Quick scan of NPC's manifesto for the new government makes some interesting observations and suggests a priority to review where funding to the charitable sector goes geographically and to take steps to ensure there is a more sustained focus on deprived areas.
However, I can confidently share that this is something Community Foundations inherently have been doing and are continuing to prioritise with ever greater urgency as years of austerity have demanded that we look to our common good and convene partnerships to support those who are most in need in our communities.
The idea of a potential recommendation to change gift aid rules so that this might incentivise more funding into deprived areas, is given my comment above I think something that would benefit community foundations hugely. As from our experience the post code on any gift aid declaration attaches to the address of the donor and not the project location that might benefit from their funding - so my challenge would be around how do we develop the transparency and evidence between origin of donation and final destination of actual funding awarded?
Our analysis shows that charitable activity is generally less present in the more deprived regions and towns. Yet government support through Gift Aid, goes mostly to better off areas. The government should review the charity tax system, along the lines suggested recently by the Charity Tax Commission to see how it could be altered. The government should also publish easily accessible data on the geographical distribution of its own funding to the social sector. Opening up this data will help balance funding geographically by increasing transparency and helping all funders to better understand where their money will make the biggest impact.
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