Charity Governance

Gift Aid is one of the simplest ways for charities and CASCs to boost their income - for every £1 donated, you can claim an extra 25p from HMRC at no extra cost to your supporters. It’s essentially free money that helps you make every donation go further. 

But while Gift Aid can be hugely valuable, setting it up and managing claims isn’t always straightforward. Without the right processes in place, many organisations miss out on thousands of pounds in unclaimed tax relief each year.

With Virgin Money Giving announcing its closure, many charities are looking for alternative fundraising platforms. 

The clock is ticking. Non-profit organisations need to find cost-effective, user-friendly solutions ahead of the 30th November 2021 when Virigin Money Giving will cease to operate. Without a new platform, their fundraising efforts are at risk of being impacted, disadvantaged (or even grinding to a halt.)

What is a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)?

A Donor-Advised Fund, or DAF, is a philanthropic giving vehicle hosted by a registered charity (KindLink Foundation). It allows individuals or organisations (DAF account holder) to establish a foundation account and instruct donations without having to register a charity themselves. This scheme can save cost and time while it is much more flexible and easy to manage than a regular registered nonprofit organisation.

Every year charities claim more than £1 billion back from the HMRC as part of the Gift Aid scheme. The scheme has proved to be hugely successful as an additional income stream for non-profits and is a way to give donors a clear say on what their taxes (or at least part of them) should be spent on.

When you aim to solve big problems, you need to have the right tools. Even better if they are free, and absolutely amazing. 

Many nonprofit organisations in the UK struggle with migrating to online digital solutions, usually because of two reasons:

In 2015, I teamed up with the Charities Aid Foundation to compile a best practice guide about young trustees.  

The publication covers a whole range of potential solutions to the 'problems' that both I and other young trustees have identified (and in many cases, personally experienced).

I spoke at two events during ‘fundraising week’ in April 2016. And at each event, I was asked about how operational staff can get trustees more involved in what they're doing without crossing the lines of governance.