Last week Geared for Giving officially launched it’s campaign to double the number of people donating through payroll giving. Read more about the campaign below, from their CEO Peter O’Hara.
“I founded the Geared for Giving Campaign as I am passionate about Payroll Giving; I’ve worked in the sector for 18 years and know that it has a huge amount of untapped potential.
The campaign originally launched in 2008 and currently one million employees give through their pay, raising £130 million annually for charities. Our five-year mission is to get our message out to all businesses with over 250 employees, and double this figure to two million Payroll Givers – raising £260 million a year for good causes. Just imagine what charities could achieve with all that extra funding!
Currently just 23% of the UK’s largest employers offer Payroll Giving. Donations are taken each month from an employee’s salary before tax; if you are a basic rate tax payer and donate £10 a month, the charity will receive £12.50 and the more tax you pay, the more they will benefit. By increasing the number of employers signing up to the scheme, Geared for Giving hopes to make giving to charity through your pay a social norm, creating a vital steady income for charities while enabling people to easily support the causes close to their hearts.
A colleague once described Payroll Giving as the ‘Cinderella of fundraising;’ well now we are having our moment! Our revitalised campaign launched officially at the BT Tower in central London on 6 October, hosted by Sir Michael Rake, the Chairman of BT. The campaign has been made possible through funding from BT and a host of other top businesses that make up our founding partners – ASOS, Beaverbrooks, Experian, Linklaters LLP and The Entertainer (many of which are #givingtuesday partners too), plus fundraising organisations Hands On Payroll Giving and The Payroll Giving Team.
The heads of these companies are encouraging a culture of generosity by calling for every employer across the nation to follow their lead and offer Payroll Giving to their staff. I truly believe that we are on the verge of a dramatic transformation in employee giving. Payroll Giving in the UK already raises the annual equivalent to Children In Need and Comic Relief combined – but it’s far from reaching its full potential where all employees can make a regular tax free gift, no matter how large or small, straight from their pay to any charity of their choice – from big household names to the smallest community organisations.
We’d love employers to consider Payroll Giving as part of their plans for #givingtuesday – it’s a great opportunity to promote your existing scheme or even start one up – it couldn’t be easier and we have guides on our website about how to get started. I hope you will help us spread the word about our campaign by visiting www.gearedforgiving.org to find out more.”
Peter O’Hara is the Founder & CEO of Geared for Giving
