Aggregated donations and sponsored events

Aggregated donations

HMRC lets you add together donations of £20 or less from different donors and show them as one line. You still need a valid Gift Aid declaration for each donation. On an aggregated line:

• Do not enter individual names and addresses. HMRC says doing so slows your claim down.
• Enter a short description, such as "Thursday club donors", in the aggregated donations box (35 characters at most).
• Enter the date of the last donation and the total.
• Keep each line under £1,000.
• Only add together donations from the same accounting period.
• Do not include donations linked to admission to charity visitor attractions.

One bullet on HMRC's guidance page still mentions "donations under £30". The rest of the page and the template say £20 or less, which is the safer figure to use.

Sponsored events

• Enter "Yes" in the sponsored event column, the date the sponsorship money reached the charity, and the total Gift Aid donations raised by that participant.
• Use the participant's name and address. HMRC says this can be their home, their place of work, or their school if a child took part in a school event.
• Any single sponsor giving more than £500 must be shown as a separate, ordinary Gift Aid donation with that sponsor's own name and address, and without "Yes" in the sponsored column.
• A line cannot be both aggregated and sponsored. HMRC's technical rules include a specific error for this (error 7039).

Cash and card reader donations with no names

Small donations with no declaration, such as bucket collections or contactless card readers, cannot be claimed on the Gift Aid schedule. They may qualify under the separate Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme, which is claimed differently. See GOV.UK guidance on the Small Donations Scheme.

Donor Schedule can build aggregated lines for you, keeps each under £1,000, and flags sponsored donations over £500.

Source: HMRC schedule spreadsheet guidance.