# E-signatures could increase donations by millions of euro

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/10/17/e-signatures-could-increase-donations-by-millions-of-euro/
- Published: 2019-10-17T13:39:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**An online fundraising platform has become the first in Ireland to get permission
from the Revenue Commissioners to introduce the new e-signature process which could
help charities receive millions of euro in additional income.**

iDonate, which is part of Western Webs in Tuam, Co Galway has been given the go-
ahead for its initiative, which involves the automation of digital signatures for
people making voluntary donations of €250 or more.

Charities can receive a 45 per cent boost on all donations when donors fill in charity
tax-relief forms, but previously this could only be done on paper.

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## Benefit of move from paper to digital forms

Galway East TD and Minister for Rural Affairs Seán Canney had raised the issue with
Revenue. The cumbersome requirement to fill in forms manually was depriving charities
of additional income, he said.

Technical director at iDonate and designer of the eSign process Alan Coyne said:“
This is great news for charities all over Ireland. iDonate will alert qualifying
donors to the fact that the receiving charity could be entitled to an additional
45 per cent of the value of the donation.”

The eSign initiative “makes it much easier for charities to claim millions of euro
that were previously unclaimed,” he said. “We can now replace the old pen-and-paper
slogan of ‘print, sign and post’ with a streamlined eSign process of ‘sign online
and submit’.”

[iDonate.ie](http://www.idonate.ie) is an online fundraising platform for schools,
sports clubs, community groups and personal causes. IDonate now supports more than
1,000 registered charities nationally. In 2019, iDonate expects to transact more
than €5 million in charitable donations.