What is Gift Aid and how does it work?
Gift Aid is one of the simplest and most effective ways of giving to charities like Treetops Hospice.
It is a scheme administered by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) which allows us to claim 25p for every £1 that you donate – at no extra cost to you.
If you are a UK taxpayer and become a Treetops Hospice Gift Aid supporter, we will receive £1.25 for every £1 you donate – it’s that simple.
It works if you are donating to our Treetops Hospice charity shops or making a one-off or regular monetary donation e.g. monthly.
How does Gift Aid help Treetops and local people?
It costs:
£20 to help two children receive counselling resources to help them cope with the death of a loved one.
On your donation of £20, we can claim an extra £5, making your gift worth £25
£67 helps a family with a loved one at the end of life to receive care from our Roaming Nurse team.
On your donation of £67, we can claim an extra £16.75, making your gift worth £83.75
£108 helps a patient at the very end of life receive Hospice at Home nursing care in their own home.
On your donation of £108, we can claim an extra £27, making your gift worth £135
Gift Aid: Donating items to our Treetops Hospice charity shops
You can opt into a separate Gift Aid scheme when you donate items to our charity shops.
This allows us to collect 25% more, whenever we sell an item that you donated.
How does it work?
Next time you’re dropping donations at any of our Treetops charity shops, tell us you want to Gift Aid your items.
- We will give you a Charity Shop Gift Aid Form to complete and a handy card with your Gift Aid donor number.
- Every time you donate to our charity shops in future you just need to tell us your number.
- We then label your items to claim the extra 25% Gift Aid when we sell what you’ve given us.
It is so easy to sign up. Just ask next time you’re in one of our charity shops. Or download the Charity Shop Gift Aid Form here and take into the shop.
It only takes a couple of minutes and will make an enormous difference to us.
Gift Aid: Your monetary donations to Treetops Hospice
All you have to do is confirm you are a UK taxpayer when you make your next donation to us.
You can do this even if you have registered for Gift Aid with another charity.
Simply download and complete this Gift Aid Form.
Post the form back to FREEPOST TREETOPS You do not need to add a stamp to the envelope or include our full address.
You only need to do this once and all your future donations to Treetops Hospice are covered. It’s even automatically backdated to any monetary donations you’ve given us during the past four years.
Commonly asked questions about Gift Aid
Am I eligible for Gift Aid?
You are eligible for Gift Aid if you are a UK tax payer and the Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax you pay in that year is at least equal to the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all of your donations in that tax year.
If you pay less tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all your donations in that tax year, it is your responsibility to pay any difference.
Even if you are not employed, you are still eligible, if you pay tax on::
- personal or occupational pension
- stocks and shares
- bank and building society savings accounts
- rental income
- overseas and UK investment dividends.
Are there any donations that don’t qualify for Gift Aid?
We can only claim Gift Aid on your donations if you are a UK taxpayer and if you are donating in your own right.
This means we cannot claim Gift Aid on donations made by companies. There are plenty of tax-efficient ways in which businesses can help us and your own accountant should be able to advise on these.
We can only claim on money that you have personally paid tax on.
This means we cannot claim Gift Aid if you collect money from other people (for example through a sponsored event or funeral collection) 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 cash 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 Treetops Hospice. Or if you buy things like our Treetops Hospice Christmas cards or register for our annual Christmas tree recycling scheme.
We cannot claim Gift Aid on donations left to us in someone’s will.
Note: Gift Aid is not applicable to the purchase of raffle tickets or to membership of the Treetops Lottery.
What if I don’t pay UK tax?
If you don’t pay UK taxes, then unfortunately you are not able to make a Gift Aid declaration. If you want us to make a note of this on your records, please let us know by contacting us.
What if I’m retired or no longer work?
Please get in touch and we can chat about your circumstances.
What should I do if my tax status changes, or I want to cancel my Gift Aid declaration?
Please get in touch and we can chat about your circumstances.
What if I’m a higher rate taxpayer? How does this affect my Gift Aid?
Please get in touch and we can chat about your circumstances.
What if I’m a Basic Rate taxpayer? How does this affect my Gift Aid?
Please get in touch and we can chat about your circumstances.
If you have any questions about Gift Aid, contact us at finance@treetopshospice.org.uk or call us on 0115 949 1264.