Gift Aid explained
Gift Aid is one of the simplest and most effective ways of increasing your donation to ME Research UK – without costing you a penny more. It is a scheme which allows us to claim 25p for every £1 that you donate – as long as you pay at least that amount in tax and give us permission.
For example, if you donate £5 a month we can claim an extra £1.25, making your gift worth £6.25 a month.
To find out how much Gift Aid can increase your donation use the Gift Aid Calculator below:
Gift Aid Declarations
Gift Aid guidelines require that we need your consent to claim Gift Aid and that any declaration contains certain information:
- The name of our charity (which our forms include).
- The full name and home address of the person making the donation, including postcode. Donations cannot be made jointly.
- A statement that the donor pays an amount of income and/or capital gains tax that is at least equivalent to the tax that ME Research UK will claim from HM Revenue & Customs.
- A statement that the donor wants the donations to be treated as a Gift Aid donation.
If you are sending us a cheque with a donation, you simply need to complete and return either our Donation Form (pdf 334 KB) or our Gift Aid Declaration Form (pdf 70 KB), and ensure that the Gift Aid option is selected.
When you donate online, by text messaging or through JustGiving you will also be given the option to Gift Aid your donation.
If you choose to donate by telephone, we will ask if you are willing to add Gift Aid to your donation. If you agree, we will send out a letter confirming your instructions. This we must do due to HM Revenue & Customs requirements.
Should you be fundraising on our behalf, then please call us and we can send you a sponsorship form which will also allow your sponsors to use the Gift Aid scheme. The form must be returned to us.
Useful Information
To simplify matters for both you and us, ME Research UK’s declaration wording normally covers present, future and past donations.
You confirm that you have paid or will pay an amount of Income and/or Capital Gains Tax for each tax year (6th April to 5th April) that is as least equal to the amount of tax that all charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs that you donate to will reclaim on your gift for that tax year. You understand that ME Research UK will reclaim 28p for every £1 that you may have given up to 5th April 2008 and will reclaim 25p of tax that may be given thereafter.
If you are not a UK taxpayer then, unfortunately, we cannot reclaim tax.
You can cancel the Gift Aid Declaration at any time by writing to us.
Full details of the Gift Aid Scheme can be found on HM Revenue & Custom’s website.
