Gift Aid explained

Gift Aid is a government scheme that allows us to claim 25% more on your donations of goods or money at no extra cost to you. With Gift Aid, we can make an extra 25p on every £1 of your donation by claiming against the basic rate tax that you have already paid or will be paying to HMRC. It’s one of the easiest ways to give to charity.

To sign up to Gift Aid, all we need from you is a declaration confirming that you wish to Gift Aid your donations. There are a few ways to do this, choose the right one for you below:

When donating money: Simply tick or sign the Gift Aid box on the donation form or when completing our form online

When donating goods to our shops: Please ask a member of staff for a Gift Aid form to complete (if you haven’t already been asked on donation)

Call us on 0151 343 0778 and make a verbal declaration. We will send you confirmation of your declaration in the post and you can cancel if you choose to within 30 days.

Am I eligible for Gift Aid?

To be eligible to sign up to Gift Aid, you must be a current UK taxpayer. This has to be either Income tax or Capital Gains tax and you need to have paid enough tax to cover the amount that you are donating in that tax year to both us and other charities that you are Gift Aiding with.

If you donate goods to us, you won’t know the amount of money that they will raise until they have been sold, and so we write to you before claiming Gift Aid to advise you of this. We will confirm the amount raised, and give you the opportunity to tell us if you haven’t paid enough tax to cover. There are some further terms and conditions detailed on the declaration form about donating goods under Gift Aid, so please be sure to read it through when signing up.

If you are a higher rate taxpayer you can claim additional tax relief by claiming the difference between the basic rate tax that we will claim and the amount of tax that you have paid. For further details on how to do this, please contact your tax office.

Last year Gift Aid raised an incredible £48,500 for Wirral Hospice St John’s.

How we can help

We really value every donation and we would like to claim Gift Aid where we can.

• If you are being sponsored, ask us for a sponsor form – we can make one for you and we can claim gift aid on all eligible sponsorship – just call 0151 343 0778 or email fundraising@wirralhospice.org. Or you can set up a Justgiving page where Gift Aid is automatically claimed through the website.
• If you are asking for donations instead of gifts or flowers on a special occasion, we can provide you with Gift Aid envelopes. Using these will make sure we can claim the maximum Gift Aid on top of the donations themselves. If you would like something more personalised please call 0151 343 0778 to speak to a member of the Fundraising Team.
• We can also claim Gift Aid on items that you donate to our shops. Ask us about this when you call in with your goods. We will give you a simple form to complete and explain how the system works.

Gifts that don’t qualify under the scheme

• We can only claim Gift Aid on your donations if you are a UK taxpayer and if you are donating in your own right.
• We cannot claim Gift Aid on donations made by companies but there are plenty of tax-efficient ways in which businesses can help us and your accountant should be able to advise on these.
• We can only claim Gift Aid on money that you have personally paid tax on. This means we cannot claim Gift Aid if you collect money from other people and then pass it on to us (unless everyone you collect from signs a Gift Aid declaration and clearly indicates the value of their individual contribution).
• We can only claim Gift Aid on donations you make and don’t receive a benefit from. This means that we cannot claim if you pay for tickets to see a show, even if the show is to raise money for Wirral Hospice St John’s, or if you buy things like Christmas cards from us.
• We cannot claim Gift Aid on donations left to us in someone’s Will.

If you are unsure whether your donation is eligible for Gift Aid please call 0151 343 0778 or email fundraising@wirralhospice.org with any questions you may have.