Gift Aid is a Government scheme that allows charities to reclaim tax on donations made by a UK taxpayers. This means churches can receive an additional 25p for every £1 given by a taxpayer at no extra cost to the giver.
Collectively Church of England parishes receive over £80m in Gift Aid income each year, which is enough to fund 1,600 stipendiary clergy. This is only possible thanks to the hard work of volunteers running Gift Aid programmes in parishes. There are a number of resources available to enable these volunteers to claim Gift Aid for their parish both efficiently and in line with good practice.
Gift Aid fact sheets
The Parish Resources website has a wealth of resources to enable you to make the most of Gift Aid. Legislation changes frequently so keep checking back to the website to check for updates.
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme
The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) allows parishes to claim Gift Aid on anonymous donation (eg plate collections or contactless card payments). There is a threshold for how much you can claim via this method each year and you must already be claiming regular Gift Aid. Visit the Parish Resources website to find out how to claim GASDS and what the requirements are.
Further help and information
If you want any further help or information on Gift Aid please contact the Generous Giving Team (E: generousgiving@leccofe.org T: 0116 261 5244)
If you are struggling to claim Gift Aid then the Parish Giving Scheme can do this for your regular giving for free. Please be in touch with the Generous Giving Team if you would like to find out more about this.