Giving some of Aff commission to charity

[iswise]

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Hi All,
Hope this is the right place for this post.
I am finally completing work on our new travel portal (nothing special but I hope I can generate a bit of income from it when quiet elsewhere) I want to make it clear on the site that 10% of any aff commission earnt will be donated (split equally) to 4 charities. Does anyone know if I have to register with anyone like the Chrities Commission or can I just get on and do it without any regulatory issues? Of course it will be possible to audit the donations if anyone wants / needs to check. Any advice much welcomed.

Ian Wiseman
4u2TRAVEL Home Page
ISWISE

[Shane]

not sure on the regulations aspect, can't see an issue with it myself but then again I'm rarely right on regulations lol, with a bit of luck perhaps you could get away with a chartered accountant to sign off that 10% has been paid to charity and that could be it !? they are good enough for the tax man lol..

anyhow the main point of my post is that you need to make sure you are very careful about having any logos on your site for the charities as some are very canny and anal about how their brand is used, some regularly demand double digit thousands just for you to have their logo on your site/stationary etc. regardless of how much you are donating etc. so do make sure you have permission to even link to them (yes some are that anal!!) directly from your site if you intend to.

[Jason]

I'm sure the Charities Commission are only interested in the Charities themselves, not donators so no need to inform them.

The accountant will no doubt keep a close eye on your donations as they will need to be dealt with for tax purposes... The Tax man likes you to donate, they even pay the charities the tax back via gift aid, so make sure you sign up to that for the charities involved, it's worth 20p for every pound you donate to them. The accountant should help out with that too.

Like Shane says, the charities themselves will want to know what you've raised, and how much their share is, and if you are using them as an endorsement, will definitely need to know.

[iswise]

Thanks Shane and Jason for your thoughts. Good tip about checking with the charities - hadnt really considered that angle, their responses will probably determine which ones I support with this. I know at least one is OK as already do a lot with them - Bristol childrens' hospital. Also Accountant is not an issue - he will audit as part of the usual end of year stuff. Thanks again


Ian

[Suzanne-CBR]

I know this is a bit late, but only just spotted your post.

You may want to consider becoming a member of the Institute of Fundraising, as we did (Corporate Membership)

Institute of Fundraising | About Membership | Corporate Membership

[iswise]

Thanks for the heads up Suzanne. A good idea but will have to pend it until we are generating reasonable funds - couldnt afford the fees at this stage!