Following its transition to a registered charity on 1 September 2024, The Countryside Alliance — an advocate for rural life in the UK — became The Countryside Alliance Foundation, gaining the ability to claim Gift Aid on memberships and donations. Under the UK Government’s Gift Aid scheme, charities can boost donations by an extra 25% without additional cost to supporters.
Having partnered with The Countryside Alliance for nearly two decades, ESco says it was well placed to support this transition. ESco provides services including membership management, renewals, and customer service, and their understanding of the organisation’s operations was instrumental in the move to charity status.
To help The Countryside Alliance Foundation unlock the benefits of Gift Aid, ESco says it consolidated supporter data, enhanced CRM and eCommerce functionality to collect declarations, and established a new process for making regular submissions to HMRC. These improvements have significantly reduced administrative burden and ensured compliance with HMRC requirements, added the company.
“The data is now in much better shape, allowing us to make our first formal Gift Aid submission to HMRC in years," said Lawrence Tribe-Endt, commercial director of The Countryside Alliance Foundation. "With ESco’s help, we could verify eligibility, ensure compliance, and start generating meaningful new income — not just retrospectively but on an ongoing basis."
The project has already delivered strong results, added ESco: thousands of membership records were matched for Gift Aid eligibility, the first claims were submitted successfully, and a process is now in place for ongoing quarterly submissions. Plans are underway to extend Gift Aid claims to additional income streams, such as donations and legacy gifts, the company continued.
“Working with the Countryside Alliance has been a real adventure — one built on trust, collaboration, and a shared passion for doing things right,” said Alistair Wood, operations & development director, ESco. “It’s been a pleasure to support them on this journey so far, and we’re incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved together. We’re excited to keep building on that success and to help them go even further in the years ahead.”
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