The Institute of Fundraising and the Treasury have agreed a new ‘memorandum of understanding’ to improve working relationships between payroll giving agencies and charities.
Under the MoU agreement, payroll giving agencies will all provide charities with reports on individual donations in the same format. Agencies will also submit donation figures to an online database. The data will be used to create a report which is available online.
A statement from IoF said the voluntary agreement “sets out for the first time a shared way of working for payroll giving as well as agreed data reporting templates”.
The MoU was signed by Priti Patel MP, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, Peter Lewis, chief executive of the IoF, and “a number of Payroll Giving Agencies”, according to IoF.
Peter Lewis, chief executive of IoF, said: “Our members have been consistent in their belief that more and better data and transparency in the paroll giving system is needed so that charities and fundraisers are able to grow payroll giving income across the UK.
“I’m particularly pleased that this MoU has come about through consultation and engagement with payroll giving agencies and charities talking together and agreeing the terms of the document and the standardised reporting mechanisms.”
IoF first called for a MoU in a submission to a government consultation on payroll giving in 2013.
The government later committed to facilitating the introduction of the MoU in its response to the Consultation submissions, IoF said.
Priti Patel, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said: “This government has consistently supported ways that make it easier for people to give and this agreement will help charities and agencies get the most out of the payroll giving scheme to help more money go to good causes.”
Mervi Slade, chair of the Institute of Fundraising Payroll Giving Special Interest Group and payroll giving manager at Save the Children said the MoU was “long-awaited”.
“A standardised approach to payroll disbursement statements will reduce administration, with the potential to provide charities with more information about their supporters,” she said. “In turn, this will allow charities to communicate more meaningfully and effectively with their supporters.”
Income from payroll giving contributed over £150m to charity in 2013-14 from over a million regular donors.
