Jersey charities can now claim tax free donations more easily following a change to the Lump Sum Scheme - the equivalent of the UK's GiftAid.

The scheme allows local good causes to claim an extra 25% from Revenue Jersey on charitable donations of more than £50.

This means that a donation of £100 could be worth £125 to a charity in Jersey.

RaceNation SportsGIving and the Jersey Fundraising Forum have been working with charities to improve the system - which involved time consuming paperwork, meaning large sums were going unclaimed.

"Previously, the donor would have to make a donation, complete a paper based R10 form and send it back to the charity, before it would then be submitted by the latter to the Revenue Jersey for the claim. A survey of local charities estimated that on average, it can take over 40 minutes per claim and weeks of processing time, putting an administrative burden on donors, charities and Revenue Jersey resulting in millions of missed out claims for eligible Jersey charities."

RaceNation Sportsgiving has become the first platform to integrate the Lump Sum Donation scheme into online fundraising and donations.

Will Golder, CEO of the platform says doing it digitally will make a big difference:

"Now the process is simple that when a donor makes a donation using our SportsGiving platform they can make the declaration there and then.  The charities receive this in an automated report and can submit it straight to Revenue Jersey.

It has been a long time coming.  We have seen how good the UK system of GiftAid can be and how beneficial it is for charities.  We are delighted to be able to launch this in Jersey using our SportsGiving platform so that all the events, all the fundraising that gets done through that, that we work with on Jersey, can benefit."

Beth Gallichan, chairperson at Jersey Fundraising Forum and Fundraising Manager at Durrell says it is a 'huge move forward', particularly following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on charities.

“We have seen GiftAid in the UK work so well at paying millions of additional funds each year to charities. It is clear that the Jersey Lump Sum donation scheme is in place to encourage people to give donations to charity, but it is desperately in need of digital modernisation. The way charities accept donations and communicate with donors has changed, improving this process in Jersey is a tremendous step forward to helping many good causes."
 
Charities interested in hearing more about Jersey Lump Sum, including how to get set up for free, should contact Amy Maginnis, Head of Charity Partnerships at [email protected].