Charities “losing £7.5 million a year from hidden Gift Aid fees”, analysis reveals
Howard Lake | 22 May 2025 | News
UK charities are “losing over £7.5 million a year” because online fundraising platforms take a commission on Gift Aid donations they handle, new analysis has revealed.
Research by advisory firm Strand Partners shows that platforms including JustGiving, Crowdfunder, Localgiving, and GlobalGiving UK are deducting commission from Gift Aid claimed on behalf of charities.
JustGiving, the UK’s largest fundraising platform, received £584 million in donations in 2024. By taking 5% commission on the Gift Aid, Strand Partners claim that the platform retained up to £7.3 million “that would otherwise have gone to charities”.
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A cross-party group of MPs including former Development Minister Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Culture Minister Saqib Bhatti, and Labour MP Jo Platt have raised the issue in parliament, calling on the Treasury to close “the loophole”.
Lord Leigh of Hurley, a veteran fundraiser who has raised more than £600,000 for WaterAid, described the practice as “opaque” and called for greater transparency and regulation.
The Fundraising Regulator recently published an updated Code of Fundraising Practice which urges online fundraising platforms to make how fees are calculated “clearly visible to donors” – explicitly referencing fees as a percentage of Gift Aid.
New polling shows 80% of Britons think online platforms should be more transparent about any commission they take from Gift Aid, and 66% support the government closing the loophole.
Options for online giving businesses to charge
The business models that online giving platforms have used over the years have often been criticised. Models that have been tried include:
- a standard percentage on the value of the donation
- ‘free’ but with another payment element – sometimes the ‘hidden tax’ proposed here
- free with the option of a voluntary donation by the donor
- elements of the payment to be covered by an (additional) payment e.g. covering the credit/debit card transaction costs incurred by the charity
- free because the system was subsidised by other elements of the business
No single method ever seems to escape public criticism – unless commercial businesses handling large volumes of financial transactions securely and sometimes at moments of spikes in activity were ever to waive their fees somehow.
As well as different types of business model there are different types of businesses that are or have operated online giving platforms, from commercial for-profit organisations to registered charities (or their trading arms).
The issue of charging or charging on part of a donation such as Gift Aid is clearly still a live issue, a quarter of a century after online giving platforms emerged.
Gift Aid, introduced in 1990, allows charities to claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated at no cost to the donor. The scheme enables charities to reclaim the basic rate of tax on donations.
About the Gift Aid poll
Polling was conducted by Strand Partners through “a nationally representative online survey of 2,010 people between 19/03/2025 and 20/03/2025”. The survey was representative by age, gender, NUTS 1 region and socio-economic group (SEG). Strand Partners “is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules”.
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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.