How to Donate

Gift Aid is a government scheme which is open to all charity supporters who pay UK Income and Capital Gains tax. For every pound you earn you pay 25p (or 20% basic rate of tax). By signing up to Gift Aid, every time you donate your charity can reclaim the tax you have paid based on the value of the donation you have made. So, a £10 donation from you enables charities to reclaim £2.50. Charities are very dependent on Gift Aid.

In one financial year you must have paid at least 25p in income or capital gains tax for every £1 you donate to charity. Every income taxpayer has a tax-exempt threshold before they start paying tax. So please ensure you are paying enough tax to Gift Aid your donations. If you make total donations of £100 to all your charities in one tax year 6 April – 5 April, you will need to have paid at least £25 in tax in that tax year.  If you need help you can either contact HMRC on 0300 200 3319, make sure you have your National Insurance number or Self-Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference, or you can speak to an accountant.

Unfortunately, HMRC can only pay Gift Aid tax to charities if you the donor has paid enough income or capital gains tax to cover the gift aid on ALL your donations to your favourite charities, therefore the scheme is only opened to UK taxpayers who have paid enough tax.

Only HMRC and our charity team can access your data. We never share your data for marketing purposes with any other organisation or business. We do not share your information with anyone else, not even your other family members without your permission.

Many charities rely on the extra income Gift Aid provides. Every donation received which can be gift aided adds 25p for every pound donated, that means for Oakhaven

On a £20 donation an extra £5 Gift Aid will help provide support to those within our in patient unit

On a £50 donation an extra £12.50 Gift Aid will help provide support to our Day Hospice patients

On a £100 donation an extra £25 Gift Aid will help provide support to those being looked after at home

You need to make a Gift Aid declaration to evidence to HMRC you have given us permission to claim Gift Aid. You usually do this by filling in a Gift Aid declaration form - contact the charity if you require a form or Click here to download a declaration.

However, more and more charities are using the website to collect Gift Aid, so if you make a donation using our website, you will be asked to add Gift Aid to your donations that way. Make sure you understand your responsibility to have paid enough tax.

No! Unless you choose to do this. Most charities use an enduring declaration, meaning if you paid enough tax all your donations including any donations you may have made in the past four years and in the future will, if eligible, have Gift Aid claimed on them

You qualify for Gift Aid if you meet the following criteria:

• You choose to add Gift Aid (its voluntary)
• You are a UK taxpayer
• You pay enough tax*

Gift Aid can be claimed on both individual donations and sponsorship donations provided you are donating to a charity.

If your donations fall into any of the following categories, do let us know and we will make sure Gift Aid is not claimed:

• You have been charged an entry fee e.g., a ticket for performance or a sports event
• You have entered one of our competitions e.g., a raffle or sweepstake
• Your donation is on behalf of someone else or a group of people e.g., collection from work colleagues, or proceeds of a coffee morning

HMRC need to know who is signing up to the scheme and can only do this by knowing your full name and your usual home address which they already hold on their records. Our record must match their records.

You can cancel your Gift Aid at any time and must cancel it if you stop paying tax. Simply contact us and we will cancel your declaration immediately.

Please inform us:

• by phone: 01590 677773 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm)
• by email: fundraising@oakhavenhospice.co.uk
• or write to: Fundraising Department, Oakhaven Hospice, Lower Pennington Lane, Lymington, Hampshire SO41 8ZZ

Enjoy the move! If you retain your UK tax status you can still make Gift Aid donations to our charity, we will still need notification of your usual home address even if overseas, and if there are any changes to the scheme which could affect your Gift Aid, we are obliged to contact you and let you know

Whilst all three are part of the British Isles, each has its unique tax system, which is NOT part of the UK tax system, therefore it is very unlikely you pay UK tax. As such, you are not eligible to join the UK Gift Aid Scheme. If in doubt, please check with your accountant.

Yes please. We know you will have so much to do when moving house, so if you add us to your “notifications” list you can let us know your new address once you have moved, even better before you move.

We know supporters like to make sure we don’t contact them too often. if you have asked us not to contact you, we will continue to honour this. However, Gift Aid is a little different, the scheme is owned by the Government, and therefore we have the responsibility to make sure the donor is always eligible to be in the Scheme. So, every so often we may need to contact you to make sure we have your correct contact details, and you are still eligible to Gift Aid. Please don’t worry we will only do this when necessary.

Yes! Please contact us if you require a list of all the donations which you have expected to have Gift Aided from the last tax year which ended in April.