Anonymous donations to charity

[clissold345]

I'm interested in making small one-off anonymous donations to charities that accept donations in GBP (no currency conversion involved). I'd like the charity to get the whole of my donation (no deductions). My taxable income is less than the Personal Allowance so I believe I can't do Gift Aid (and anyway I'd prefer to make anonymous donations).

As an example, I looked at The Marah Trust (https://marah.org.uk/). I can donate online but then 4% is deducted. I can send them a cheque with a donation form - but then it's not anonymous. They must have a bank account. If I get their bank details, I can make a donation by bank transfer (but then they'll have my name and bank details so it's not anonymous)? I could of course ring The Marah Trust and ask them - but I'm interested in the general case (I may want to donate to other charities that accept donations in GBP).

Regarding anonymity, I did a search and found https://www.silentdonor.com - but I can't see a statement of how much they deduct.

How do I make anonymous donations with (ideally) no deductions?

[tjh290633]

The obvious answer is to give them cash.

TJH

[clissold345]

The obvious answer is to give them cash.

TJH

Yes if I was able to visit a charity's office I could give cash. I was thinking of giving £100 at a time so I'd prefer some way of sending the £100 directly to a bank account. If the office isn't local (as for me in the case of The Marah Trust) it may not be convenient to visit and give cash.

[clissold345]

I checked the silentdonor.com documentation more carefully. There's a platform fee of 5%.

[DrFfybes]

Cash, postal order or debit card (in person) are all pretty anonymous.

OK I suppose they could get your details from the card if they really needed to, however they'd need a good reason.

If it is a food bank type place then you can just turn up with a bootful of stuff, but otherwise it is tricky?

Is there a particular reason for remaining completely anonymous? - We do bank transfers to various organisations and card payments and never give any details other than an initial and surname.

Paul

[clissold345]

Is there a particular reason for remaining completely anonymous? - We do bank transfers to various organisations and card payments and never give any details other than an initial and surname.

Paul

No, there is no particular reason for wanting anonymity. My (confused?) thinking is that I can put a pound coin into a collection box anonymously so why can't I put £100 into a charity bank account anonymously. I think I'll just make donations in whatever way gives the lowest deductions (=maximum benefit to the charity). My anonymity would be good but isn't essential.

[mc2fool]

Cash, postal order or debit card (in person) are all pretty anonymous.

There are pretty eye watering fees for postal orders.

For one of £10-£99.99 it's 12.5% of the face value! It goes down to 5% for one of £250 (the max), but is 100% for a 50p one! https://www.postoffice.co.uk/postal-orders

[Lootman]

Is there a particular reason for remaining completely anonymous? - We do bank transfers to various organisations and card payments and never give any details other than an initial and surname.

No, there is no particular reason for wanting anonymity. My (confused?) thinking is that I can put a pound coin into a collection box anonymously so why can't I put £100 into a charity bank account anonymously. I think I'll just make donations in whatever way gives the lowest deductions (=maximum benefit to the charity). My anonymity would be good but isn't essential.

I only donate anonymously and my reason is that I do not want my name, address, email, phone number or any other personal details getting onto a list of "soft touches", with the result that I get hounded by requests to give to this, that and the other.

I have forgone Gift-Aid just to stay incognito.

[Watis]

Is there a particular reason for remaining completely anonymous? - We do bank transfers to various organisations and card payments and never give any details other than an initial and surname.

Paul

No, there is no particular reason for wanting anonymity. My (confused?) thinking is that I can put a pound coin into a collection box anonymously so why can't I put £100 into a charity bank account anonymously. I think I'll just make donations in whatever way gives the lowest deductions (=maximum benefit to the charity). My anonymity would be good but isn't essential.

Using The Marah Trust as an example, I see that people can donate to them via the CAF Bank: https://www.cafonline.org/

They can even claim Gift Aid on your behalf.

There will be a small processing charge, but that may be borne by the charity rather than the donor.

Although your identity as a donor would be known to CAF Bank, it may be possible to prevent your identity being forwarded to the charities you support.

I've had dealings with the CAF Bank and can confirm that they are a professional and reliable organisation - in fact, they are a charity themselves.

Hope this helps,

Watis

[clissold345]

Using The Marah Trust as an example, I see that people can donate to them via the CAF Bank: https://www.cafonline.org/

They can even claim Gift Aid on your behalf.

There will be a small processing charge, but that may be borne by the charity rather than the donor.

...

On cafonline.org it says: " ... If you do not have a CAF Charity Account or CAF Charitable Trust then a fee of 4% will be deducted from the sum of your donation and any Gift Aid reclaimed, to cover our administrative costs. ...".

If I donate to The Marah Trust, I'd prefer all my donation to go to them. (I realise that cafonline.org are themselves a charity - but they're not the charity I choose to donate to.)

[Watis]

Using The Marah Trust as an example, I see that people can donate to them via the CAF Bank: https://www.cafonline.org/

They can even claim Gift Aid on your behalf.

There will be a small processing charge, but that may be borne by the charity rather than the donor.

...

On cafonline.org it says: " ... If you do not have a CAF Charity Account or CAF Charitable Trust then a fee of 4% will be deducted from the sum of your donation and any Gift Aid reclaimed, to cover our administrative costs. ...".

If I donate to The Marah Trust, I'd prefer all my donation to go to them. (I realise that cafonline.org are themselves a charity - but they're not the charity I choose to donate to.)

CAF Bank incur costs, both processing and regulatory. I'm unsure why you think such a facility can be provided without charge to anyone.

If you're set on making anonymous donations without cost, I can only suggest that you slip an envelope stuffed with cash under the charity's front door at midnight.

Watis

[mtk62]

I simply select a charity and pay monthly by direct debit.
I select Gift Aid so that the charity gets more.
If you are a 40% tax payer then you can have contributions included in your tax code.
In my case I just gift the extra to charities.
If you select a minor local charity (in my case a foodbank) the likelihood of your details being discovered should be small.
All public bodies are covered by GDPR and therefore are required to protect your details.

[gpadsa]

Closer to home: can an ad-suppressing donation to TLF be done anonymously?

gpadsa

[DrFfybes]

Closer to home: can an ad-suppressing donation to TLF be done anonymously?

gpadsa

Only in so far as you are anonymous on TLF, as the ad suppression applies to your account.

Besides, some days the ads are the best bits

[clissold345]

Closer to home: can an ad-suppressing donation to TLF be done anonymously?

gpadsa

Yes I think so - because on the home page there's an Anonymous in the list of donors.

[gryffron]

Closer to home: can an ad-suppressing donation to TLF be done anonymously?

Yes I think so - because on the home page there's an Anonymous in the list of donors.

I'm 99% sure an anonymous donation to LemonFool does NOT supress ads. As it is not linked to your account.

Do you want to be anonymous to the public or the admins?

If the former, email stooz using the address at the bottom of the page, and ask for an anonymous donation to be applied to your account. I know this has been done for a couple of people who failed to login before donating. if you tell him the amount BEFORE donating, it can't be hijacked by anyone else.

If the latter, create a new single use Paypal account with a disposable email address. Presumably the one you already used to sign up to the site.

Gryffron (moderator)

[UncleEbenezer]

No, there is no particular reason for wanting anonymity. My (confused?) thinking is that I can put a pound coin into a collection box anonymously so why can't I put £100 into a charity bank account anonymously. I think I'll just make donations in whatever way gives the lowest deductions (=maximum benefit to the charity). My anonymity would be good but isn't essential.

I only donate anonymously and my reason is that I do not want my name, address, email, phone number or any other personal details getting onto a list of "soft touches", with the result that I get hounded by requests to give to this, that and the other.

I have forgone Gift-Aid just to stay incognito.

The Charities Aid Foundation might be an option to make gift aid work for you while remaining anonymous to the recipients. Not 100% sure, as my encounters have been from payroll donations rather than direct, but perhaps worth a look.

[edit to add] Oh, I see they've already featured here under a slightly different guise. Ho, hum.

[rabbit]

I give one off donations to a number of UK charities, usually by debit card or direct bank payment and occasionally via platforms such as JustGiving. I'm not especially concerned about anonymity but I most certainly don't want unwanted spam or persistent requests for further donations. As far as I can recall I've never had a problem of being pestered in any way post donation. Most of the charities that I support are quite small and don't have the vast marketing machines that larger charities employ. I imagine that The Marah Trust would fall into this category and I expect any personal details would be quite safe and respected by an organisation like that.

[clissold345]

I thought I'd try out silentdonor.com. They send donations at the end of the month. They sent me an email today to confirm that they'd sent the donation to the charity I'd specified. They charge a 5% fee and there'll be foreign exchange charges, since their bank account is in Euros. Also, my bank charged a non-GB transaction fee. I don't think I recommend silentdonor.com (because of all the deductions) but it apparently works.