Gift Aid is a scheme that allows charities to reclaim tax on a donation made by a UK taxpayer, which means your donations will be worth 25% more to us at no extra cost to you. If you Gift Aid your donations we can claim back from the government 25p for every £1 you donate to Candlelighters.

This additional income really does make a big difference, so please don’t forget to Gift Aid donations if you are a UK tax payer.

How to Gift Aid your donations?

• Download & return our completed Gift Aid Declaration Form
• Find out more about Gift Aid from HMRC

If you are a higher-rate tax payer you can also claim additional tax relief. For higher rate tax payers (paying tax at 40%) this works out as 25p for every £1 you donate and for the highest rate tax payers (paying tax at 50%) this works out as 37.5p for every £1 you donate.

What we need to claim Gift Aid on your donation

• Your full name and home address
• We can’t claim Gift Aid on donations from company accounts. The donation must be your own money and not the proceeds of a collection.
• For you to be paying income tax or capital gains tax which at least equals the amount the Candlelighters will claim in the appropriate tax year (6 April one year to 5 April the next).  This is currently 25p for every £1 you give.
• Using the declaration form, we can claim Gift Aid on all your donations in the last 4 years and all future donations.
• Once you have become a Gift Aid donor, please let us know if you stop paying tax or if you change your name/address so that we can update our records.

Sponsor Forms

When undertaking a sponsored activity, Candlelighters may be able to claim gift aid on donations from those who sponsor you. We will provide you with official sponsor forms for your event to make this easier.

To enable us to claim from a sponsorship form you must ensure:

• You do not fill in the form on behalf of your sponsors.
• Full names of sponsors are completed (not nicknames).
• Your sponsors fill in their home address. We cannot claim Gift Aid on work addresses.
• The gift aid box is “ticked” if appropriate.
• Your sponsors complete the form in legible handwriting.

We are unable to claim Gift Aid if your donation is a collection, company donation or charity voucher donation.

Gift Aid is a great way to boost your donation by 25p for every £1 you donate.