Your charity has a part-time fundraiser now, perhaps two days a week, and the donations have grown. The fundraiser collects cheques at events, signs up regular givers, and hands you a folder of Gift Aid forms at the end of the month. You are the volunteer treasurer. You are still expected to check the bank, build the claim, and sign off the figures before the trustees send anything to HMRC. Nobody has said who does which part.
That gap causes most of the trouble. The fundraiser knows the donors but does not keep the cash book. You know the bank but were not at the stall when the declaration was signed. Forms go missing between the two of you, and the claim gets built from whatever arrived last.
The problem: a paid fundraiser collects, the treasurer signs off
When a paid fundraiser or coordinator takes donations, two jobs meet in one place. One is recording who gave what and when. The other is proving the money reached the bank and that every Gift Aid declaration is valid. The first job belongs to whoever has the donor contact. The second belongs to whoever answers to the trustees and HMRC.
It helps to say this out loud at a trustee meeting. Write down who logs each gift, who checks it against the bank statement, and who sends the claim. A short note is enough. Most problems we hear about from treasurers come from nobody having written that down.
Splitting the job: the fundraiser logs, the treasurer checks, the chair sends
A workable split for a small charity looks like this.
The fundraiser records each gift and declaration as it happens. That means the donor's name and address, the date, the amount, and the type of declaration. They keep the signed form or the record of a verbal declaration. They do not decide whether a gift qualifies. They pass the record on within a set time, such as weekly.
The treasurer checks each record against the bank. Every eligible gift should match money that has arrived in the account. The treasurer builds the claim from records that have been checked, not from a pile of forms. They also raise any gap with the fundraiser before the claim is final.
The trustee or chair reviews the claim and sends it. Sending means using the organisation's own Charities Online login. A second person looking at the figures is useful, because the person who built the claim is less likely to spot their own mistake.
This split keeps the fundraiser's time on donors and the treasurer's time on the numbers. It also means that when you hand over the role, the next treasurer finds a trail, not a shoebox.
What the treasurer should be able to see before building the claim
Before you build a claim, you should be able to see five things for every gift:
- the donor's name and address, as they appear on the declaration
- the date the gift was made
- the amount received
- the declaration type: enduring, single, or verbal
- the source of the record, such as the form, the online donation page, or a note of a verbal declaration
If any of these is missing, leave that gift out until it is fixed. A gift without a valid declaration cannot be claimed, however generous it was. Check the declaration type too. An enduring declaration covers regular gifts over several years. A single declaration covers one gift. A verbal declaration needs a record that shows what was said and when.
Vasker on the Plus plan (£119 a year) holds gifts, declarations and their sources in one place, so the treasurer can check them before the claim is built. Claim build runs with validation, which flags gaps before anything is sent. You still decide what goes in the claim.
Keeping a clean line between donations and payments for goods or services
The fundraiser's stall often takes money for raffle tickets, cake, t-shirts or event entry. Those are payments for goods or services, not donations. Gift Aid does not apply to them. If they land in the same account and are recorded in the same way, the claim can go wrong.
Keep a separate income category for each type of money. Donations get their own line. Ticket sales, merchandise and event fees get theirs. Membership subscriptions are a separate question. Do not assume a subscription qualifies for Gift Aid. Check HMRC's guidance on membership benefits before you treat any subscription as a donation.
This matters at the bank reconciliation too. When the fundraiser's takings are paid in, the treasurer should be able to see which part is donations and which part is sales. Mixed amounts are where claims get overstated.
Records to keep: HMRC expects Gift Aid records for at least six years
HMRC expects Gift Aid records to be kept for at least six years. That covers the signed declarations or verbal records, the donation records that match them, and a copy of the claim you sent. Keep them somewhere the next treasurer can find them. A locked drawer that only the fundraiser can open does not count as a handover.
If the fundraiser leaves, make sure their donor records and declarations come back to the organisation. Records held only on a personal laptop or phone are a risk to you, not only to them.
Where Vasker fits on Plus (£119 a year)
Vasker is Gift Aid and bookkeeping software for UK organisations that are eligible to claim Gift Aid, such as charities, CASCs, churches, PTAs and Scout groups. On the Plus plan, it covers the Gift Aid side of this split. The fundraiser's records of gifts and declarations sit with the treasurer's cash book. Claim build runs with validation before anything is submitted.
When the claim is ready, the organisation's own Government Gateway login is used to send it. Vasker does not store the Government Gateway password. Sender ID and password are typed only at submission and are then discarded. The trustee or chair who holds the login sends the claim.
Vasker is listed by HMRC as commercial software for filing Gift Aid and charity repayment claims online through Charities Online. HMRC does not endorse or approve any software supplier.
If you want a rough planning figure before you raise the claim with trustees, the free Gift Aid gap calculator at https://vasker.co.uk/gift-aid-gap-calculator/ needs no account. It gives an estimate for planning, not a claim. As arithmetic only: £2,000 of eligible donations from UK taxpayers with valid declarations gives £500 of Gift Aid at 25p in the pound. That is a worked example, not a promised result for your charity.
General information, not tax advice: check current HMRC Gift Aid guidance
This is general information for volunteer treasurers, not tax or legal advice. Gift Aid rules, declaration wording, GASDS limits and membership-benefit rules change. Check the current HMRC Gift Aid guidance and your Charities Online account before you build or send a claim. If your charity is regulated by the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI, check their guidance for your organisation too. If you are unsure whether a gift qualifies, ask HMRC or an adviser who works with charities before you claim it.