Donations

The donate button on this website takes you to the St Columba’s page on Just Giving: Just Giving St Columba’s. This offers both single or monthly donation options but, given transaction costs, it is more cost effective to make recurring donations via Standing Order. You may choose to make your online donation anonymously and/or hide your donation amount from public view.

Just Giving charges a small payment processing fee (1.9% + £0.20 for GBP donations or 2.9% + £0.20 for foreign currency transactions) and a 5% fee for reclaiming Gift Aid on donations. For example, for a £30 donation with Gift Aid, a £1,15 payment is made to JustGiving and a £36.36 donation is made to St Columba’s Church of Scotland.

The Church pays an £18 per month membership fee to JustGiving, which we can cancel at any time. There was no joining fee. There are no platform fees, but JustGiving do make a cheeky request for voluntary contributions towards their running costs when you donate online: “Adding a small contribution on top of your donation means we can continue to help more people.” If you would like to enter 0% for this, just select “other” and enter “£0” as a contribution amount.

If appropriate, you can add Gift Aid to your donation by entering you name and address details and confirming the following statements:

This donation is not made as part of a sweepstake, raffle or lottery and I am not receiving anything in return for it, e.g. book, auction prize, ticket to an event

I confirm that I am UK taxpayer and I understand that if I pay less income tax and/or capital gains tax in the current tax year than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations it is my responsibility to pay the difference.

This is my own money. I am not paying in donations made by a third party, e.g. money collected at an event, the pub, a company donation or a donation from a friend or family member

You can make a one off bank transfer at any time. Most people can now arrange these quickly and easily using online banking. If you need bank account details, please contact finance@stcolumbas.org.uk.

If eligible, please ensure you have filled out a Gift Aid declaration form and sent this back to St Columba’s, marked for the attention of the Finance Team. In order to match your bank transfer with your Gift Aid declaration form, please either e-mail the finance team (finance@stcolumbas.org.uk) with your donation date or use an appropriate reference on the bank transfer (such as your surname or your four digit St Columba’s gift aid reference).

If you would like to donate via cheque, please write the cheque in the name of “St Columba’s Church of Scotland” and either hand it into the Church Office in person (in a sealed envelope and marked for the attention of the Finance Team) or by post.

Transfers of land, buildings, shares quoted on a recognised stock exchange, or units in approved unit trusts may attract Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax relief.

Gifts of Stocks & Shares

UK income tax payers can claim tax relief if they give, or sell at undervalue, a qualifying investment to a charity, where qualifying investments include:

• Shares or securities which are listed on a recognised stock exchange.
• Shares or securities dealt on a designated UK market, for example AIM.
• Units in an authorised unit trust.
• Shares in an open ended investment company.

The amount of relief available to the donor is the market value of the disposal, plus any transfer costs, less any payment or benefit received from the charity. For disposals at undervalue, transfer costs are restricted. The market value is determined at the date of transfer.

For income tax payers the relief is given as a deduction from gross taxable income for the tax year of the gift. Outright gifts are also treated as ‘no gain, no loss’ disposals for capital gains tax purposes. The charity can ask the donor to dispose of the shares on its behalf, though it must be clear that the donor is doing so as agent of the charity.

Gifts of Land & Buildings

Tax relief is also available for the gift, or sale at undervalue, of a qualifying interest in UK land and buildings to charity, where qualifying interest means a freehold or leasehold interest. Licences to occupy are excluded.

The donor must dispose of the whole of their interest in the property to qualify for the tax relief. If the donor owns the freehold and grants the charity a lease, this is treated as the whole of the donor’s interest in the lease and qualifies for tax relief.

The donor can deduct, from taxable income, the market value of the property including valuation and disposal costs, less any payment or benefit received. An outright gift is also treated as a ‘no gain, no loss’ disposal for capital gains tax purposes and the charity is exempt from stamp duty land tax. The market value is at the date of disposal and it is advisable to obtain a professional valuation.

The donor must first contact the charity to confirm it can accept the gift and obtain a certificate from the charity confirming the disposal.

Look at the options and consider seeking professional advice

It is worth considering all options – including selling an investment, land or building yourself commercially and gift aiding the proceeds.

You are strongly advised to seek professional advice before making significant transactions.

External Links:

You may find the following external links helpful:

• HMRC guidance
  • Recognised stock exchanges: definition, legislation and tables of recognised exchanges
  • Tax relief when you donate to a charity
• Sharegift – a share donation charity which aggregates small shareholdings which would cost more to sell than they are worth

Planned giving is the most efficient way to donate to the church. Doing so by standing order is also a cost effective way for us to receive funding.

You can either:

• fill in a Standing Order form and return to the Church Office by post or in person (in a sealed envelope please, marked for the attention of the Finance Team), which we then pass on to your bank, or
• you can set up a standing order direct with your bank (either in branch or online). However, it is immensely helpful, if you would like us to claim Gift Aid on your behalf, if you could let the finance team know the relevant date(s) and amount of the standing order, so that we can process the Gift Aid claim appropriately. Please use finance@stcolumbas.org.uk.

You can amend standing orders at any time, so you shouldn’t feel any constraint. In fact, we actively encourage you to review your giving regularly!

Regular, tax-efficient giving, allows both the Church and donors to plan their finances.

You can download the Standing Order Form here

If your employer or pension administrator operates a payroll giving scheme, donations can be made directly to the Church from your wages or pension (after National Insurance Contributions, but before Income Tax) – you only pay tax on the remainder, providing immediate tax relief on your donation at your highest tax rate. This has the same effect as Gift Aid where tax is claimed back after being deducted at source, but payroll giving allows charitable donations to be made before tax is deducted in the first place.

The Give As You Earn scheme, run by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), is the UK’s largest Payroll Giving scheme.

Some employers also offer “matched giving” schemes, usually capped at a limited amount. Please check with your employer as these schemes occasionally exclude religious charities.

The government site with guidance on payroll giving is at: https://www.gov.uk/payroll-giving

You can choose to put some money into an account dedicated to charitable giving, into which the appropriate tax is recovered from HMRC and the balance is then available for tax-efficient charitable giving using cheques. In addition to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), there are various similar smaller organisations that offer the same service.

External links: https://www.cafonline.org/my-personal-giving

At most services of regular worship on a Sunday, “open plate” collections are taken.

There are yellow envelopes provided in pews to enable attendees to complete a Gift Aid declaration. Once completed, these are valid against all future identifiable donations to St Columba’s Church of Scotland. If you don’t have a pen handy, just ask an elder for assistance. These Gift Aid declarations make a big difference to our income and it is much appreciated if you are able to take the time to complete the form. Note – you can use a 4 digit St Columba’s Gift Aid reference on these envelopes to save you having to complete your full name and address on each occasion, but please do sign the envelope each time.

Cash or cheques which are not in an envelope cannot be identified as a Gift Aid donation, although St Columba’s Church of Scotland does take advantage of the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS). For more information about this scheme, please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-detailed-guidance-notes/chapter-8-the-gift-aid-small-donations-scheme

Not set up yet, but a review of options is in progress.

Whilst we can still benefit from the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) with any contactless donations of £30 or less (from 6 April 2019 onwards), it will still be beneficial for contactless donations to be made in conjunction with the existence of valid Gift Aid declarations.

Donations are made using an annual supply of uniquely referenced envelopes, dated for each Sunday of the year.

If unable to attend church in any week, your offering can be placed in the appropriate envelope and brought along when you are next in church. A Gift Aid declaration, where appropriate, should be signed when joining the scheme to cover all such donations.