Funeral sector seeks to recover £25 million for charity
The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) is leading the way in supporting charities to recover lost funds through the launch of their ‘GiftAid 25 Campaign’
The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) estimates that each year more than £25 million in charitable donations are ‘lost’ due to inability by funeral directors to claim ‘Gift Aid’ - a 25% government tax incentive on cash donations made during funeral services. The ‘GiftAid 25’ campaign supports funeral directors in bringing these donations online enabling more money to be raised for charity and providing a better service to their clients.
Friends and families of the bereaved often ask for charitable donations, instead of flowers, as a way of giving back to a specific community or charity. Currently, processing cash and cheque donations is costly for funeral directors. Research undertaken by the NAFD reveals that collecting and processing cash charitable donations currently costs the average funeral directors around £2,000 a year.
Alan Slater, chief executive officer of the NAFD commented: “By launching the ‘GiftAid 25’ campaign we are not only helping funeral directors to provide an improved, added value service to their clients at a difficult time but we are also helping to support local communities by ensuring more money is given to well-deserving charities.”
To power this shift, the NAFD has teamed up with online giving platforms including JustGiving, the world’s leading social giving company, to make it easier for funeral directors to handle donations on behalf of their clients. JustGiving has developed a new hub designed specifically for funeral directors to process donations online and reclaim any tax breaks.
Liz Bettles of Green Willow Funerals, based in Wales, believes moving funeral donations online helps her to offer her clients a better service than before. Using JustGiving she has enabled the company to keep costs down and this has resulted in the ability to keep prices lower for clients. By moving to online donations Green Willow Funerals have raised over £20,000 for local and national charities. Almost £5,000 of the total was Gift Aid, money that wouldn’t have been recovered if the donations had been in cash.
Liz Bettles added: “Online giving saves a huge amount of administration time spent counting the money and working out which funeral it relates to. At Green Willow Funerals we’ve seen an increasing number of clients who want to give donations in lieu of flowers and by using JustGiving we’re able to give back a lot more to local charities.”
To find out more about GiftAid 25 visit www.giftaid25.com.
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For further information please contact The National Association of Funeral Directors Press Office on 0845 250 8435.
Notes to Editors:-
GiftAid 25 is a campaign led by the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) in association with JustGiving, Memory Giving, Friends and Relations and EMS Internet.
The National Association of Funeral Directors is the leading membership body for the funeral sector. With more than 3,700 funeral firm members, the Association represents around 80% of all funeral directors in the UK.
The National Association of Funeral Directors is the leading membership body for the funeral sector. With more than 3,700 funeral firm members, the Association represents around 80% of all funeral directors in the UK.