Charity Commission publishes advice on giving to emergency appeals
Howard Lake | 5 January 2005 | News
The Charity Commission today publishes guidelines urging people and organisations to maximise the millions being raised for the current and future emergency appeals by giving effectively.
The Commission’s guidelines, published amidst the unprecedented scale of public donations for the DEC Tsunami Earthquake appeal, aim to keep people giving, minimise bureaucracy and ensure the money goes to the organisations on the front line.
The Commission encourages people to donate by Gift Aid to gain an extra 28p in every pound they give to charity. If all of the £76 million donated by 4 January 2005 had been given under Gift Aid then another £21 million would have been added to the total.
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It advises people to avoid duplication of effort by checking to see what others in their local area are already up to.
It advises that, if running a public collection, make sure that you have got the go-ahead from your local authority or the Met ropolitan police as getting permission will streamline the collection process.
It recommends banking the cash as soon as possible and asking for a receipt from the bank or building society.
Finally the Commission advises that supporters report back to the people in their workplace or community who have given so that they know the money is reaching those in need.
The Charity Commission’s chief executive, Andrew Hind, said: “the public’s generosity in the wake of this dreadful disaster has been overwhelming. This proves – if proof were needed – that we are a nation of givers and truly challenges the theory of donor fatigue. We want people to give and to maximise the millions raised to ensure that charities don’t lose out on the tax breaks their charitable status deserves.”
‘Maximise the millions – new guidelines for people collecting to help disaster victims’ will be available from the Charity Commission’s home page today.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.