Charity boss: Give the gift of giving and help raise £4m

Tuesday 18 December 2018

Islanders should donate just 14p each day - or swap their caffeine buzz for a fuzzy feeling once a month - to help make local charities £4million better off yearly, a top charity boss said in a major appeal to locals' giving instincts one week before Christmas.

The call for local employees to sign up to a different way of donating to charity called 'payroll giving' comes from voluntary JSPCA CEO Kevin Keen.

The scheme allows anyone who receives their salary through payroll to give regularly and on a tax-free basis to charities and causes of their choosing.

In his latest column for Express, the business guru and charity champ explains how islanders can help local charities for as little as 14p a day, which is £1 a week, or one chain brand coffee a month...

“There are so many great charities in Jersey. I am proud to lead one of the oldest and have been involved with lots of others over the years, and I am always amazed by what they achieve. When you think of the good work Jersey charities do, it really is quite incredible and I personally shudder to think what we would do without them.

Pictured: Kevin says he "would shudder to think" how Jersey would cope without charities.

They may have different reasons for their existence but one thing they share in common is the need to constantly raise enough money to carry on their work. As welcome and needed as big one-off donations like legacies are, they are by their very nature irregular and so not a reliable source of funding for day-to-day operations of a charity.

Most charities also really appreciate having regular donors, or crowdfunders - even though the amounts raised are going to be smaller, they provide diversity of income and probably a different level of engagement.

Just over 30 years ago, the UK introduced payroll giving schemes whereby their taxman provided an incentive to really get these schemes going. It took Jersey quite a bit longer, but we now also have payroll giving here.

Pictured: Big one-off legacy donations are great, but not necessarily a sustainable source of funding, Kevin argues.

If an employer operates a scheme and the employee’s annual donation exceeds £50, then our tax-man (not usually known for his generosity) will add 25% to that donation. So a £1 per week donation deducted via the employer’s payroll will actually generate a total donation of £65 for the charity.

According to the Statistics Unit, there were 61,930 people employed in Jersey in June, so if we were all able to give £1 per week (14p per day) via a payroll-giving scheme we would raise about £4million per year for good causes in Jersey.

Some might find their budgets are already stretched so they can’t afford £1 per week, but there many others who should be able to donate a bit more to make up the shortfall.

Pictured: £3 to £4 a month - the equivalent of a coffee - is all it would take from each islander to raise around £4million in a year.

All it would take is for Jersey employers to set up payroll giving schemes for their employees to participate in. In spite of the efforts of many - including a campaign by Bailiwick Express last year - payroll giving schemes still seem quite rare in Jersey.

Reasons provided to me are usually about the extra administration or other priorities, but given the benefits that could accrue to our community I am really hoping that 2019 will be different.

So here is the call to action! Which organisation is going to be the first big employer to set a payroll-giving scheme up for 2019?

We really need some champions. You can also help by putting pressure on your employer to start a scheme. Not only is it a really great addition to any CSR programme or chosen charity initiative, it will make a big difference to our island - potentially 4 million differences.

This Christmas, why not give the gift of giving?”

READ MORE:

Charity champion wants YOU on the payroll

Majority of islanders ready to embrace "a new way of giving"

Bank joins payroll giving campaign