Contents of this article:
What is Gift Aid?
Gift Aid for Social Sync fundraiser transactions
Gift Aid for Meta transactions
What is Gift Aid?
Gift Aid is a UK tax incentive scheme designed to boost charitable donations made by individuals who are taxpayers. When a taxpayer donates money to a UK-registered charity, the charity can claim an additional 25p from the government for every £1 donated, at no extra cost to the donor. This additional amount, known as Gift Aid, is a way for the government to encourage charitable giving and support the work of charities.
To qualify for Gift Aid, the donor must:
Be a UK taxpayer.
Make a declaration confirming that they want their donation to be treated as Gift Aid.
Pay income tax or capital gains tax in the same tax year at least equal to the amount that the charity will reclaim on their donations.
Charities typically ask donors to complete a Gift Aid declaration when making a donation, either online, by post, or in person. This declaration confirms the donor's eligibility for Gift Aid and authorizes the charity to claim Gift Aid on their donations.
Gift Aid is an important source of additional income for charities, helping them to fund their activities, support their beneficiaries, and make a greater impact in their communities. It is a simple and effective way for taxpayers to support charities while maximising the value of their donations.
Gift Aid for Social Sync fundraiser transactions
Transactions made via Social Sync fundraisers are processed via Stripe through our own fully brandable donation forms.
We provide user control over the design and content of the Gift Aid block on our donation forms, and also handle the necessary checkboxes and address collection required for you to be able to submit a valid Gift Aid claim for each transaction.
The best way to access the data and prepare your Gift Aid submission is to download our Transactions Report and filter the data by Platform = "Social Sync" and Gift Aid = "True".
Gift Aid for Meta (Facebook/Instagram fundraiser) transactions
The processes around Gift Aid have changed since Meta partnered with PayPal Giving Fund (PPGF) for payment processing in November 2023.
Here's our current understanding of things:
1. Meta no longer provide Gift Aid details via their API or via the donations CSV report available via Meta's nonprofit manager dashboard. This information, which was previously available on a per donation basis within Social Sync along with the donor's address details, are required as part of the Gift Aid approval process with HMRC.
2. Fortunately, however, Meta do however send the Gift Aid data they've collected at the point of donation directly to PayPal Giving Fund. Furthermore PayPal Giving Fund will submit the Gift Aid data to HMRC on your behalf.
3. On a delayed monthly basis, PayPal Giving Fund will pay out the Gift Aid in bulk. This will appear as a single item on the PPGF payout report.
On the plus side, this administrative process is largely now taken care of for you for Facebook and Instagram donations. However its a shame that the link to the original transaction and donor details are no longer available.
Please Note: Due to a known issue where Meta and PPGF are providing non-matching transaction IDs for individual donations, we currently have suspended PPGF data imports. We hope that this situation will be resolved soon and will provide an update to our customers when this happens.