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Newsroom & speeches
5/99
13 January 1999
Gift Aid 2000, a major campaign to encourage regular donations - particularly by young givers - to charitable organisations working on education and anti-poverty projects in the world's poorest countries, was announced by Economic Secretary Patricia Hewitt today.
Gift Aid 2000 will raise public awareness of the tax relief available under the Millennium Gift Aid (MGA) tax relief scheme, announced by the Chancellor in the March 1998 Budget, and provide a central contact point for donors wishing to give to eligible projects.
Gift Aid 2000 will achieve a high public profile through a 4 million Pounds advertising campaign to be launched in the spring. Mrs Hewitt also announced today that the Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe (RKCR) advertising agency has been appointed to handle the campaign.
Announcing Gift Aid 2000, Mrs Hewitt said :
"Gift Aid 2000 marks a major step forward in delivering the benefits of Millennium Gift Aid to projects designed to help improve education and tackle poverty in eighty of the world's poorest countries.
"It will ensure that the additional money provided by the Government to these projects through tax relief on donations of 100 Pounds or more made by the end of the year 2000 can be directed effectively to the charities doing so much to help to improve the quality of life and the prospects for development in these countries."
Gift Aid 2000 will provide a central identity for the campaign to encourage donations to designated charitable projects, particularly among 18 to 34 year old potential donors, through a striking logo which will brand the Inland Revenue advertising campaign and which charities can use on their own messages to potential donors.
It will also provide a telephone contact point which will enable donors responding to the Inland Revenue campaign to make their donations and, where necessary, help them to identify particular projects or countries which they wish their donations to assist.
The campaign will begin in the spring, timed to enable givers wishing to give an affordable 5 Pounds per month donation to reach the MGA qualifying figure of 100 Pounds by the end of the qualifying period, 31 December 2000. It will include TV advertisements and national press inserts designed to appeal primarily to younger donors, but raising awareness of the MGA tax relief provisions among all potential donors.
Three advertising agencies (RKCR, DMB&B and Lowe Howard Spink) were invited to present their ideas in a pitch arranged for the Inland Revenue by the Central Office of Information (COI).
Alternative creative ideas from RKCR and DMB&B were put into research before the winning approach developed by RKCR was chosen after receiving the most positive responses. The three competing agencies were selected following advice from the Advisory Committee on Advertising (ACA).
1. In his Budget speech in March 1998, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced Millennium Gift Aid, a new scheme designed to support education and anti poverty projects in the world's poorest countries.
2. MGA provides a time limited variation on the existing Gift Aid tax relief scheme, which offers relief on single gifts of at least 250 Pounds to any charitable organisation. Gift Aid 2000 reduces the threshold to 100 Pounds and allows this figure to be reached in instalments, provided these are made in the period from 31 July 1998, when the scheme began, to 31 December 2000. The relief is otherwise subject to the conditions of the existing Gift Aid scheme.
3. It is intended that donations received under the MGA scheme should be managed by charities which have the necessary structure and expertise to allocate these to new or existing projects in the eligible countries.
4. Countries eligible to benefit are those designated as 'low income countries' by the World Bank for the purpose of granting International Development Aid loans, predominantly the developing countries in Africa and Asia. To qualify for MGA support, projects must be designed to support education and anti poverty projects in the eligible countries. Charities wishing to participate in the scheme must register their intention in advance with the Inland Revenue.
5. As well as encouraging donations to qualifying projects, Gift Aid 2000 has been designed to encourage affordable, tax efficient and regular payments for a new generation of young donors who research shows are currently under represented in charitable giving.
6. Media enquiries about Gift Aid 2000 and MGA should be addressed to Charles Keseru at the Treasury press office on 020 7270 5188 or Wendy Brumfitt at the Inland Revenue press office on 020 7438 6706.
