Claim time at a charity attraction
Your heritage site is a charity, and you offer Gift Aid on admission as your adviser has set it up. Online buyers tick a box. At the till, staff ask each visitor and fill in a paper form or a field on the till. Annual pass buyers sign a declaration on the application form.
Every quarter, a member of the finance team gathers the online export, the till report and a box of paper forms. Some forms have no postcode. Some till entries have a name but no house number. Some visitors ticked the box online and paid the standard price rather than the Gift Aid price. She spends days building the claim in a spreadsheet and is never quite sure it is complete.
Why Gift Aid admin is so heavy
Gift Aid on admission involves rules about what visitors pay and the declarations they make, which your finance team and adviser set up for your attraction. The practical problem is that declarations arrive through several channels, each capturing details differently.
Declarations and the sales they relate to are often stored separately. Matching them later means comparing names, dates and amounts by hand.
Missing details are usually found at claim time, months after the visitor has left, when they can no longer be fixed.
What fragmented records cost
| Weak point | Effect |
|---|---|
| Paper declarations | Illegible or incomplete details |
| Declarations separate from sales | Days matching them by hand |
| Missing details found late | Declarations that cannot be used |
| Different wording by channel | Your adviser has to check each version |
| No running total | No idea what the claim will be until it is built |
We do not advise on whether your scheme meets the rules. That is for your finance team and adviser. We make the records tidy, linked and complete, so their job is easier.
Joining declarations to sales
We connect your online ticketing, tills and pass sales to one record of declarations.
- Every channel uses the declaration wording and fields your adviser approves, so declarations are consistent.
- At the till, staff use a short on-screen form with postcode address lookup instead of paper, and the declaration is attached to the transaction.
- Online and pass declarations are captured in the same format and linked to the ticket or pass sold.
- A daily check flags declarations with missing details, so they can be followed up while the visitor is still reachable, for example by email.
- A running total shows eligible sales and declarations for the current claim period.
- At claim time, a file is produced in the format your finance team uses for the claim, with an audit trail back to each sale.
Cases we plan for
- Group tickets bought by one person: the declaration is recorded for the buyer, as your adviser directs.
- Visitors who later cancel their declaration: the record is updated and excluded from future claims.
- Annual pass renewals: existing declarations are checked and reconfirmed where your rules say.
- Refunded tickets: removed from the claim automatically.
Claim time afterwards
The finance team opens a report that already shows eligible sales and complete declarations, with a short list of gaps already chased. The claim file is produced in minutes, with every line traceable.
- Declarations linked to the sales they cover
- Consistent wording across channels
- Missing details found within days
- Claim files with a full audit trail
Does Gift Aid admin look like this for you?
- Declarations are collected on paper at the till.
- Online, till and pass declarations are in different formats.
- Building the claim takes days.
- Missing details are found at claim time.
- You are not sure every eligible sale is included.