Supporters boost charity’s funds with Gift Aid

Severn Hospice provides free care for local people living with incurable illness but has to raise £2 from the community for every £3 it spends to deliver it.

Gift Aid allows charities to receive an extra 25% for any donation made under it – at no cost to the donor.    

The hospice launched a huge awareness and promotion campaign for Gift Aid across its network of 29 shops in February, with the aim of securing as many new sign-ups as possible.

More than 900 people joined the scheme in the month, adding £30,000 extra to their contributions towards the care provided by the hospice.

Tracie Harrison, the charity’s Director of Income Generation, said: “We are over the moon with how our supporters responded so positively to the Gift Aid call; it was a record-breaking month for new sign-ups. All our shop managers were meeting today and it was great to be able to celebrate the Gift Aid news together.

“Gift Aid is such a fantastically simple way of adding extra support for us. If we sell a coat for £10 under the scheme, we actually get £12.50, and that really does make such a difference to us.

“The more people we have signed up for Gift Aid, the more it adds up. If we had that number of new sign-ups every month it would significantly increase the amount of money we could raise to support patients and families at their time of need.

“We are so grateful to our supporters for their generosity in what they donate to the shops for us to resell and in the amount they spend as customers.”

The Gift Aid scheme is available to any UK taxpayer to join and can be done at any Severn Hospice shop. The charity has also developed a new app which, once installed on a smart phone, allows donors to drop off their donation, scan the app barcode on their phone and instantly register their donation for Gift Aid.

“It’s so user-friendly,” added Tracie. “It will really help us get the most out of all those generous donations!”