Encouraging payroll giving in the workplace

Last month, we asked what percentage of our reader's workforce give to charity through payroll giving. In total 43% said you didn’t know, or no-one did (indicating it may not be set up in your payroll), almost half of you (48%) said that between 1-9% donate this way, and one in ten of you said that between 10-24% do.

The recent CIPP Conference highlighted the importance of Payroll Giving and created an interesting discussion on how it can be encouraged in the workplace. We’ve summarised the discussion below and hope that the suggestions help you to increase payroll giving in your organisation.

Payroll Giving: Facts & Figures

• Payroll Giving was first launched in 1987.
• In 2012/13 almost £124 million was received and distributed by the Payroll Giving Agencies to UK charities from employees donating from their pre-tax pay. More than 735,000 employees donated through Payroll Giving during that year.

Running a successful scheme

To make your Payroll Giving scheme a success, run regular promotions to maintain awareness and continue to recruit new donors.

• Promote well and often – a constant, steady flow of information through a variety of channels is crucial.
• Set an internal target based upon how many people you would expect to sign up.
• Consider matching your employees’ donations and, if you decide to do so, publicise this to your employees as it can be a powerful incentive.
• Organise promotional days where your staff can find out more information about the scheme and can sign up then and there.

Quick and easy to set-up and administer, Payroll Giving is a great way for you to demonstrate commitment to the causes that your employees care about.

Practical Ideas For Promoting Payroll Giving

All involved in the discussion at the CIPP event agreed that for success, Payroll Giving promotion should always be active and where possible, include an element of fun or innovation. Some proven ideas include:

• Presentations – invite staff to attend group presentations about Payroll Giving. The presentation could be given by a representative from a charity or a member of your own staff who is keen to encourage regular charitable giving.
• Newsletters – include information in internal publications such as in-house bulletins or magazines.
• Emails and intranet – both easy ways of getting across the Payroll Giving message but also highlights the ease of giving especially if the necessary form can be filled in online.
• Flyers and promotional materials – always helpful in drawing attention to any planned campaign or promotional period.

Motivating Your Employees To Become Payroll Givers

There are many ways to help generate enthusiasm towards Payroll Giving amongst your workforce. Some good ideas are:

• Remind your employees about what they already do for charities and how much they collectively raise each year.
• Highlight the benefits of making those gifts regular and tell employees that Payroll Giving is a very simple way to make it happen and save charities the cost of raising the same money each year.
• Set a goal to challenge employees to achieve new levels of participation.
• Put up posters, tell everyone what’s going on and when your promotion is going to happen.
• Pick a time when levels of motivation are likely to be high, before holidays, after ‘good news’ announcements and pay rises.
• Organise a free draw for everyone filling in a Payroll Giving form during the promotion – an extra day’s holiday is always popular.
• Remind your employees that they will get tax relief on their gifts (including higher rate tax relief) as the amount they choose to give is deducted from pay before tax is calculated.
• Get your senior managers to set an example and be the first to fill in a Payroll Giving form.
• Tell employees about how easy the whole process is, they just need to fill in one form and can specify any amount.