Getting paid to donate: a new approach to fundraising?
Howard Lake | 15 February 2005 | News
Barry Gower, Managing Director of Gift Aid recovery and consultancy service GAIN, argues that donors could benefit financially from giving and that fundraisers should be exploiting this opportunity.
Almost everything has time when it is reversed – ‘black’ is the new white, ‘bad’ became the standard for good, torn clothing is the height of fashion, and Dixons made a fortune by giving away Internet connections for free. Perhaps now is the time for charities and fundraisers to follow this strategy and adopt as their new mantra ‘Get Giving’.
Sure, ‘Get Giving’ follows the general philosophies of government and fundraisers, and exhorts donors to give and to develop a culture and a habit of giving. And this has had some amazing results, particularly with the appeals and the fundraising activities for the recent Asia Tsunami disaster.
Advertisement
But how about the reverse? What if the ‘Get’ did not mean start (as applicable to the fundraisers) but meant receive and was applied to the donors? Could there really be a situation where the donor actually benefited in real terms by making a donation to charity? This would be the epitome of a win-win situation, and should be a fundraiser’s dream.
This is not a dream – it is reality. One example is Ted Turner’s donation of $1 billion of stock. “Turner, or at least his heirs, could end up $100 million richer because he’s giving a billion away” (see www.nhf.org/charitable_planning/ted_turner.htm ). By understanding the tax laws and by applying them to all available situations, charities and individuals can both benefit tremendously.
However, like the lottery, you can’t win unless you take a ticket. Your donors cannot “get by giving” unless they understand exactly how this works. The best people to explain this is you, the fundraisers. The bottom line is that if you, as fundraisers, are not using the tools of tax-efficient giving, particularly specific tax relief, as a real marketing tool you are only doing half a job. Tax-efficient giving with all the vast range of applications and financial breaks is something that really only happens once in a lifetime. Use it, stay ahead of the game and “Get Giving.”
Barry Gower
Managing Director
GAIN
GAIN is a division of ChariTax Limited, a firm specialising in tax-efficient giving. It provides a Gift Aid Recovery and Consultancy Service and provides all aspects of Gift Aid, from simple advice on appeal forms and Gift Aid declarations, through to complete Gift Aid recovery services. GAIN is a success based service: its fees are based on the Gift Aid it recovers so there is no risk, and charities pay only on results.
Barry Gower will be presenting on this subject tomorrow at CHASE 2005.
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.