charitable donors. We suggest promoting Gift Aid with a prominent message wherever your request donations. If your audience is aware and educated on the importance of the scheme, they are more likely to donate so let them know how far their Gift Aid donation will go at no extra cost to them. Monthly newsletters are a great way to do this. Digital marketing services like MailChimp allow you to build audiences through e-mails and provide your donors with monthly content about your charity, active campaigns and successes they may have contributed to. You are able to build a community and share important information directly with your core audience. You can also publicly acknowledge the major donors to your cause – show them just how much you value them. Don’t neglect the importance of e-mail communication!
The Gift Aid scheme has proved an invaluable source of income for charities, worth around £1 billion annually to good causes. Once the processes are in place, it is a straightforward way for charities to increase the value of cash gifts from those who pay tax in the UK by claiming back the basic rate tax paid by the donor. It can increase the value of donations by a quarter – without costing the donor an extra penny. If you are not currently using Gift Aid, learn more about the scheme on the HMRC website here.
Lockie Limited have over 50 years of experience in the manufacture and printing of church collection envelopes and charity envelopes alike. We supply thousands of churches of all denominations nationwide and cater to any size of parish, from the largest or smallest.
