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Payments & finance

Gift Aid claims from Stripe and PayPal donations

Gift Aid claim automation records each online donation alongside the donor’s Gift Aid declaration and checks that the details HMRC requires are present. Eligible gifts are added to a claim schedule in Google Sheets, which a person reviews and submits through Charities Online.

An example of how the studio would build it. No live services are connected.

From an online donation to a Gift Aid claim ready to submit.

  1. Step 01

    Gift received

    Stripe or PayPal reports a completed donation through a webhook, with the amount and the donation form’s details.

  2. Step 02

    Declaration matched

    Match the gift to the donor’s Gift Aid declaration, including their full name, house name or number and postcode.

  3. Step 03

    Eligibility checked

    Leave out refunded gifts, payments for tickets or goods and declarations missing the details HMRC requires.

  4. Step 04

    Schedule updated

    Add each eligible gift once to a Google Sheet laid out like HMRC’s Gift Aid schedule spreadsheet.

  5. Step 05

    Claim reviewed

    At claim time, the treasurer checks the schedule, then uploads and submits it through HMRC’s Charities Online service.

The result

Gift Aid claims prepared without retyping donor lists.

Each gift appears on the schedule once, keyed to its payment ID, and a refund removes it before the claim is made. Claims are only ever submitted by an authorised person.

Before we connect it.

Where this is useful

Useful for small charities, churches and community groups that take donations online and rebuild the Gift Aid list by hand before each claim. A sensible first version covers one donation form and one payment provider, with the treasurer checking the schedule before every claim.

What we need to connect

  1. 01Webhook and API access to Stripe and PayPal donations, with the donation form’s fields passed through to each payment.
  2. 02A donation form that records a valid Gift Aid declaration, including the donor’s full name, home address and postcode.
  3. 03The charity’s HMRC reference and Charities Online login, held by the person who submits claims rather than by the workflow.

What needs careful handling

A donor may give through both Stripe and PayPal, so declarations are matched to one donor record rather than to each payment. Refunds and chargebacks can arrive after a gift has been added, so they remove it from the next claim or flag an adjustment if it has already been claimed. Payments that buy something, such as event tickets or raffle entries, usually can’t carry Gift Aid, so they are kept off the schedule unless a person decides otherwise.

Questions people ask.

Can it submit the claim to HMRC itself?

Some software can submit claims directly, but here submission stays with an authorised person. They check the schedule, upload it and make the declaration, so the charity stays in control of what is claimed.

Doesn’t our fundraising platform handle Gift Aid?

Some fundraising platforms claim Gift Aid for gifts made through them. This flow is for donations taken directly on your own website with Stripe or PayPal, where the claim is yours to make.

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