Gift Aid explained

Gift Aid is one of the simplest and most effective ways of giving to charity. It is a scheme administered by HM Revenue and Customs which allows us to claim 25p for every £1 that you donate. So, for example, if you donate £20 we can claim an extra £5, making your gift worth £25.

You simply need to have paid or will pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains tax that is at least equal to the tax that Marie Curie and other charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs you donate to will reclaim on your donations in a tax year.

If all our supporters who have not yet done so opted into Gift Aid, we would be able to raise an extra £2.5 million. This would help send more nurses into patients' homes to provide them with the care that they need.

If you already donate to us and want to check that you are gift aiding your donations then please call us on Freephone 0800 716 146 (lines open Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.30pm).

Gift Aid on your donated items at our charity shops

You can opt in to a separate Gift Aid scheme when you donate items to our charity shops too. This lets us collect 25% more whenever we sell something that you donated.

To help us take advantage of Gift Aid, you can sign up to the Retail Gift Aid scheme before dropping off your donations. Click the link below to take you to our online sign-up form. Fill this in, print off your barcode and bring it with your donation to your local Marie Curie shop. Check out your nearest store and their opening hours here  .

Alternatively, our instore teams will be delighted to sign you up when you drop off your donations too!

What can you donate to our charity shops? Perhaps our freepost drop off service or a house collection would be more convenient for you? For more information on all the different ways to donate items to your local shop, along with a list of items we can currently accept, visit our Donate to our shops   page.

More information

The Gift Aid guidelines require a Gift Aid Declaration Form to be completed. Gift Aid Declaration forms should include the following:

• The name of our charity (which our form includes).
• The full name and home address of the person making the donation, including their postcode. Donations cannot be made jointly.
• A statement that the individual pays an amount of income and/or capital gains tax that is at least equivalent to the tax that Marie Curie will claim from HM Revenue & Customs (this is already on our standard form) and that the person wants his or her donations to be treated as Gift Aid donations. It gives us the data we need to be able to claim Gift Aid on a donation.

If you donate online, ticking the Gift Aid box is the same as completing a Gift Aid Declaration Form.

Gift Aid can be claimed on individual and sponsorship donations made to Marie Curie.

Gift Aid applies only to 'gifts'. It does not apply to activities where an entry fee has been charged or where people have entered a competition. This also extends to activities where the donor can't be traced (such as giving to collections).

To ensure we can claim the money back, it's crucial that all the information asked for on the declaration is provided.