Giving as you earn

Have you ever thought about opening up a Charities Aid Foundation account? It’s a great little way to put money aside for giving to charity and responding to the latest (emergency) appeal.

This morning I got an email asking me to donate to the DEC appeal for the Pakistan Floods. So we logged on to CAF, saw how much we’d got in our accounts and made a donation. Simple.

It’s how we give to disasters, Pudsey, Red Nose and all those other TV-telethons.

Each month we add in a regular Give As You Earn (GAYE) donation through our payroll making it tax efficient. Because you get the tax relief through your pay packet, it costs you less to give what you want. It’s a bit like the tax man topping up your net pension contribution.

I used to get annoyed that sites like JustGiving don’t accept CAF account cards for everyone who wants you to sponsor them, but now I see my CAF account as my ‘emergency’ and ‘appeals’ account that I dip into when needed.


Debbie Griffiths www.idealCSR.co.uk