Currently, charities jump through a number of hoops in order to procure Gift Aid. These requirements are set by HMRC to ensure that everything is done according to protocol. First a charity will need to obtain a Gift Aid reference and apply for a user ID which arrives in the post. They then need to complete a specifically designed HMRC Gift Aid reclaim spreadsheet. All donors’ details need to be entered carefully into this spreadsheet ensuring they are correct. For smaller charities without suitable systems in place, they will need to enter each one manually, often referring to handwritten declarations (which, if they’re lucky, aren’t too difficult to read).

A donor can create a persistent declaration that will cover all donations to a single charity from that donor. However, in order to add Gift Aid to a one-off donation, the donor needs to fill in a declaration form each time they donate, taking their time to input their details and ticking that oh-so-necessary box. Here’s an example of the form:

How Swiftaid saves time

All a charity needs is a Gift Aid reference and a few minutes to sign up to Swiftaid online. Swiftaid then takes care of the entire Gift Aid claiming process for charities, including record keeping and auditing for HMRC. Charities simply send their donors to Swiftaid to sign up for free.

A free, one-time sign up online automates Gift Aid on all future donations made by donors to any charities that are signed up to Swiftaid.