How You Can Help a Charity Part 2

A research report shows exactly what is happening even we donate via apparently reputable and trustworthy channels.

The Scrooge Report is a report created by the Charities Advisory Trust which reveals that some charity Christmas card stockists give as little as just 1.1% of the cards' revenues to good causes. The Charities Advisory Trust also found that nearly 70% of the internet's personalised charity Christmas card makers give less than 5% to charity. Although via the High Street most donated at least 10% to charity. This suggests that it is more financially rewarding to buy cheap cards and donate the remaining difference to a charity.

Likewise, charity credit cards often offer a similarly stingy amount to good causes. For example my checks established that The Save the Children and Christian Aid Visa cards pay just £15.00 to charity on opening an agreement, but then just 25p for every £100.00 spent thereafter.

Based on this, charities may be better off if you chose a market-leading cashback card – such as Capital One's World Mastercard, paying back 5% for 3 months and up to 1.25% thereafter  - and you can then give the earnings from your credit card spend to your favourite charity cause.

It appears straightforward giving may not be as generous and straightforward as you think. Fundraising websites charge charities fees for the donations they take. Via Justgiving, charities must pay £15.00 per month plus 5% of donations. Virginmoneygiving asks charities to pay an initial £100.00 set-up fee, then charges a 2% administration fee.  The most generous charity donation website is Bmycharity.com, which would convert a £1000 donation into £1249.84 (including Gift Aid) for your charity. This being more than Mycharitypage.com,  Justgiving and Globalgiving.co.uk. Donation websites also help with a tax benefit as Gift Aid means a £10.00 donation by a basic-rate taxpayer is worth £12.50 to a charity, or even more from a higher-rate taxpayer. And higher-rate taxpayers can also still claim back the difference between basic and higher rate tax, meaning about 18p back for every pound that is donated.

This tax benefit is easier to capitalise via an online donation than via a collection tin. "Higher-rate taxpayers are not claiming anything near the amount of relief they can or are even entitled to, because they have forgotten that donations are possible.  For example, anyone who donates £25.00 after receiving a work colleague's email as he/she is running the marathon might forget at the end of the year. So before filing a tax return, produce or obtain a year-end report.

Additionally a change in the law means Europeans working in London can also claim tax relief on gifts to qualifying European charities, via the normal tax return system. Or find out if your employer offers payroll giving, where your charitable donation comes out of your pre-tax wage, so a £20 donation costs basic-rate taxpayers only £16, or higher-rate payers £12.

Easy ways to give

Charitable donations don't always have to come direct from your pocket. Some retailers and websites will donate a proportion of your spend to good causes. Use search engine Everyclick, and each click translates into a donation to one of thousands of UK charities that you can choose from.

If you're buying something online, charity cashback sites will donate a percentage of your spend to good causes without you incurring extra costs. Examples include Easyfundraising.org.uk, where shoppers give an average 5% of their spend to chosen charities at no extra cost, or GiveorTake.com, such as shops and retail outlets like Boots, Currys and Expedia. At registration, you choose between being a "Giver" or a "Taker"'. There's no joining fee for givers, and cashback is donated to charity when it tots up to £10.00+. Takers have to pay a £5 annual fee and receive cash back direct to bank accounts.

Give as you Live (giveasyoulive.com) is an online shopping portal. The stores send the website a commission on anything you buy, and it then donates 90% of all commissions generated to charity.

Check out fairsharemusic.com, where every time users buy one of its 8.5 million tracks, half the profit is donated to charity. Singles cost from 79p and there are as many as 18 charities to choose.

Or try Lendwithcare.org, a micro-loans site. Lenders can distribute small sums to entrepreneurs in the developing world. The entrepreneur's profile is regularly updated on the Lend with Care website, so lenders can see how their loan is changing lives.