How Gift Aid works

Charities take your donation (which is money you’ve already paid tax on), and then reclaim tax on its ‘gross’ equivalent (its value before tax was deducted) at the basic rate of 22%.

In practice, this means that if you give £10 to charity using Gift Aid, that gift is worth £12.82 to the charity. This is because 22% of £12.82 is £2.82 – your £10 being the difference.

The Gift Aid scheme is only for monetary gifts and there are rules limiting the value of benefits you can receive in return.

Who can use Gift Aid

You can use Gift Aid if the amount of tax you have paid in any tax year (6 April one year to 5 April the next) is at least equal to the amount the charity is reclaiming on your behalf. You can calculate the amount of tax the charity will reclaim by multiplying the amount you give by 22/78.

So if, for example, you give £100 to a charity in a particular tax year, they will claim back 100 x 22/78 = £28.20. You need to have paid at least this amount of tax during the same tax year to be able to donate using Gift Aid.

How to make your donation using Gift Aid

When you make a donation to charity, they will ask you to consider making your donation using Gift Aid. If you agree, they will give you a simple form to complete declaring that you wish to make donations under Gift Aid.

You should complete a separate declaration form for each charity you wish to donate to, but one form can cover every gift made to the same charity.

Click here for more information on Gift Aid  (HM Revenue & Customs)

If you would like to support the work of Capstone Projects on a monthly or annual basis, please download the following forms:

(To download these files to your hard drive, please right-click and select "Save Target as..." and choose a location on your hard drive.

Mac users please click and hold and this option will appear)

Please complete and return these to the address included on the forms. You will then be contacted to finalise all appropriate details; banking information etc.