Gift Aid – The Low Down on increasing your donation by 25%

You may have noticed that in doing your good deeds for Hands Up, we often call on you to Gift Aid this or that. So if you’ve ever wondered the hows and the whys for this, here’s why…

What is Gift Aid?

Gift Aid increases any donation you make by 25%, so £1 becomes £1.25, £10 becomes £12.50 and so on.

Gift Aided donations that come to Hands Up have an extra 25% added free! The income tax charged on the donation is deducted, so it comes straight to us. Donations are only eligible for Gift Aid if you’re a UK taxpayer and Gift Aiding whatever you raise or donate means your donation is worth 25% more. Win win, right?

The process is really simple

All you need to do is make sure you tick the Gift Aid box if donating online or fill out a Gift Aid Declaration form which you can download one to print and fill out here.

This form says that you want to donate through Gift Aid, allowing Hands Up to receive tax back on that donation, as well as all future donations (should we be so lucky).

If you want to only Gift Aid a single donation, then that’s doable too – the form you’re after is on our resources page on the Syrian Supper Club website here.

A few rules

• You must be a UK Tax Payer
• You must pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in the current tax year than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all donations it is your responsibility to pay any difference.
• Your donation must be your own money and can not come from anyone else e.g. a business, friends, family or a collection.
• Your donation must not be from the sale of goods or provision of service e.g. a cake sale, auction or car wash.
• You cannot receive a benefit from the donation e.g. entry to an event, raffle or sweepstake.

Find out more

The Charities Aid Foundation has more detailed information on their website, so if you really want to swot up on your Gift Aid, visit them here.