Information for charities

This is an introduction for charities to our InMemory donations management system, which is specifically designed for funeral directors to collect, manage & account for donations received in memory of loved ones. The funeral director is effectively acting as the agent of the charity(s) and we have taken great trouble to ensure that the system can manage any form of donation, encompasses a full reconciliation capability and manages the collection of gift aid in accordance with HMRC regulations.

How is InMemory different?

InMemory does not charge any management, subscription or processing fees to charities. We make our income by charging the funeral director a single charge for each donation profile they set up in memory of a deceased person.

We manage every form of donation including cash (most funerals have a cash collection), cheques made payable to the charity, cheques made payable to the funeral director and online card donations. The aim is to encourage online donations, because we achieve a gift aid claim rate of around 80% and it streamlines the funeral director’s administration.

Online and offline donations

The screenshot right shows an InMemory obituary page. It can contain a biography, total collected to date, the details, logo, registration number, short description & website link to each charity for which funds are being collected. The public funeral services are shown in a printable format. Messages of condolence from donors are shown and a gallery of photos can be displayed.

The InMemory user chooses whether to deduct or absorb the card processing fees. If they choose to deduct this is made clear to donors and the actual card processing costs are specified on the report you receive.

The funeral director records cash and cheque donations received along with details of deposits made into their charities account.

At the end of the collection period, the online page is closed & reports run for the family, charity & for reconciliation. The charity report is in the HMRC prescribed format (gift aid donation schedule spreadsheet – published 11.12.14). The funeral director will include paper declarations for cash/cheque donations where gift aid has been added.

The report also contains the name of the next of kin and their relationship to the deceased. The accompanying letter requests that you write directly to the next of kin to confirm receipt of the funds, so that the family know that the funeral director has completed their collection obligations. This is the final step in the collection process.

Adding Gift Aid – Online Donations

The InMemory page sits within the funeral directors website. When the donor clicks the donate button, a form is displayed into which the donor enters their details, how much they wish to donate and their card details. At each section of the form, the donor is told how their data will be used and to whom it will be disclosed. Names are disclosed to the family and charity, addresses and email addresses are only disclosed to the charity where gift aid has been elected and the individual donation values are only disclosed to the charity. The family is informed of the total donated.

Please make a donation on the demonstration system on our website – https://www.donateinmemory.co.uk/sample-profile-page to see exactly how the process works for a donor; just follow the instructions at the top of the page.

The Gift Aid section contains the latest HMRC model declaration:

The donor must select a declaration to add or not add gift aid (they cannot continue without clicking one of the statements), which meets published HMRC requirements for an online declaration system. Finally, they are asked to leave a condolence message and to agree to the funeral directors terms & conditions of service.

On completion of the payment, the confirmation page summarises the donation information. If gift aid has been elected, it repeats the declaration. In HMRC terminology this “…acts as an online confirmation of declaration…”:

Finally, an acknowledgement email is sent to the donor, confirming receipt & thanking them. If they added gift aid, the above text is included in the email, and they are informed them how they can contact the funeral director in the event they added it in error. This email acts as a written confirmation of their declaration and meets HMRC best practice for a receipt to be sent.

All donations are time and date stamped by both InMemory and the card processor and are shown in the charity report. If the donor elects to add gift aid, the report records the fact and discloses the full address and email address of the donor.

The Charities Report

The report sent by the funeral director to the charity lists each individual donation recorded, when and how it was received and if gift aid was claimed. Gift aid is calculated based on the net donations value (i.e. after deduction of any card processing costs passed on by the InMemory user), with card processing costs are shown in a separate column as a check. The report confirms the collection method, as well as advising that both the funeral director and the software manufacturer are happy to show all records and assist where feasible in the event of an HMRC gift aid audit. It is up to the charity to claim the gift aid using the form given which is in the correct format for direct submission.

GDPR

The names and addresses of donors included in the charity report are provided for the purposes of identifying individual donors and enabling you to claim the gift aid. Online donors are made aware on the donation form and in the privacy policy and terms and conditions of the service, that they will be disclosed to the charity. You MUST NOT use them to communicate with the donor for any purpose other than to discuss their donation. The next of kin name and address is sent to you so that you can confirm receipt of the donations and must be used for that purpose only.

How do you benefit from this service?

Online pages make it easy for all ages to donate, from anywhere, at any time and share via social media.
Adding Gift Aid is a single click – consistently 80% of online donors do, boosting the collection by 25%.
InMemory reports in the exact approved HMRC format for claiming Gift Aid, so your administration is reduced.