It works by employees donating a sum of money to charity straight from their salary without incurring tax &ndash which means donations are worth
up to 40 per cent more for that charity. A major problem is that not enough companies offer the scheme to their employees, and not enough employees take it up when their company does offer it.
At no extra cost to employers, payroll giving, also known as workplace giving, is cheaper for
those donating and provides charities with a regular income. It also shows
a company means business when
it comes to corporate social responsibility.
The Geared For
Giving Campaign, celebrating its first anniversary this month, was launched by MP Anne Snelgrove and Dragon's Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne.
A host of charities, secret millionaires, entrepreneurs and former contestants from BBC reality show The Apprentice have backed the campaign.
It aims to get one million people signed up to workplace giving and has so far reached the halfway target, with more than £650,000 pledged to more than 1,000 good causes.
Speaking at
a campaign event in the houses of parliament, Snelgrove told Metro: 'I hope we meet the one million target sooner rather than later. People might be reluctant to dig into their pockets but if you pledge to workplace giving it is taken out automatically and you end up giving more money by avoiding tax. We need to get that message across and double our
efforts so charities don't lose out because they are needed more than ever in a global recession.'
If your company offers the scheme but you haven't yet signed up, compare other charitable donations you make
in the year against this scheme.
Make your money work harder for the charity you're trying to help.
Charities miss out on a potential £900million
a year because of inefficient giving.