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You must be a charity
There are a few different types of community group in the UK. Please see our related guide for information about this. Being a charity is a very specific thing with certain rules and regulations that you must follow. If you're not sure, then you're probably not a charity.
However, if you are a charity, then you can claim back extra money when people make a donation to you.
What can you claim?
When someone makes a donation to your charity, you can apply to the UK Government for extra money. For every £1 someone donates, you get a further 25p.
However, the person making the donation must have paid income tax or capital gains tax in that year which matches or is more than what you are claiming.
The person making the donation needs to make a Gift Aid Declaration. You can download some example forms from the UK Government website here.
There is also a special scheme, called the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS), which means you can collect small donations - such as in a collection tin - that don't need a Gift Aid Declaration. Find out more about GASDS online here.
How do you claim?
You can make your claim online or by post using a special form, ChR1, which you can get by contacting HMRC here. To claim online, your charity will need an account on Charities Online which is the UK Government's web portal here.
You will get the money back within four weeks if you applied online, and five weeks if you did it by post.
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