Club Arnage

Hi all,

Doris has given me the bank details now, but please don't use the paypal-link, it's not valid yet.

Following is a draft of a "call for donation" page in the CA guide, page 3 behind the coverpage and the disclaimer, very important topic, that's why I don't want to hide it in the guide thread.

Please review at http://www.clubarnage.com/caguide/caguide2007/_callfordonations.pdf

and make suggestions for changes or corrections if necessary

Cheers

Werner

Looks really good.  My only couple of small observations :

1st para, 2nd sentence, a comma after the word free.  2nd para.  A comma after October and again after reappear; and perhaps "members agreed rather than members discussed as it's decided now?

Hi termie,

thanks, I'll add the commas. As to the "agreed" instead of "discussed": We'll, the "decision" to include the BigH bike tour supported kidney charity was never officially agreed, I just added it - unlike the 2 other charities which came out as the top 2 in our vote from last year. But I might as well write "agreed" if no one disagrees here...

I'd be tempted to mention BigH's trip?

and perhaps be a little more persuasive in the request for donations! 

You're a member - you agreed it!  Oh, and who's gonna argue with Big H. Especially after all the entertainment he's been providing us with recently  :laugh:?
I like Piglet's idea about publicising his efforts.  A link to his hilarious exploits would be nice too.

EDIT Is there any way we can get this appeal between the internet link page and the download, something to force people to go via this page before they can access the guide?  Then the links would be immediately accessible and nobody would need to type them in.

BigH himself will write something about it for the guide

What an excellent idea!

Then maybe mention what page this is on in the guide in the bit about his charity?

Yes, I will put the donation story and the links on the download page, so noone needs to type it

Edit: I can even set up the download page in a way, that people MUST read our call for donation before they can proceed to the actual download.

This gets my vote  ;D

Mine too.

Count my vote in too. All suggestions/modifications so far are spot on.
Big H has been entertaining us for more years than I can remember, not just "recently"  ;)

I agree too.

Werner, I have a copy of some code somewhere that does that if you don't have it to hand!

Like it a lot.  And the subsequent ideas that have appeared.  A few minor thoughts in no particular order, to take or leave as you wish:

1)  Make the title a bit more eye-catching.  In capitals, bigger and bolder, and include the word charity, so that if it's on page 3 people scanning it don't just turn over the page thinking that it's about donations to CA.  Perhaps something like "Help Support CA's Chosen Charities".  

2)  If this is to be updated each year, and particularly as the nominated charities may change from year to year, might be worth something along the lines of "Produced in aid of charity, the 2007 Club Arnage Guide to the 24 Hours of Le Mans is free to download.  Those who gave their time and skills to produce it and help you enjoy the Le Mans experience would be very grateful and would really feel rewarded if you could make a donation, of however much you feel able to spare, to help us support three very worthwhile charities".  Put the words "to help you enjoy the Le Mans experience" in bold font.

3)  Not sure of the IT trickery involved with pdf documents, but can the website links be included as links that can be clicked on, which would make it easier for someone to visit the sites when viewing electronically?

4)  For the bank transfer details, separate the domestic UK coding from the international coding.

5)  Reference to the distribution of the funds is rightly included - probably worth also stating that details of those funds raised and their presentation to the charities will be posted on the CA forum.  

All the best,

MG Mark




 

Thanks a lot, I've got already a code sample for this

Some very good points, Mark

Just posted a new draft at http://www.clubarnage.com/caguide/caguide2007/_callfordonations.pdf picking up some of your suggestions/corrections

That really looks good to go to me.  About the only other really minor things that occur are:

Not sure what the sum(s) totted up to last year but, if appropriate, it might be worth mentioning the amount and who it was raised for in 2006, with a "we would like to beat that total this year" sort of message?

Perhaps add a suitably humourous picture at the bottom of the page of our "revenue enforcement" group of members to reinforce the voluntary nature of the contribution?

MG Mark

Looks good. Clear and to the point.

I have no suggestions to change anything.

Someone has a nice pic of the gimp in his full combat dress? ;D ;D ;D

Great idea,

Could I also make a sugestion that we have a note in the guide saying along the lines

" if you found this guide useful and helpful - please feel free to make a donation to the CA charities via the web site"

This way, anybody who does'nt donate at the begining, you can catch them at the back end. This will help when people make multi copies, hand their's out at Le Mans or ones that are picked up at Le Mans.

Met a couple last year, it was their first time, downloaded the CA guide and were using as a tour/info guide for the whole weekend.

I felt last year's guide was fantastic, learnt a lot (more than the other mags i spent money and brought)- and would have happily gone back to donate dosh.

Easy - Get them at the begining, or the back end or both.

It's all good. Do it!

Yes, thoroughly agree with all the above.

Hi guys,

sorry to raise that topic again, text is actually OK now, but reading about donations and the tax implications a thought about a potential problem crossed my mind:

I don't know how these things work in the UK, but in Germany, when you make a donation to a registered charity you expect and get a formal receipt for that donation and can deduct that amount from your personal taxable income - thus saving some taxes when donating to charities.

Is it the same in the UK? Then we will have a big problem: If people donate to our CA account instead of directly donating to the accounts of e.g. Kidney Research UK or the 2 other charities, we cannot send them receipts for their tax-declaration - CA is no registered charity, or do things work different in the UK?

In the back of my mind, Werner, I've been thinking about this, as I was wondering if CA would be eligible to register as a charity at some time in the not too distant future.  There must be an accountant around here somewhere...

Well, may be CA can become a charity in the future, but defo not until June 6th - when the guide will be published - so we need to decide what to do in the next couple of days. If the situation is the same as in Germany, then I think we should not publish the CA account and leave it to the readers to which of the 3 charities to donate to directly, so they can get their receipts for the taxes from them.

Someone with a tax background on the forum?

I agree that if the donations are all going to the 3 charities (that's right isn't it - the CA fund is not involved?) then direct would be best so the tax thing's covered if it's an issue for anybody (it certainly means the charity gets more.)

Not sure about that but heres the page thats tells you whats what.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/giving-to-charities-indiv.htm#4 (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/giving-to-charities-indiv.htm#4)

And quickly reading it, if whoever's splitting the donation has paid more tax than the donation and declares the donation using gift aid it seems fine as the charity reclaims your tax. making £10 worth £12.82 to the charity. Unless anyone else knows different. Plus unless someone makes a huge donation, I don't anyone would be bothered about claiming tax back.

Yes, the plan is that all donations from the guide go to the 3 charities.

Then I think (but stand to be corrected) that direct to the charity is best.  When I gave to BigH's charity, as Stu mentions above, if I'd been a resident in the UK then the charity could have got more because of the tax thing.  If it's given via the CA fund, then I don't know how easy this would be - all sorts of implications we're not yet prepared for.  Also, PayPal take a small chunk, and this would just be wasted money.

Stu's point is correct - it's the charity that is donated to that claims the tax back, provided that whoever is making the donation as an individual pays UK tax. 

As for CA registering as a charity, that is a whole new league of complexity beyond what has been discussed so far on the fundraising thread, and one that we really don't want to venture into.  Changes to the charity laws last year have made the governance requirements placed on charities regarding constitution, governership, trustees responsibilities, accounting, records etc far more stringent.  And with what we currently do, we wouldn't meet the requirements for being a charity in terms of the reason why we exist....

MG Mark

Then presumably Mark, if the CA fund link was used and it paid the money which was raised by the guide to the charities concerned, then it could not take advantage of the tax break when passing the money on?  All in all, charities direct only for the guide, looks more and more the way to go, doesn't it?

I know very little about this area other than as MGMark says we wouldn't qualify as a charity.

Can we not have a "Just Giving" page?  Could we have one "Just Giving" page for the three charities?  If not can we set up one "Just Giving" page for each and then let punters choose which one they select?

We need to avoid making this too complicated for the punters...

Amen to that!

Amen from my side too, I'm always a fan of keeping it simple. So setting up additional just-giving-pages doesn't make anything easier from my point of view.

We should either

1) leave our call for donations as it is (donations to our account, equal distribution to all 3 charities by CA)
2) or leave it to the readers to which charity they donate

I've always found "Just Giving" quite simple to use. 

If our call for donations had a link to the Just Giving page don't people then just have to put their details into Just Giving - a bit like they'd have to go to Paypal to make a payment?   

Using Just Giving would allow the charities to claim the tax on donations which can be quite valuable. 

No problem with that. As I already said, I've no clue how the tax-donation-stuff works in the UK so I will stop discussing this from my side.

I just need someone who knows about it and who tells me clearly what to write in the guide... please...

Cheers

Werner

Just Giving would be a good way for those who wish to donate in that way, as it automatically sorts the tax issue, and the latter is useful to the charity conerned, as it is effectivelyt "free" money.  To achieve the gift aid element for any other way (i.e. people who want to make donations via cash, cheque paypal etc), then the total amount would need to be donated to the charity by an individual not by an organisation (but that is easy to manage, as it could be made by an individual who happens to be part of that organisation).    

The key factors will be to provide options for donating that are easy to use and keeping the process simple.  

The disbursement of donations should be as it is proposed, with a total amount raised split equally between the chosen charities, rather than left to individual choice.  The latter would make it far more difficult to administer, and it would be potentially divisive were one charity to receive more than the others.

However, to meet Werner's needs now, we are running out of time - I suggest that it is left as it is now and the gift aid, payment options etc are addressed as part of the fundraising committee's early work to establish simple, acceptable processes for moving money around!

MG Mark

I'm with Mark.  As he knows what he's talking about, for myself I'd say let Mark be the arbiter of the final wording, if he's willing.

Agreed - thanks for volunteering Mark  ;D 8)

Don't forget that, at least for the moment, CA funds are held by individuals (currently Smokie & I) and as such we could make a donation as idividuals and get the tax break, which gets over the immediate problems.

We then have a reasonable amount of time to sort things out for next year.

Del

A completely irrelevant point, but if the Institute of Advanced Motorists can be a charity and reclaim tax, why can't Club Arnage? It pi$$es me off that they became eligible to reclaim tax and immediately sent out forms which, IIRC, allowed them to reclaim for the past 5 years against members subs. But there was no corresponding reduction in membership fee, in fact none at all. Just a great windfall for them.

No answer required, just a thought...