Giving from pay is 25 years old this week. The Association of Payroll Giving Organisations (APGO) marked the anniversary by delivering a giant card to 10 Downing Street, highlighting the £1.2 billion raised and thanking companies and their employees for using the scheme.

The Government is backing the scheme and encouraging more companies to take up Payroll Giving as an effective means of supporting charities.

‘The amount raised for charities is a marvellous achievement, both by companies who offer Payroll Giving, and their wonderfully generous employees who recognise the value of sustained giving from their payroll, tax free, to charity,’ said Liz Davies , representative of the APGO. ‘The 25th anniversary of the scheme is a great opportunity for us all to say thank you to them.’

So far the taxman has contributed 30 per cent of the £1.2 billion total, but APGO are keen to increase the uptake of Payroll Giving in the next five years. Liz continued, ‘Even in these challenging times, people can see the huge value of tax free giving. By 2017 we are aiming to double the number of employers offering the scheme so even more charities and their beneficiaries are provided with a sustained and regular income stream.’

Prime Minister David Cameron said: ‘The amount of money that people give to charities in this country is a testament to the generosity of the British people. Payroll Giving is a great idea because it makes giving easier and a normal part of life. I celebrate the £1.2 billion raised for charities by Payroll Giving over the last 25 years, and I want to ensure that Payroll Giving is made even easier and more compelling.’

Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband said, ‘Payroll Giving has been a simple and successful way of helping good causes. I’m delighted that it continues to have widespread support and am sure that it will support charities and other good causes for many more years to come.’

Former Chancellor Nigel Lawson said, ‘I am happy to celebrate the fact that tax relief for Payroll Giving, which I introduced as Chancellor, has now reached its 25th birthday.’

One in four Royal Mail Group employees have supported a total of 975 registered charities and good causes by donating money direct from their pay. Around £45 million has been given by employees since starting the scheme 23 years ago. Over £2 million has been raised in the last year alone.

Help the Hospices, Barnardo’s, County Air Ambulance Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support and Royal Mail Group’s own charity, the Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund, have all received cash sums from generous employees.

Marek Toombs, Royal Mail Collection Planner for the South East, has donated money to the cancer charity Macmillan for the last seven years through the payroll giving scheme. It is a cause close to his heart.

“My mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when I was 11, and she passed away two years later,” Marek explains.

Keen to see how his donations help, Marek visited a local Macmillan cancer centre at Gillingham’sMedwayMaritimeHospital.  The unit was funded jointly by Macmillan and Medway NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, and opened in 2009.  It offers chemotherapy facilities and a ground-breaking Cancer Information Service launched just over a year ago, which Macmillan is currently funding.

Marek said:” I was really impressed with the facilities. The services Macmillan offers there would certainly have helped my family when we were going through this.

“I’d like to think my donations have helped in a small way. However it is not necessary that people are touched personally in order to help.  Charities function and rely on people donating money to them and the payroll giving scheme is an excellent way to help these worthwhile causes.”

Royal Mail Group received the Guinness World Records official certificate at a special ceremony inLondon.

Chief Executive Officer, Moya Greene, who accepted the award on behalf of the company’s payroll givers, said: “It’s a tremendous honour for our people to receive this award from Guinness World Records.

“Our postmen and women play a vital and trusted role in every community across theUK. I am delighted that our postmen and women have been recognised as the world’s best for donating to charity direct from their pay.”

Gaz Deaves, Guinness World Records Adjudicator, said :”This Guinness World Record recognises the 975 registered charities supported and reflects the huge generosity of all those working at the Royal Mail, congratulations to all on this special world record.”

All of these enlightened employers have committed to implementing and actively promoting their Workplace Giving scheme and we want to encourage more of you to follow their lead and sign up today!

Employers who have joined the campaign over the last few months include; Euromonitor International, Scapa Group Toshiba, One Stop Stores, Bank of China, MoneySupermarket.com, Reed Smith, MPG Media Contacts, Merlin Entertainments and Zodiak Media Group.

As Julie Hirsch, Director of Human Resources of Zodiak Media Group explains “Following the success of the Secret Millionaire series we launched the Workplace Giving scheme to enable our employees to donate to a charity that means something personal to them. We have committed to making a company donation and hope that the combination of the tax benefit together with a financial contribution from the Company will encourage as many staff as possible to sign up. The scheme has just launched and we’ve had a great response so far. We think this is a really great opportunity for lots of people to make a difference and are pleased to support the Geared for Giving campaign.”

With over 9 million employees without access to the scheme we still have a long way to go so please join the growing number of Geared for Giving employers by contacting us now.

The Platinum Quality Mark Award recognises employers that continually strive to increase donations toUKcharities through Payroll Giving.  Employers that are recognised through the Platinum Award will have committed themselves to promoting Payroll Giving in the workplace and increasing charitable donations.  

Platinum Award Criteria

Employers must have achieved and held the Gold Quality Mark Award for at least one year (i.e. the 2011 Gold Award) prior to applying for a Platinum Quality Mark Award in 2012 and completed at least one task from each of the three sections  below in the past 12 months:

Public Register of Employers Offering Payroll Giving

Employers must have signed-up to the public register of employers offering Payroll Giving to their staff.  Register your company details here

Increased Payroll Giving (a minimum of one must have been achieved)

• Either achieved an overall employee sign-up to Payroll Giving of 20%, or increased employee take-up from the previous year by a minimum of 10%
• Increased existing donations (through demonstrable promotion)  by a minimum of 10%
• Matched employee contributions by a minimum of 10%

Promoted Payroll Giving (a minimum of one must have been achieved)

• Actively encouraged pensioners (past employees) to continue to use Payroll Giving
• Used volunteers or past employees to promote Payroll Giving to current staff
• Provided evidence of an active promotion that encouraged clients and customers to use Payroll Giving
• Introduced (and signed-up) a minimum of five new employers to Payroll Giving (evidenced through relevant PGAs)
• Publically demonstrated commitment to Payroll Giving through use of the Payroll Giving and Quality Mark logos on letterhead, websites and other promotional materials
• Demonstrated effective use of the induction and/or review process to introduce staff to Payroll Giving

Applicants will be expected to provide the necessary support material so that their application can be verified where necessary.

Applications should be made by the Payroll Giving Agencies representing excellent employers to the Payroll Giving Centre by the end of February 2012 who will distribute the Platinum Awards from April 2012.

Find our more at the Payroll Giving Centre

The awards ceremony was presented by Peter Lewis, the Institute of Fundraising’s Chief Executive. He was joined by Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service Sir Gus O’Donnell, and Chloe Smith MP, newly appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

The winners are:

Best launch of a new scheme

Winner: Inventive Leisure
Highly commended: Manchester United Ltd

Best re-launch of an existing scheme

Winner: Close Brother Group plc
Highly commended: Henderson Group

Best large employer campaign

Winner: Whitbread plc
Highly Commended: Marshalls plc

Best SME campaign

Winner: Think Money Group
Highly commended: Asos.com

Best civil society employer campaign

Winner: Marie Curie Cancer Care
Highly commended: Retail Trust

Best public sector employer campaign

Winner: HM Revenue & Customs

Best innovative promotional partnership

Winner: Think Money Group
Highly commended: Capital

Best overall campaign

Winner: Whitbread
Highly commended: Think Money Group

But around two in five disagree and say the administration of charitable giving via payroll is too time-consuming.

Almost 100 Payroll World readers responded to the online poll which asked: ‘Is payroll giving an admin burden for payroll?’

The results show that almost 60% of payrollers feel payroll giving is easy to process and worth the effort, but a large proportion are still daunted by the extra work it involves.

Karen Thomson, associate director of policy, research and strategic visibility at the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals, said the results were similar to research conducted by the Institute.

‘The main problem I see is one of perception,’ she said. ‘For those that do operate payroll giving schemes successfully, they do not see it as a burden or costly for the organisation.

‘Where those that do operate schemes have said it is a burden, further research is needed to ascertain why. Is it that so few have taken it up and, therefore, the organisations see it as costly due to the small numbers and bank charges for remittance, or are there other fundamental reasons?’

Simon Morrison, director of marketing and communications at the Institute of Fundraising, said: ‘For some fundraisers payroll giving is a fantastic and efficient way to generate income, but for others it is a cumbersome and time consuming method of making money.

‘The Institute is pleased to see that the amount raised for good causes via payroll giving continues to rise but we are convinced that the system can be improved.

‘That is why we are working to develop proposals that will help take payroll giving to the next level, for example looking at ways to make payroll giving donor-centred and portable between roles so that its full potential can be realised,’ he added.

Credit Payroll World www.payrollworld.com

Being Geared for Giving is a mark of what your organisation stands for. Is yours the kind of company that cares deeply about its public reputation? Does your business plan take account of growing numbers of employees, consumers and other stakeholders who believe it’s vital for companies to act ethically?

More and more enlightened employers recognise and acknowledge the benefits of being Geared for Giving. Are you one of them?

New employers pledging to become Geared for Giving in the last few weeks include Newcastle Building Society, Claire’s, Eurostar International Ltd, MLM Consulting engineers Ltd, Unum and TRW Ltd.

With over 9 million employees without access to the scheme we still have a long way to go so please join the growing number of Geared for Giving employers by contacting us now.

Whilst the Giving White Paper clearly has excellent intentions, the Geared for Giving campaign hopes that it will learn from our success in the area of giving to charity via pay and not be tempted to reinvent the wheel.

To really make giving via pay a success you need to engage with the employers and the employees in a really meaningful and relevant way. That requires contact in the boardroom and on the shop floor on a consistent and creative basis and no amount of reviewing in Government offices will get round this basic fact.

The Geared for Giving campaign was set up three years ago by Workplace Giving UK and headed up by Duncan Bannatyne, with the aim of boosting awareness of Workplace Giving. It was a campaign born out of frustration with a series of previous, failed attempts to boost awareness launched by previous Governments.

This campaign, funded by Workplace Giving UK on a minimum budget of £100,000 over the past three years, has managed to generate donations totalling over £2.3 million pledged for 2,870 different charities by those who are now able to give easily through the scheme. (either from new employer schemes or those that have been re-launched in this period). We also estimate that a further £500,000 has been pledged by employers who are enhancing their employee’s choice of charity. The number of new employees with access to the scheme has so far reached over 1.3 million and is growing on a monthly basis.

Whilst we welcome the suggestion of a Platinum Award to celebrate the businesses and their employees who excel in this field, we would hope that any SME focus would take note of why the previous Government campaign failed to engage this type of business.

We hope that any campaign focuses and learns from a wide range of ‘good’ employer case studies with a focus on the younger workforce so that we can attract young people to give via pay, who might then continue donating in this way throughout their careers.

Finally we would encourage every Minister and MP to lead by example and pledge to make use of their own Workplace Giving scheme.

For more information contact us now.

We are delighted to be celebrating the third Anniversary of the Geared for Giving campaign tonight with a dinner at the House of Lords sponsored by Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks and hosted by Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws QC.

So what’s happened in the last three years?

• Over 1 million more employees with easy access to Workplace Giving

• Over £2.3 million pledged to date

• Over £500,000 extra in enhancement from Geared Up Employer

• Over 2,800 different charities supported

• Over 450 pieces of national press, media and TV coverage

• Over 8 million Yorkshire & Clydesdale Bank customers informed about the scheme via ATM till receipts every month

So what’s next for the campaign?

The campaign initially focussed on making giving via pay available to 1 million more employees and this has been achieved. The focus for the campaign going forward is to understand what the obstacles are, perceived or otherwise, which stops employers offering the scheme and employees using it.

We believe that approximately 11.5 million or 45% of the working population is still unable to give to charity straight from their pay as their employer is yet to offer this benefit. There are also many employers who have a scheme but do not promote it effective so their staff can join in easily. We hope to encourage both these audiences to do so in the coming years.

As Duncan Bannatyne commented; “At the launch reception I told the audience that they should be asking themselves not ‘Why would you do this?’ but ‘Why wouldn’t you?’ and this is the focus of the campaign going forward. We want to understand what the obstacles are perceived or real, so that we can help to get more and more of you Geared for Giving.”

Contact us now and help get everybody Geared for Giving at work. Why wouldn’t you?

We are delighted that the number of high profile charity supporters continues to increase as the campaign gains momentum. Here is what a few of them had to say about the campaign;

Dr Evelyn Gillan, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland says “Alcohol Focus Scotland relies a great deal on the generosity of people like you to continue much of our work. Every single person who makes a regular gift through Workplace Giving helps us to make a difference in peoples’ lives. I am confident that with supporters like you behind us, we have every chance of achieving a culture change in Scotland where far fewer lives are affected by alcohol misuse, and moderate, responsible drinking is the norm. Every gift you give to Alcohol Focus Scotland through regular Workplace Giving makes us stronger and our impact greater.”

Dr. Liam O’Toole, CEO of Arthritis Research UK comments “We are proud to support the Geared for Giving Campaign encouraging companies and employees to take up Workplace Giving. Regular donations mean Arthritis Research UK can plan ahead and continue funding vital research to find more effective ways to relieve the debilitating and unbearable pain that over 10 million people in the UK have to endure every day.”

Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive, Mental Health Foundation says “Workplace Giving raises vital income for the Mental Health Foundation’s work helping people survive, recover from and prevent mental health problems. We welcome the Geared for Giving campaign, as it will raise awareness of the important role that Workplace Giving plays in raising sustainable funds for charities”

Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive of Save the Children explains “No child is born to die, but 8 million children under five die every year from illnesses we know how to treat or prevent, such as diarrhoea and pneumonia. In the 21st century, this is utterly wrong. When the cost of a chocolate bar would pay for a baby’s essential medicine, the money you donate really does have the power to save a life.

Workplace Giving is the most tax-efficient way to contribute to Save the Children. It is easy to set up, and receiving regular gifts in this way allows us to plan ahead and use those funds more effectively. Geared for Giving is raising the profile of Workplace Giving and it has our full support.”

To join the growing number of Geared for Giving companies and help the charities that are important to your employees, contact us now.