If you haven't yet booked to join us at our special donorflex Gift Aid seminar, you'd better hurry – at the time of writing, there are just nine seats left.

Preparations for the Friday, January 29, event at Aston Business School Conference Centre continue to pick up pace following the Christmas announcement that Mark Toner, one of HMRC's most experienced charity auditors, will be helping us set the scene and answer any Gift Aid-related questions.

We're also happy to be receiving insight from user about the kind of Gift Aid questions they'd like to be answered. Here are just a couple of scenarios we'll be exploring:

  • If a group or organisation does a sponsored event we have to enter their donation on an individual's record so we can claim the tax. This means that the group's record will show no income. This is not an accurate donor history for either party and will affect our future communications with them.
  • If an individual gets lots of sponsors, Finance does not have the time to set up records for each donor so, if they're a taxpayer of course, they claim all the Gift Aid under the individual's name. It means we are losing out on new donor records, and one of those sponsors could already be donor. Is there an easier way of doing this?

If there's a particular Gift Aid issue that you'd like to see covered, please e-mail and let us know what it is.

As a reminder about the event itself, delegates at any of the past three Children's Hospices UK conferences will already know their way to the conference centre at Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET.

And this is the agenda:

  • 10.00am: Registration
  • 10.30am: Welcome and donorflex introduction
  • 10.45am: Mark Toner, HMRC auditor: Mark will give a presentation on the dos and don'ts of Gift Aid, and he'll take questions from the floor on any aspect of the subject – most importantly the impending changes to the six-year rule that's bringing us together
  • 11.45am: Refreshments
  • 12.00am: How donorflex manages Gift Aid: Jo Davies and Steve Mason will prepare you for the focused afternoon session with an hour looking at how donorflex manages Gift Aid, from recording a declaration status all the way to the day you record the payment of your claim by HMRC
  • 1.00pm: Lunch
  • 1.45pm: Six becomes four... we'll introduce you to a new clutch of donorflex reports and guide you through the prescribed procedure for making sure that you make the very most of your supporters' Gift Aid potential before the six-year rule passes into history
  • 2.45pm Refreshments
  • 3.00pm: Six becomes four... we conclude our presentation, provide you with the all-important takeaways so that you can hit the road running when you return to your office, and offer a chance to ask some questions
  • 3.45pm: Carriages. It's our intention to close proceedings so that you can be ahead of the rush

To book one or more of the remaining nine seats – which cost £60 including VAT per delegate – please ask your donorflex Liaison Manager to log in to the Client menu, then click the Events and bookings link. That's where you'll find the booking form for the big date.

Please note that we're only taking bookings online, not over the telephone. This will enable us to build the event and, at the same time, provide you with the means to manage your own booking details for each of the colleagues who will be attending.

Finally, we reserve the right not to refund payments for places that are cancelled within seven days of the seminar. And please note that training vouchers can't be redeemed against this event.