Tax efficient giving is a great way to make your sponsorship money go even further. By getting your sponsors to add ‘Gift Aid’ to their donations every £1 you earn can mean an extra 0.28p to Vision Aid Overseas – that may not sound like a lot, but if you raise £1000 it can mean an extra £280!

However to collect Gift Aid you must gather the correct information from your donors and make sure that your donors are eligible for Gift Aid.

1. Eligibility
To be eligible for Gift Aid your sponsor must be a UK income tax payer, or pay capital gains tax, and must be able to answer ‘Yes’ to the following declaration:

“To qualify for Gift Aid, what you pay in income tax or capital gains tax must at least equal the amount we will claim in the tax year.”

Make sure that this declaration is on your sponsorship form and that your sponsor has read it before they tick the Gift Aid column.

2. Collecting the correct information
For Vision Aid Overseas to collect Gift Aid from your sponsors they MUST supply the following information:

a.       Their full name
b.       Their full address
c.       Their postcode – THIS IS ESSENTIAL SO DON’T LET YOUR DONORS FORGET
d.       The amount they are donating
e.       The date

By following these guidelines you will be making your contribution even more valuable to VAO! It costs us £2 to provide an eye test and a pair of spectacles to a patient in the developing world - so for every £10 you collect with Gift Aid we can see an extra patient: that’s the difference it can make!

Full information about the UK Gift Aid scheme can be found on the Directgov website. Click here to visit the Gift Aid information page.