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New credit card gift requirements threaten Gift Aid records management
Howard Lake | 6 March 2006 | News
Visa and Mastercard’s new requirement that organisations that accept credit or debit card donations capture the three-digit card security code could jeopardise charities’ ability to store Gift Aid declarations effectively, argues the Institute of Fundraising. It recommends charities contact their acquiring bank for ./guidance.
Following the new mandate from Visa and Mastercard, the Institute of Fundraising has warned all fundraising organisations that accept credit or debit card donations to contact their acquiring bank.
The new mandate will require charities to capture the three-digit card security code, featured on the reverse of the credit card, when accepting donations from cardholders that are not present, (e.g. postal, telephone and online donations). Failure to collect this code may result in the acquiring bank’s refusal to process donations. These changes are imminent, coming into effect from as early as April 2006.
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The Institute of Fundraising is concerned that charities have not been consulted about these changes, and that there is no clear ./guidance about these developments.
The new mandate presents a number of challenges to charities, particularly in respect of postal donations.
The requirement for card security codes to be destroyed after transactions are processed presents a significant challenge for charities whose donation forms also include Gift Aid declarations. These have to be stored in order to ensure that the charity qualifies for the tax reclaim on the gift. The requirement to destroy all or even part of this form could present significant problems for charities when they undergo Gift Aid audits, thereby threatening some of the half a billion pounds income that charities receive from Gift Aid each year.
Charities might be able to change their online and telephone based donation handling system, although at some cost, but changes to printed donation forms are not so simple.
For charities to restructure and reprint donation forms in order to comply with the mandate will take time, and can not be implemented within a month. Direct mail campaigns, trading catalogues and many other printed donation forms have already been printed and some are intended to be available for months at a time.
Charities will not welcome being asked to pay to redesign and reprint most or all of their donation forms in order to comply with the mandate.
Megan Pacey, Director of Policy & Campaigns at the Institute of Fundraising, said: “It is clear that the changes that this mandate enact create significant challenges for many UK fundraisers.
“The timescale within which charities are expected to turn around these changes are largely unrealistic and demonstrates a lack of understanding about the sector and, specifically, the other information that charities are required to collect in order to maximise the donations.”
The Institute of Fundraising has sought advice from APACS who recommend that each individual charity contact and seek ./guidance from their acquiring bank.
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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.