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Mark Astarita speech at PIFA 2014
Howard Lake | 4 July 2014 | News
Mark Astarita, chair of the IoF, said: “Now give me a platform and I am going to take a few moments to talk about a couple of things that need to change and don’t feel right; things we need to have another look at. Some of you will know that I have been a long term advocate of all gift aid returned to charities and not to donors.
“I do believe too many in the sector got behind the wrong horse. We were backing donors, rather than backing beneficiaries. The HMRC has just published data which says that tax relief for charities has increased 150% but it’s also gone up 400% for donors. And as the National Audit office pointed out, there is scant evidence that tax relief for donors has encouraged greater giving. One day I hope I’ll be proven right. But as political parties write their manifestos, I hope at least one of them, as did the Lib Dems last time, take up the challenge to ensure that tax relief given adds to a greater advantage to charities than to individuals.
“I don’t know all the answers, but I know that we should be brave enough to take another look, brave enough not to just copy the Americans. What I do know is that no one has ever asked me for a tax break when they decided to give.
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“And I think the best example of a tax relief gone wrong is that of corporate Gift Aid. I remember the day when prior to the Gift Aid changes, when a corporation made a donation, we sent them a form. And if they filled in the form, we could get another 20% on top. Overnight, the chancellor, changed the rules which meant that all corporate gift aid went to the company and it got lost. In big companies where most corporate giving happens, the gift aid never ever comes back to the department that spends it – it gets lost in the wash and it doesn’t encourage more giving to charities.
“So my message to Mr Osborne or Ed Balls and to all the political parties when writing their manifestos – is give us the gift aid back on corporate donations. And while we are at it let’s be imaginative about donations in kind too, and let’s see if we can’t manage a massive surge in the use of donations in kind.”
Ceri Edwards, Director of Policy and Communications at the IoF, said: “The recent National Audit Office report shows that there’s little evidence that tax relief for donors has encouraged greater giving. As such we think there is merit in looking again at how charities can benefit from corporate relief on donations.”
PIFA speech 2014 from Mark Astarita FRSA MInstF MIPR
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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.