# Legal firms urged to double payroll giving participation rates

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/02/23/legal-firms-urged-double-payroll-giving-participation-rates/
- Published: 2013-02-23T22:55:06+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Helena Kennedy QC has urged legal firms to aim to increase payroll giving rates
by staff to 10% by May 2013, doubling the average rate achieved by such firms.**

She made the call on the fifth anniversary of the **Geared For Giving Campaign**,
which was set up to promote payroll giving, and which is funded by payroll giving
agency Workplace Giving UK.

At the outset of the Campaign in 2008, an average of 4.5% of employees at Legal 
Week's top 50 firms gave to charity by this method. Nearly five years later, this
has risen to just 5.1%. The national average of any kind of employer who operates
the scheme is 6%.

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Some firms have of course achieved better results. CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, for 
example, have helped promote the scheme to achieve a 20% uptake.

## "Most tax effective way to support a charity particularly for a higher rate tax payer"

Helena Kennedy said “Workplace Giving remains the most tax effective way to support
a charity particularly for a higher rate tax payer.  Their £10 gift can increase
to £16.67 if given from pay for a 40% tax payer.

From supporting the Campaign over the past couple of years my biggest learning is
that awareness of the scheme is still so low, but employers who make it easy for
their staff to engage can see huge improvements in their uptakes and ultimately 
monies raised for the charitable sector."

She added that some employers were supporting the scheme further by matching employee
donations.

Workplace Giving UK claims that it has persuaded companies with a total of 2.2 million
employees to implement payroll giving, and so far raised £3.6 million. Companies
already involved include Boots, Habitat, Odeon and Yorkshire Bank.

www.gearedforgiving.com

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