Gift Aid

Gift Aid is a government incentive that enables a donor to donate the tax amount of their gift as additional giving to you. For every £1 you receive, you can claim an additional 25 pence from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). That's a 25% increase to the gift amount at no additional cost to the donor.

To submit a claim, the gift must both qualify and be eligible for Gift Aid.

  • Most gifts qualify for claims, but HMRC doesn't accept certain types — such as those given in exchange for goods or services, or through charity accounts like Charities Aid Foundation — so your organisation can set rules for when to disqualify them. If a gift doesn't qualify for Gift Aid, the applicable disqualification rules appear under Gift Aid on its record.

  • For a gift to be eligible, you must have a declaration — or written permission — from its donor that applies for the date of the gift and indicates they pay tax. You receive the incentive after you provide the declaration with the gift amount to HMRC.

You can view pertinent Gift Aid details for a gift on its record. When a gift qualifies for Gift Aid, a status of Qualified for Gift Aid appears under the gift’s amount. When a gift is qualified and eligible, you can view how much each of its campaigns and funds receive in the Tax claim field under Fundraising details.

Tip: Qualification and eligibility are not the same. When a gift qualifies for Gift Aid, you must also have a declaration from the donor that applies for the gift date and indicates they pay tax.

Under Gift Aid on a gift record, you can view:

  • Qualification status — Whether the gift meets the criteria for Gift Aid

  • Tax claim amount — How much you can claim for the gift through Gift Aid

    Note: To determine the claim amount, HMRC uses the formula Total gift amount/(100 – Tax rate) x Tax rate. For example, with a tax rate of 20%, a £50 gift has a tax claim of £12.50 because 50/(100 – 20) x 20 =12.50.

  • Gross amount — The total value of the gift including Gift Aid

  • Claim number — The identification number of the tax claim with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

    Tip: In the database view, to periodically identify the gifts that are ready to submit to HMRC, and populate their claim numbers, use the Generate R68 (New Gift Aid) report in Reports.

  • Disqualification rules — The reasons why a gift doesn’t qualify for Gift Aid

    Note: In the database view, your organisation sets rules for when a gift does not qualify for Gift Aid and when to allow exceptions from Business Rules in Configuration. From the Tax tab of a gift’s record, you set whether to apply the rules, qualify it as an exception, or disqualify it regardless of the rules.

In a list of gifts, these columns are available:

  • Gross amount — The total value of the gift including the Gift Aid claim amount.

  • Gift Aid — Whether the gift is eligible for Gift Aid because it has a declaration, and its Gift Aid claim amount. Eligible but unclaimed gift amounts appear in red.

On the record of a constituent with valid declarations, the Gift Aid estimate for the Lifetime giving total under Giving provides how much the Gift Aid incentive contributed to their lifetime giving through received and outstanding claims.

Note: On a constituent record or list, the Lifetime giving total automatically includes the Gift Aid incentive, while the First gift, Latest gift, and Greatest gift totals automatically exclude it. Admins can choose whether to include the tax claim amount in other giving totals.

From the gift record, under Gift Aid, select Edit. You can change the qualification status, apply gift aid rules, and manually enter a Claim number, as required.

For split gifts, select the Gift Aid qualification status for each gift.

On a constituent record, under Declarations, you can view, add, edit and delete declarations. For more information, see Declarations.

To submit claims for Gift Aid, your organisation must be a charity.

Admins only! To best meet your organisation's needs, you can choose whether to include the Gift Aid incentive for giving totals in Fundraising, Analyse or Reporting; records of campaigns, funds, and appeals; and — for some of you — insights and facts in Analysis.

  1. Select Control Panel, Settings, Giving analysis.

  2. Under Gift Aid, select Configure.

  3. Choose whether to include the tax claim amount from Gift Aid in giving totals.

    Note: Regardless of whether you select Include tax claim amount in giving totals, the Lifetime giving total on constituent records and lists includes the Gift Aid incentive, and the First gift, Latest gift, and Greatest gift totals exclude it. For more information, see Constituent Giving.

  4. Select Save.

    Note: In Fundraising, Analyse or Reporting, any saved changes take effect when the dashboards next update.

Tip: In the database view, you can specify tax settings and rates in Gift Aid from Configuration.

To enable donors to declare and decline Gift Aid from a Blackbaud Donation Form, include the Gift Aid component on the form.

From Tools, Donation form designer, create or edit a form. Under Form, in the Form designer, select Gift information and move Gift Aid to a location on the form. For details about the options to select, see Donation Form Gift Aid.

Gifts from donation forms are placed into unapproved batches in Fundraising, Gift Management in web view. When you approve a batch, you can view Gift Aid information from a gift's record.