May 1, 2012 at 5:18 pm
I liked a letter on behalf of SSAFA. It started off by telling us that the writer was Pippa Dannatt, and that she is a volunteer for SSAFA. Not until we had turned over the page were we told in passing (if we had not already guessed) that her husband had been head of the Army, and [...]
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April 2, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Exbury Gardens, coupled with a passenger-carrying steam railway, in south Hampshire (well worth a visit), have been slow to take up the idea of Gift Aid on entrance charges. For this season, however, the charity is tackling the subject with zeal. The most prominent prices are those with Gift Aid, and visitors are expected to say if [...]
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March 29, 2012 at 2:41 pm
The Budget proposal for a cap on tax reliefs for individuals at 25 per cent of their annual income, or £50,000, if higher, from April 2013 very much includes Gift Aid payments – and also gifts to charities of certain lands and quoted securities.
As one might expect, this has generated plenty of fury and sharp [...]
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March 1, 2012 at 4:31 pm
It is too late now, but, for another year, I feel I should make a list of the very wide range of goods and services which I am asked to finance. It is likely to be wide-ranging, and probably there will be few with which I strongly disagree.
The latest request is to help people spend [...]
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February 9, 2012 at 3:04 pm
I bang on quite a bit about the need for charities to make sure that their address lists are up to date. Some, patently, are at least seven or eight years out of date – simply because letters are sent to me at an address I left many years ago.
Is the electoral register the answer [...]
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January 17, 2012 at 10:14 am
I have a high regard for the work of The Anthony Nolan Trust. Having sent them a regular donation, it was encouraging to receive, very promptly, a full-page ‘thank-you’ letter. But, sadly, something had gone wrong with the technology (or was it human error?). In the middle of the letter was reference to the 437,000 [...]
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December 6, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Children with Cancer UK may be blaming a lot of recipients of a recent mailing for not responding – when the blame lies firmly at its own door.
So far as I can remember I had never received anything from them – until they sent me a fundraising letter to an address which I left nearly [...]
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November 28, 2011 at 6:10 pm
A distinguished contributor has written an important article for The Times, calling for full relief of tax to be allowed on charitable donations. It is a widespread misconception that, somehow, HMRC pockets part of the donor’s contributions.
Let’s suppose I am a top-rate tax payer and want a charity to receive £50,000 of my money. I [...]
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November 1, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Myasthenia Gravis Association is not exactly a snappy name for a charity seeking funds – although, of course, that describes it accurately. For a start, I would try to pick something easier for everyday use, while keeping the official title.
This, sadly, is one of the many diseases for which, still, there is no known cure. Known [...]
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October 15, 2011 at 3:47 pm
No doubt it can be shown that, the more urgent is the need for funds, the better is the response from donors. So, what am I to make of a request to meet emergency funding for scientists, including one request for £31,010 to provide emergency support grant funding to continue research into apoE4 – which [...]
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