Nonprofit Cloud · Gift Aid
Nonprofit Cloud does not claim Gift Aid.
Here is what a working setup has to do.
Gift Aid adds 25p to every £1 a UK taxpayer gives, and Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud has no feature for it. Below: HMRC’s rules, what Salesforce needs to meet them, app or build, and seven checks for your org. Gift Aid was part of the build for a UK charity on Nonprofit Cloud.
On that build the declaration lives on the individual donor as two fields, declaration held and its date, in a section the record page shows only on people, because a gift from a company cannot carry Gift Aid. The fields sit on a Dynamic Forms page rather than the page layout, so an audit that reads layouts alone reports a statutory field as missing when every fundraiser can see it.
HMRC rules as of October 2026. Reviewed 28 October 2026.
The short answer
Does Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud do Gift Aid out of the box?
No. Salesforce’s Nonprofit Cloud documentation, read on 27 October 2026, describes no declaration object, no eligibility flag on a gift and no HMRC claim file. A UK charity gets Gift Aid in one of two ways: an app from AppExchange, or a build on the standard fundraising objects. Both have to meet the same HMRC rules.
The fundraising objects are listed in the Nonprofit Cloud Developer Guide and described in Nonprofit Cloud for Fundraising on Salesforce Help, both read on 27 October 2026. Gift Transaction holds the payment and Gift Refund the money returned; nothing records a declaration or a claim. AppExchange, searched the same day, lists third party Gift Aid apps that state Nonprofit Cloud support. The 25p figure is printed on HMRC’s model declaration for multiple donations, as of October 2026.
What HMRC requires
What does a Gift Aid setup in Salesforce need?
Five parts. A declaration record per donor with the content HMRC requires; an eligibility decision on every gift; a claim run that writes donations into HMRC’s schedule spreadsheet and marks them claimed; an adjustment when a claimed gift is refunded; and a report of what is still claimable before the four year window closes.
A declaration, written, online or oral
A declaration must name the charity, give the donor’s full name and home address with postcode, say whether it covers one gift or past, present and future gifts, and say the donor wants Gift Aid to apply. It must explain that the donor pays at least as much UK Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax as all charities claim in that tax year. An oral declaration needs a written confirmation that lets the donor cancel within 30 days. Source: Gift Aid declarations on gov.uk, as of October 2026.
The wording, kept with the record
HMRC’s model form has the donor confirm they understand “it is my responsibility to pay any difference” if they paid too little tax. A statement that the donor is a UK taxpayer is not enough on its own, according to section 3.6.7 of Chapter 3: Gift Aid, updated 20 October 2026. Store which version of the wording each donor saw, so an auditor can match the record to the words.
An eligibility decision on every gift
Gift Aid applies to money from individuals. It does not apply to gifts from limited companies, Payroll Giving, payments for goods or services, gifts of shares or charity vouchers such as CAF vouchers, as listed under what you can claim it on, as of October 2026. Benefits to the donor have limits: 25% of a gift up to £100, and no more than £2,500 in a tax year (Chapter 3, sections 3.21.1 and 3.22.1). A donor can cancel a declaration at any time, and gifts received after the notice stop qualifying (section 3.8.2).
A claim in HMRC’s format, inside the window
Charities Online takes a schedule spreadsheet in .ods format with at most 1,000 lines. Each line carries title (4 characters), name (35), house name or number, postcode in capitals with a space, date as DD/MM/YY and amount with two decimals and no £ sign, per HMRC’s schedule spreadsheet guidance, updated 28 November 2025. Small gifts of £20 or less may be aggregated (Chapter 6, 6.6.10, updated 20 October 2026). A gift must be claimed within 4 years of the end of the financial period it arrived in, per how to claim, as of October 2026.
An adjustment when a claimed gift goes back
A gift refunded in full is treated as never made, and the part not refunded may still qualify (Chapter 3, section 3.13.4). The tax already reclaimed goes into the over claimed field of the next schedule and is deducted from that claim; if it is larger than the claim, the charity pays HMRC the difference. In Salesforce this means a Gift Refund on a claimed Gift Transaction has to raise an adjustment, not just reduce the amount.
Small donations, counted separately
The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme pays a top up on cash and contactless gifts of £30 or less with no declaration, on up to £8,000 a tax year, claimed within 2 years of the end of that tax year, and only if the charity also claimed Gift Aid that year. A gift with a valid declaration cannot go into it. Source: small donations guidance, updated 17 February 2020, as of October 2026. Tins and card readers need their own channel in the org.
Sending the claim
How does a Gift Aid claim from Salesforce reach HMRC?
Three ways. The Charities Online form with HMRC’s schedule spreadsheet attached, up to 1,000 donations per claim; your own database or commercial software filing directly, up to 500,000 donors per file; or an agent the charity has authorised. HMRC normally pays within 20 working days, and the reference shown on screen is not a confirmation of payment.
Source: Claim tax back on donations using Charities Online on gov.uk, last updated 7 October 2022, read on 28 October 2026. HMRC’s charities newsletter of 26 March 2026 says the Claim Gift Aid Online screens are being redesigned, so check the steps again before your first claim.
The form route sets the size of your export
Only one online form can be open at a time, and it has to be submitted before the next claim starts; an unfinished one is kept for 30 days. So the claim run in Salesforce cuts a claim into batches of at most 1,000 lines. Gifts of £20 or less can share one line up to £1,000. On a sponsored event, gifts under £500 can be grouped per participant, and any gift over £500 needs its own line with the donor’s name and address.
The software route removes the spreadsheet
A database or app that files online itself has no limit on the number of claims, takes up to 500,000 donors in one file, and allows one Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme claim a day. HMRC keeps a list of compatible commercial software. When you compare Gift Aid apps for Salesforce, ask whether the app files with HMRC or only produces the schedule for someone to upload.
Two states on every gift, not one
Submitted: the claim reference, date and time from the confirmation screen. Paid: the date HMRC’s written confirmation of payment arrives. An org that marks a gift claimed at upload shows Gift Aid as income for weeks before the money lands, and a claim HMRC does not pay never shows up anywhere.
Who presses submit
The charity, signed in to HMRC Online Services with its HMRC charity reference. A nominee, collection agency or agent such as an accountant can claim only after the charity authorises them on form ChV1, and an agent has to submit within 30 days of starting a claim. Fundraisers in Salesforce need no HMRC access; the person who submits fills in the claim reference.
Build or buy
Should you build Gift Aid in Salesforce or install an app?
Install an app when your Gift Aid is plain: individual donors, regular gifts, one claim a month. Build when it is not: sponsored events, gifts with donor benefits, retail Gift Aid, or gifts arriving through several integrations. Either way, rerun a past claim your finance team already reconciled and compare it line by line before anyone relies on it.
What an app gives you
A tested declaration model, a claim file that matches HMRC’s schedule, and a vendor who updates it when HMRC changes the format. Ask three things first: does it read Nonprofit Cloud’s Gift Transaction and Gift Refund, or only the older Nonprofit Success Pack objects; how does it mark a gift claimed; how does it adjust for a refund after the claim.
What a build gives you
Gift Aid that follows your own income streams. The declaration sits on the donor, the eligibility decision on the gift with its reason, and the claim run is one export plus one update that stamps the claim reference on every line. The cost: your org now owns the HMRC rules, so each rule above needs a test.
What both need from the rest of the org
Donor addresses with postcodes, or the claim fails. Payments split across programmes, so Gift Aid on restricted income lands with it; see the programme split on every payment. And one place to record a change of name, address or tax status, the three things HMRC’s model form asks donors to report.
Check your own org
Seven checks for an org that already claims Gift Aid.
Each check is one report. Records returned are tax HMRC can take back, or tax you can still claim.
Declarations missing a required part
Count declarations with no postcode, no full name, no scope or no record of the tax statement. Each claimed gift behind them rests on an invalid declaration, and Chapter 3, section 3.8.1, says the charity repays the tax on those gifts.
Oral declarations with no confirmation
Every phone declaration needs the date its written confirmation went out, so no gift is claimed inside the 30 day cancellation window.
Gifts claimed after a cancellation
Gifts dated after a cancellation notice should be on no claim; gifts before it still qualify.
Ineligible gifts marked eligible
Filter claimable gifts by payment and donor type: companies, Payroll Giving, vouchers, tickets and merchandise should return nothing.
Gifts claimed twice, or never
Every claimed gift carries one claim reference. Two is a double claim; none on an eligible gift is income left with HMRC. A claim submitted more than 20 working days ago with no payment date is one to chase with HMRC.
Refunds after a claim with no adjustment
Each Gift Refund on a claimed gift needs a matching over claimed amount on a later schedule.
Eligible gifts near the end of the window
Group unclaimed eligible gifts by financial period. The oldest period still open is the first claim to make.
Asked often enough to answer here
Questions
Can a charity claim Gift Aid on gifts already in Salesforce?
Yes, if each gift has a valid declaration and arrived within 4 years of the end of the financial period it was received in. Declarations for multiple donations can cover past gifts, so a donor who signs today can bring older gifts into a claim.
Does a declaration have to be on paper?
No. HMRC accepts written, online and oral declarations with the same content. An oral declaration also needs a written confirmation to the donor and a record of what was said, such as an audio recording.
How long must Gift Aid records be kept?
HMRC asks for declaration records to be kept for 6 years after the most recent donation claimed on them. Keep the claim reference on each gift for the same period, so any line on a past claim can be traced to a donor and a declaration.
Gift Aid declarations, eligibility and the claim export for HMRC are part of Fundraising complete: €8,450 for 130 hours. How the fundraising build for a UK charity went is in the charity case study. This page explains HMRC’s published rules, not tax advice; check specifics with the Charities Helpline.
Serhii Skrypnyk · Senior Salesforce Administrator · 7 Salesforce certifications · on the platform since 2018. Reviewed 28 October 2026.
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