Gift Aid

Regular giving and one-off donations

When you donate by Direct Debit, standing order, through our website or by text, we'll ask if you want to add Gift Aid to your donation.

If you didn't add Gift Aid at the point of donation, you can complete a Gift Aid declaration. This gives Shelter permission to reclaim tax on your gift to us.

You only need to complete the declaration once, as it will cover:

• all personal donations made in the last four tax years

• any future donations (although there is no obligation to give again)

If you only want us to claim Gift Aid on a specific donation, please email info@shelter.org.uk or call 0300 330 1234.

Donating items to our charity shops

If you donate items to our Shelter shops, we can claim Gift Aid on the money raised from the sales. You can visit a shop to sign up for Gift Aid or complete a Retail Gift Aid form.

Event sponsorship

If you're fundraising on a platform such as JustGiving, sponsors will usually be able to add Gift Aid to their online donations.

If you need to take offline donations, please email events@shelter.org.uk or call 0344 515 1190 to request sponsorship forms. Sponsors can record their details on the forms to enable us to claim Gift Aid on their donations.

Collections

If you're organising a collection for Shelter, such as an office fancy dress day, please email events@shelter.org.uk or call 0300 330 1234 to request payment envelopes.

Donors can record their details on the envelopes, which allows us to claim Gift Aid on their donations. Unfortunately, we can't claim Gift Aid on donations exchanged for goods e.g. money raised from a bake sale.

In memory giving

If you're collecting in memory of someone, visit our in memory giving page. We're here to support you with your collection, so please email inmemory@shelter.org.uk or call 0344 515 1617 if you have any questions.

We can also send you payment envelopes – donors can record their details on the envelopes, which enables us to claim Gift Aid on their donations.

Please note that we can't claim Gift Aid on donations made by a group of people.

Donations made by UK taxpayers are usually eligible for Gift Aid. You're a UK taxpayer if you:

• pay income tax (for example on your wage or pension before you receive them)

• pay capital gains tax (for example on the sale of a property, shares or taxable savings)

Most regular and one-off personal donations are eligible for Gift Aid. This includes Direct Debits, standing orders, cheques, cash and text giving.

You can support as many UK charities as you like through Gift Aid, but will need to complete a separate declaration for each charity. You must pay enough tax during the year to cover your total annual Gift Aid.

Some types of donation are not eligible for Gift Aid, including:

• Charities Aid Foundation or similar agency donations

• payroll giving donations

• most company donations

• trust donations

If you donate items to our charity shops, we send end of tax year statements between 6 April and 31 May. If you haven't received one, please email retailgiftaid@shelter.org.uk or call 0344 515 1445.

If you need a receipt for donations made directly to Shelter, please email info@shelter.org.uk or call 0300 330 1234. We can't provide receipts for unrecorded cash donations e.g. money in a collection bucket.

Choosing to Gift Aid increases the impact of your donation in the fight for housing justice. As a higher rate taxpayer, it's a win for you too – you may be able to reclaim tax on your charitable donations.

Visit the government's Gift Aid page for more information on tax relief when you donate to a charity.

We can record joint donations made as spouses, civil partners or other people living together. Please email info@shelter.org.uk or call 0300 330 1234 and we'll provide a joint declaration form.

If you're both UK taxpayers, we can claim Gift Aid on the full amount. If not, we will only claim Gift Aid on the share of the donation made by the UK taxpayer.

If you receive a pension, you may still be a UK taxpayer and eligible for Gift Aid. For example, you could be paying UK tax on:

• private pensions

• savings accounts (income tax)

• profits from selling a property or shares (capital gains tax)

If you're no longer a taxpayer, please cancel your Gift Aid as soon as possible.

Please contact us as soon as possible if you:

• want to cancel your Gift Aid declaration at any time

• have moved address or changed your name

• are no longer a UK taxpayer or will not pay enough tax to cover the Gift Aid claimed on your donations in future

• only want us to claim Gift Aid on a specific donation

• know someone who has died, and we need to stop claiming Gift Aid against their name

For donations to our shops, please email retailgiftaid@shelter.org.uk or call 0344 515 1445.

For all other types of donation, please email info@shelter.org.uk or call 0300 330 1234.