Payroll giving is a unique way for people to give to charity. By having their donations come straight from their gross pay before tax, employees effectively increase the value of their contributions.
Currently over £70m is raised for charitable causes through payroll giving, Over 9,000 businesses already offer the benefits of payroll giving to well over 5 million employees, and the numbers are growing.
CAF’s recent report Analysis of Payroll Giving 2005 shows that the value of donations through payroll giving more than doubled in real-terms during the period of the Government’s 10% supplement on gifts from April 2000 to March 2004.
Employers added £12m to payroll donations in 2004/05, an increase of £2m on the previous year, bringing the real total for donations through the scheme to £95m.
To read the full report go to www.cafonline.org/
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs provides useful information and a step-by-step guide at www.hmrc.gov.uk/payrollgiving
If you want to start your own scheme, check out the following payroll giving providers:
Give As You Earn is the largest scheme in the UK. For more information go to www.allaboutgiving.org
It's now very easy to set up a payroll giving scheme, with most of the work done for you by the government - web sites like www.payrollgiving.co.uk and www.justgiving.com provide online tools for employers to set up and manage their own payroll giving schemes.
Payroll Giving Quality Mark
Launched in January 2006, the Payroll Giving Quality Mark recognises and rewards organisations for making payroll giving available to their staff.
The Payroll Giving Quality Mark Scheme is administered and promoted by the Institute of Fundraising, with support from Business in the Community and funding by HM Government. Regardless of size, all employers that sign up to it are provided with a certificate and the use of a logo.
In addition to this, these employers are also eligible for Bronze, Silver or Gold awards.
Once you set up a payroll giving scheme, you will automatically receive a certificate as well as a logo for use on your letterheads, websites and other company literature. These acknowledge that you have implemented payroll giving and demonstrate that you are committed to the good causes your employees care about.
The next step is to promote your payroll giving scheme to your employees and aim for a Quality Mark Award. To find out more visit www.payrollgivingcentre.org.uk
Payroll Giving Grants
The Payroll Giving Grants programme is a scheme that rewards smaller and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that set up payroll giving, with grants of up to £500.
A Home Office-funded initiative, administered and promoted by the Institute of Fundraising, in partnership with Business in the Community.
Launched in January 2005, the programme rewards small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that establish payroll giving, with a one-off grant of up to £500. Organisations with fewer than 500 employees are eligible for a grant, so long as they signed up to payroll giving after April 2004 and before the end of 2006. The programme will match, pound-for-pound, the first £10 of each employee's monthly donations for a period of six months.
The aim of this UK-wide programme is to provide sustainable income sources for charities by increasing the number of employers and employees engaged in payroll giving.
Available from the site for employers and charitable organisations are tops tips, flyers, grant application forms, payroll giving toolkits, banners, logos and your questions answered.
www.payrollgiving.grants.co.uk
Read more about why people give ….
The business of giving, report available in pdf form from Business in the Community www.bitc.org.uk identifies the most popular ways through which the public have and would like to support charities and causes.
The public’s opinions on the different ways that companies should support charities and causes, as well as the percentage of profits that the public believe companies should donate each year was also examined.
2005 Citizenship Survey
More than a quarter (28%) of employees worked for an employer with a scheme for giving and almost half (49%) of these employees had contributed to the scheme in the 12 months before interview .
78% of people in England gave an average of £15 to charity in the four weeks before interview, and the most common method of charitable giving, was buying raffle tickets. The other most popular methods were buying goods from a charity shop, sponsorship, giving to street collections and direct debit, standing order or debit from salary (all used by 21% of people).
Case study
RBS’ Give As You Earn initiative has generated more than £30 million for charity since it started in 2001. In recognition of employees’ support, the Group added a further £1 million by way of a Christmas donation.
RBS group employees donated £2,866,525 between January 2005 and November 2005, to which the Group added £4,932,447 meaning the total given through Give As You Earn was £7,798,972.
RBS group's Give As You Earn scheme generates more money for charity than any other payroll-giving scheme in the UK. The scheme remains unique, in that it is the only payroll-giving scheme where the employer adds £2 to every £1 donated by staff.
