niFundraising

I was wondering late last night - if I could give Northern Ireland Government a list of practical actions to improve the financial viability and growth of the charity and not-for-profit sector in this small part of the world what would be on it - so here is a list of 15 actions for a start. Distribute Dormant Accounts now. The money is there - spend it. Set up a Northern Ireland Peace Fund ahead of the end of European Funding in 2020. Not to mention replacement for other important European funding Invest in Gift Aid training for charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs. The money is there to be claimed - the knowledge to claim it is not. Reform the NI Lotteries Act to enable greater use of charity raffles. Having a legal £1 maximum is very restrictive and many raffles are unwittingly run illegally. Do not break the centuries old rates relief for charity shops. Provide challenge funds for the sector to encourage local philanthropy. Provide support to raising money from G

What has happened with the distribution of dormant accounts funds? The last reference I have to the total amount currently in dormant accounts for N.Ireland gives a figure of £7,500,000 but that was over a year ago. My guess is there is now in excess of eight million for giving out but further allocations recently proposed may mean s ignificantly greater funding could be brought into the overall UK pot . Meanwhile, the announcement of spending dormant accounts here is the gift that keeps giving. Since it became law here in 2008, numerous Finance Ministers have proclaimed the wonderful ways in which they will spend the windfall cash - but alas - to my knowledge, not managed to spend one penny of it. (Correct me if I am wrong). It seems that with the ten year anniversary approaching Stormont Ministers have hit on a fantastic PR opportunity. Announce funding - receive the kudos for having done so - but then not spend it. This gives someone else the opportunity in the future to anno

The uptake on Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme has been very low - something yours truly predicted when giving evidence to the Committee for Social Development before its introduction. The scheme is unnecessarily over-complicated and limited, but some modest changes in the last budget at least improves the accessibility of the fiendishly drafted and misnamed Community Buildings top-up. The chances are I have lost most people who would benefit from knowing about this scheme already - but it is worth up to £2,000 for each venue a charity operates in (subject to terms and conditions). The point missed by many charities and community amateur sports clubs is the very simple principle that you can claim Gift Aid on donations of £20 or less without the obstacle of Gift Aid declarations from collection tins, buckets, voluntary admission donations and loose change giving etc. You can also add to your allowance up to £2,000 that can be claimed (on donations of £8,000) for each 'c