Recording Gift Aid electronically
Some exciting and potentially extremely useful information around Gift Aid and version 6.10 of Blackbaud Netcommunity. We are looking to launch the latest version of the software later this month and although the biggest ticket item will be the level of PCI compliance (or to be strictly accurate PA-DSS compliance) in the release. (I'm sure I or one of my fellow Blackbaud bloggers will talk in depth about this and the other great new items in 6.10 (targeted email content...no...I've said too much ;-))). I'd like to take a look at a small change we've made which I believe will make a huge impact on the process of recording Gift Aid.
When we started work on Gift Aid in 2000 there were pretty much two ways to record - Written and Oral. This was relatively simple and when we launched Netcommunity in around 2004 we spoke to lots of folks who advised that our online declarations should be recorded as oral (makes sense as they could then be tracked and audited easily). However it has been brought to our attention that HMRC would now like us to record these as Electronic. I spoke with them and got the following response on the subject -
Under the Gift Aid regulations (S.I. 2000 No 2074) a gift aid declaration can given by a donor to a charity;
- In writing
- Orally; or
- By means of electronic communication e.g. via a website.
Written confirmation that a declaration has been given by a donor only has to be sent when a donor who makes an oral declaration.
So another method which is excellent. However...how do we audit this? Well apparently we don't really need as much as we needed before because (also from HMRC) -
Our auditors are familiar with the process of making a Gift Aid declaration via a website, they will look at the information presented to a donor on the website, they will review the process of recording the data given by the donor and they will carry out checks to ensure that only donor’s who ‘Tick’ the Gift Aid box are included on the charity’s claims and that donors who do not tick the Gift Aid box are excluded from the claims.
So, brilliant, no need to send oral declaration info to the donor (or incur the postage cost!). So in version 6.10 of Blackbaud Netcommunity we're no longer going to process online declarations as oral declarations but now as Electronic. This isn't a change to the way HMRC are doing things just a reinterpretation so a small tweak but it saves money on letters and saves time on having to process the declarations...plus you can claim straight away without the Oral cooling off period. Win win for everyone I'd say.
More to come on new BBNC functions very soon...lots of exciting new stuff coming up.