The third Gift Aid Awareness Day is taking place on Thursday 8 October 2020 and CTG encourages all charity and professional members to support this initiative and encourage people to #Tickthebox. Gift Aid was worth £1.35bn to the sector in 2018-19 and is a very important relief for charities. Gift Aid Awareness Day provides an opportunity for charities to promote Gift Aid with donors and also within their own organisations. It is thought that up to £560m of Gift Aid is not claimed each year, so improved awareness can play a crucial role in securing important additional funds for the sector.

A campaign pack has been produced which includes logos, posters, infographics and a banner. More resources will be added including fact sheets, articles and links.

CFG is hosting a free Gift Aid webinar special, 12.00-13.00, including experts from HMRC and accountancy firm Buzzacott. Full details on how to register for this event can be found here.

Gift Aid Awareness Day will also see renewed calls for a Gift Aid Emergency Relief (a temporary increase in the value of Gift Aid) which could secure additional £millions for the sector and benefit more than 70,000 charities, at a time when charity finances are under considerable strain. Charities that sign up to the campaign will receive a supporter’s pack so they can join the campaign on Gift Aid Awareness Day.

You can follow updates from CTG on the day on Twitter @CharityTaxGroup and share updates using the hashtag #tickthebox.

Case study

Jessica Hudson, Senior Programme Manager- Gift Aid, at Cancer Research UK has kindly shared the following update on their plans for Gift Aid Awareness Day

“Planned 2020 activity is focused on engaging with existing donors – particularly those active in the last 12 months- to increase their understanding of Gift Aid and sign them up if they’re eligible.

• Telemarketing- Over the next 2 weeks we will be contacting 500+ supporters who have donated to us in the last 12 months and do not currently have a Gift Aid status. We’ll be speaking to them to understand if they are eligible, and if so, signing them up
• Email – On 8^th October we’re emailing out to 20k supporters who have donated to us in the last 12 months and do not currently have a Gift Aid status. We’ll be directing them to the Gift Aid page on our website and encouraging sign up if they’re eligible
• On the day, we’ll be posting a series of graphics across social media and a short animation on Facebook to raise awareness and understanding of Gift Aid
• Our 600 CRUK shops will have in-store marketing to raise awareness of Gift Aid Awareness Day w/c 5^th October and we’ll be encouraging volunteers to talk to customers about Gift Aid and understand whether they’re eligible

We hope to build on our achievements relating to Gift Aid Awareness Day last year when we had:

• 220 new Gift Aid Declarations from telemarketing activity
• 600 new Gift Aid Declarations from email activity
• In store marketing activity to increase awareness of Gift Aid
• Nearly 50k impressions on social media across 4 distinct posts

If you would like to share details of your plans for Gift Aid Awareness Day please contact info@charitytaxgroup.org.uk