Friday 18 March 2011

A clever way to allow Mencap to benefit from GiftAid and to allow UK taxpayers to enter my general draw without breaking the rules

I have been having a dilemma the last few days.   Companies are starting to offer prizes for my draw, and I don't want to exclude my UK sponsors from this draw, yet at the same time I have been told that GiftAid cannot be reclaimed if incentives are being offered to donate.

Those who don't know what GiftAid is, it is a scheme for UK taxpayers where the income tax that has been paid on the value of the donation can be reclaimed by the charity.  In other words you donate x and the charity gets x plus y.  Obviously this is a great thing for the charity.

What I have come up with is that any donations of £10 or more without GiftAid will mean the sponsor is entered automatically into my draw to win assorted prizes.  But this general draw will not be amount based - in other words someone who donates £10 has the same chance of winning as someone who donates £100.  This means that if you want to sponsor me £50 and you are eligible for GiftAid then all you need to do to be entered into my draw, and to allow the charity to benefit from GiftAid, is to sponsor me £10 without GiftAid and then sponsor me £40 with GiftAid.  In other words you make separate donations if necessary.

This should keep everyone happy and the draw will be backdated so anyone who has already donated up till now will be eligible if their donation is £10 or more and it doesn't have GiftAid claimed on it.  If you have already donated with GiftAid but would now like to enter the draw then you need to go on my site and donate a further £10 without GiftAid.

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