More than half of payroll administrators say processing payroll giving is not a burden, a Payroll World poll has found.

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

We are thrilled that the number of employers joining the campaign continues to grow monthly, with all of them committing to effectively promote their Workplace Giving scheme and make it easy for their employees to support their favourite charity should they wish.

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?

For the second year in a row, the number of Quality Mark Award certificates distributed to businesses will increase. In April, 3,631 certificates will be distributed to employers, an 8.5% increase on 2010. The Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates are presented to employers offering a 10, 5 or 1% take-up of the scheme amongst their employees.

Lee Grant, Tax-Effective Giving Project Manager at the Institute of Fundraising, comments: “It is great to see so many employers ‘going for gold’ and actively participating in Payroll Giving. Giving through your payroll continues to fare well in the current economic climate. Although we’ve seen a dip in donor numbers during the last financial year, it’s encouraging that the amount of income provided has actually increased since April 2010.

“We’re now calling on employers to go one step further and apply for a National Payroll Giving Excellence Award. This is the ultimate demonstration of commitment to Payroll Giving and provides employers with a platform to showcase their outstanding schemes in practice.”

The deadline for entries for the 2011 National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards is 15th July. Any organisation that has achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold Quality Mark Award this year is eligible and welcome to enter the .

Workplace Giving enables businesses to demonstrate their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Community Investment programmes by providing a platform for their employees to give tax-effectively. Worth £106 million to the sector annually, Workplace Giving has also been noted to improve staff recruitment and retention and many employers top-up, or match their employees’ contribution.

Join the growing number of enlightened employees who are serious about Workplace Giving by contacting us now.

750,000 people are expected to become higher rate tax payers from 5th April 2011 as a result of Government reforms according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

It may, at first sight, appear to be bad news for those affected but it could be great news for charities if only more employees were aware of Workplace Giving.

Many in the 40% tax band wrongly believe that by ticking the Gift Aid box the charity in question can claim back their tax rate – in fact they can’t.

Only the standard rate of tax can be claimed back through the Gift Aid scheme, unlike Workplace Giving where all donations are from gross pay and therefore include the tax the donor would have paid. For a higher rate tax payer on PAYE Workplace Giving is a “no brainer”…as long as their employer offers a scheme!

So for a 40% tax payer, instead of £10 being worth £12.50 to charity via Direct Debit/ Gift Aid, this £10 would be worth £16.67 to charity if given through a Workplace Giving scheme. This difference could be worth up to £3 million extra if these staff all had access to a scheme.

Rosie Runciman, of the Geared for Giving Campaign says; “If Employers could do one thing this year which would cost them nothing but help good causes it would be to ensure they offer a Workplace Giving scheme. The Geared for Giving Campaign is calling on the 45% of employers who are yet to offer the scheme to join the growing number of enlightened employers who offer this FREE benefit to their staff.”

For more information please contact Rosie on rosie@geardforgiving.com or 01285 850 662

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks are leading the way, not only in encouraging their own employees to donate to charity via their Workplace Giving scheme, but also by encouraging their customers to do the same. They hope this will urge other companies to follow their lead and join the Geared for Giving Campaign.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks have bolstered the campaign by promoting the programme through ATM rolls across the country to highlight the easy way to donate to charity. From this month the campaign logo and web URL will appear on ATM receipts dispensed from cashpoint machines across the UK which are used an average of 8,882,023 times per month. The move comes after the banks introduced a Workplace Giving promotion on 300,000 customer bank statements.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks have supported the Campaign since it was launched in 2008 and have continued to back the programme across the business. This year, employees were named as the most charitable in the banking world when it comes to their salaries. More than 20 per cent of staff donate to charity via their salaries – the highest employee involvement of any UK high street bank for Workplace Giving.

Jacqui Atkinson, Community Affairs Manager at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank said: “As an organisation we are committed to supporting community and volunteering initiatives across our business and the workplace giving scheme is a good way to make donating to chosen charities as easy as possible for our employees. Plus, if money is donated to our chosen charity, Help the Hospices, we match the funds pound for pound.”

“Nearly 2,000 of our employees have donated to 227 different charities since we introduced the scheme and it continues to be popular with our employees, raising an average £230,000 each year. We wanted to lend our support to Geared for Giving and encourage anyone who can donate to do so through the workplace giving programme so we are delighted to introduce information through our customer communications,” she said.

Entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne thinks “It is great to see Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks being so creative about getting the Workplace Giving message out to the public. Workplace Giving is an initiative that is very close to my heart and I hope other companies will follow the banks’ example.”

The community-focused bank has a dedicated CR strategy which is strongly supported across all levels of the business which is the key to the success of the Geared for Giving campaign. This reflects Duncan Bannatyne’s comments at the launch of the campaign when he said that companies shouldn’t be asking why they would do this, they should be asking why wouldn’t they. He immediately introduced a scheme for his own workforce which was very well received.

To help us spread the Geared for Giving message, please contact us now.