More givers, not gift aid reform, first step for Tory government

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 5 Feb 2010

A Conservative government would focus on increasing giving, rather than gift aid reform, to boost voluntary income to charities, the shadow charities minister said yesterday.

Nick Hurd told a meeting of senior fundraisers that while gift aid was “a priority”, he said “the question is whether taxpayer money is best spent on just maximising yield from existing donations or if taxpayer money is better spent bringing in a whole new [area of] philanthropy”.

Not laying out any specific plans to encourage greater numbers of people to donate, Hurd reiterated Conservative policy on “Broken Britain” and the need to boost social responsibility and civic engagement as potentially leading to more philanthropic activity among the general public.

“Incentives for giving in this country are relatively generous,” said Hurd.

He told the Institute of Fundraising’s Ready for the Recovery conference in London that in the short-term a Conservative government would prioritise reducing money and time spent by charities in processing gift aid. While the push for the opt-out system is “entirely plausible” he said that opt-out would itself pose problems for donors and charities.

Committing to reviewing gift aid soon after any possible Conservative win in the predicted May poll, Hurd expressed a preference for exploring composite rates, such as those considered in a Treasury report released in December.

Hurd said his Labour counterpart, Angela Smith, often cites a lack of sector consensus on what to do with gift aid and challenged the sector to get its act together on reaching consensus and communicating the scheme better to donors.

Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of the Institute, however challenged Hurd’s assertion, arguing that gift aid reform is the single issue on which there is the most consensus among civil society organisations.

Directory: Institute of Fundraising
Who's Who: Nick Hurd | Lindsay Boswell

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.