Service 04
The Gift Aid Hunt

How to recover up to 25% of eligible donations going back four years — and set your organisation up to claim Gift Aid automatically every month going forward at no cost.

If your organisation qualifies for Gift Aid but has never claimed — or has claimed inconsistently — you could be sitting on years of unclaimed income that HMRC will pay back to you directly.

Don't be one of the thousands of organisations that miss out on that extra 25%. The money is there. It just needs finding.

A real example: Working through historical donation records for one organisation, I identified over £26,000 of eligible transactions — generating more than £7,000 of Gift Aid income paid directly back to them. From records they already held. Money they didn't know they were owed.
Why So Much Gift Aid Goes Unclaimed

Four common reasons organisations miss out on Gift Aid they are fully entitled to.

Incomplete declarations

Missing or incomplete donor Gift Aid declaration forms mean donations cannot be claimed against.

Forgotten tick box

Eligible taxpayers failing to tick the Gift Aid box — particularly with offline or cash donations.

Data gaps

Donation methods that don't properly capture the donor information needed to make a claim.

Administrative burden

20% of charities find the process difficult and simply don't pursue it — so the money sits unclaimed.

As a rough guide: If you have 50 regular donors giving an average of £10 per month, that is £6,000 per year. Your Gift Aid claim on that would be £1,500 per year — or £6,000 over four years. What does that look like for your organisation?
How It Works, Step by Step

A clear five-step process from getting registered through to claiming automatically every month.

1

Register with HMRC via Golden Giving

Golden Giving (People's Fundraising) handles the Gift Aid registration and claims process with HMRC on your behalf — at no charge. This is the foundation everything else is built on.

2

Set up your platform and start receiving donations

Once live, donors are asked whether they can sign a Gift Aid declaration — stored automatically for every future transaction.

3

Let the platform build your donor data automatically

Once live, the platform collects everything you need for a Gift Aid claim automatically — name, address, email and transaction details. As your data builds up, start identifying any 'unknown' donors who gave before joining the platform — standing orders, cheques, PayPal payments. If you have their email address now, you can check back with them to confirm they are the same person and capture their declaration.

4

Manually match donors to their historical transactions

This is the detective work — and where the real money often lies. Once you have confirmed who your historical donors are, you manually match each one to their past transactions: cheques, standing orders, PayPal payments and any other source going back up to four years. It takes time and care, but every match is money your organisation is owed.

5

Submit your claim and receive the funds directly

The Golden Giving platform accepts offline transactions in two ways — added individually one by one, or imported in bulk via a file. This is essential for standing orders, which will always need to be manually entered as offline transactions since they never pass through the platform directly. Cash donations work the same way. Once all transactions are in, the Gift Aid claim is submitted automatically to HMRC at the end of each month and the funds are transferred directly back to your organisation — no middleman, no delay, no charge.

How I Can Help

You can work through the process yourself — or I can support you at whatever level suits your team and capacity. All support uses my standard consultancy options.

Monthly Consultancy Package

£350 / month
  • Up to 8 hours of support
  • Ideal for a full guided back-claim project
  • I guide you through every step — registration, data review and submission
  • Includes setup so Gift Aid is claimed automatically going forward

Ad Hoc Consultancy Sessions

From £30
  • Book sessions as and when you need them
  • Ideal if you want to do most of the work yourself
  • Dip in for specific guidance at any stage
  • 30 min, 1 hour or 2 hour sessions available
  • No commitment — just book what you need
Golden Giving process Gift Aid claims at no charge. There are no fees for ongoing automatic claiming — that income comes straight to your organisation every month, permanently, once you are set up.

Find out what you could be owed

Start with a free 30-minute introductory call. We can talk through your donation history, whether you qualify, and what a realistic back-claim might look like for your organisation.