Four in 10 donors incentivised to give by Gift Aid & other Government top-ups
Melanie May | 13 August 2020 | News
Government incentives such as Gift Aid and match funding incentivise people to give to charity, a Charities Aid Foundation survey has found.
YouGov questioned just over 1,100 people for CAF late last month, and found that four in 10 of those who already donate money to charity said Government incentives such as top-ups make them more likely to give.
The research also found that in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic more than half (55%) of those aged 35-44 said they were worried about their household income over the next six months. Among 25-34 year olds it was 51%, while for those aged 16-24 it was 36%. Those aged over 65 were least likely to be concerned but among this age group still some 24% were very worried or quite worried about their household income in the near future.
A charity coalition has recently called for a temporary increase in Gift Aid relief to help charities of all sizes trying to cope with the impact of the pandemic.
The proposed Gift Aid change would mean that a £100 donation from a UK taxpayer would increase to £133.33 for the charity once Gift Aid had been claimed. This compares to £125 as is currently the case. As a result, the Gift Aid claimed on every eligible donation would increase by one-third, up from the current one-quarter. The group have called for the increase to be in place for two years while charities work to recover from the crisis.
Over 70,000 charities claimed Gift Aid in 2019 and over 120,000 charities are known to be registered for Gift Aid and the Gift Aid Donations Scheme.
Susan Pinkney, Head of Research at CAF, said:
“People want to do all they can and these survey results demonstrate that with extra encouragement from the Government, they will dig deeper to help more if they can. It is heartening to see that despite the economic worries facing so many UK households, the willingness to help those in need is still very strong.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.