Great Gift Aid Hunt uncovers £2 million for UK charities

Howard Lake | 3 June 2026 | News

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Gift Aid
Swiftaid

Image: Swiftaid

This year’s Great Gift Aid Hunt campaign by Swiftaid has helped 115 charities across the UK uncover and claim £2,000,425.50 in Gift Aid that they would otherwise have missed.

Every year over £500 million in Gift Aid goes unclaimed for a variety of reasons. This year’s Hunt saw charities of all sizes take part, from small local organisations to some of the UK’s largest charities.

The annual initiative helps charities identify eligible Gift Aid that may otherwise have gone unclaimed on donations they have already received during the tax year.

Fundraising Everywhere's Community Fundraising Conference 17 June 2026

Sector organisations like JustGiving and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising helped promote the campaign in March, and encouraging more charities to review existing donation data before the tax year deadline.

Charities that took part this year saw “an average Gift Aid match rate of 20% “through this year’s campaign. Many more charities took part in this year’s campaign, up from 61 charities in 2025 to 115 charities in 2026.

David Michael, Co-founder of Swiftaid, said:

“Finding £2 million in missed Gift Aid for UK charities is fantastic. There are still hundreds of millions of pounds in Gift Aid going unclaimed every year in the UK, and we hope this year’s Hunt encourages even more charities to review what may be sitting within their own donation data.”

The Great Gift Aid Hunt 2026 officially closed on 24 April 2026. It will return next year and is open to any UK charity.

Charities have until 5 April to find estimated £564mn in unclaimed Gift Aid (22 February 2023)

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.