Fifty delegates from 33 organisations have equipped themselves for the impending change to the way Gift Aid works.

They joined the donorflex team at a special Gift Aid seminar to begin planning action for April 1, when the window available to make Gift Aid claims drops from six to four years.

After an unplanned fire alarm drill, HMRC auditor Mark Toner kicked off the four sessions that were designed not just to examine the consequences of the change, but to make the very most of supporters' Gift Aid potential before the six-year rule passes into history.

The queue of questions from the gathering at Aston University's Business School Conference Centre underscored the complexity of the Gift Aid topic, with Mark's over-riding advice being emphasised at very opportunity – it's the charity's duty to ensure every Gift Aid claim is correct so, if in doubt, always ask HMRC for guidance to make prevention better than cure.

Mark kindly offered to be a conduit for e-mail queries on his This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it address.

Jo Davies and Patrick O'Donnell prepared delegates for Brian Todd's 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.

And Brian followed by introducing a new clutch of donorflex reports and guide delegates through the prescribed procedure for making sure that you make the very most of your supporters' Gift Aid potential before the six-year rule is trimmed by a couple of years.

We sent each organisation home with a new donorflex memory stick that includes:
  • Our suite of four donorflex Tracker Gift Aid reports
  • donorflex guidance notes
  • A draft letter to supporters who don't have a Gift Aid declaration
  • HMRC PowerPoint slide presentation

How can those organisations who weren't represented benefit from the seminar? Rest assured that, once the dust has settled, we'll be making the handouts available on the website – so watch this space.