Charity Account

The CAF Charity Account helps you to put money aside for your charitable giving, and lets you control how and when you choose to support the causes you care about. Either make one-off donations to major emergency appeals or regularly support the causes that are close to your heart. Top-up with small regular contributions or infrequent payments, and the funds will be kept safe until you’re ready to donate.

Please refer to the fee schedule.

Before we send your donation to an organisation, we check to make sure that it’s charitable. That way you can rest assured that your money will be used to make a difference. Find out how we validate charities.

It’ll take about five minutes to complete the online application form. Once we've received your application it usually takes around five working days to open your CAF Charity Account. We’ll be in touch if we need any further information.

When we process your application for a CAF Charity Account we carry out an electronic check to verify your details, which doesn’t affect your credit rating. In some cases, we may need to contact you for further information.

No, in order to make the most of your charitable donations, we can only claim Gift Aid against a single taxpayer's income. However, two people can make donations from one CAF Charity Account - just complete the Additional Signatory section of the application form.

You can top-up your balance at any time through:

• One-off top-ups: top up quickly by logging into your CAF Charity Account, selecting ‘manage funds’ and from the dropdown list click ‘top up with a single payment’.
• Direct Debit: an easy way to regularly fund your CAF Charity Account. Simply log into your CAF Charity Account, select ‘manage funds’ and ‘top-up with Direct Debit’. We’ll send you a Direct Debit application form to complete.
• Payroll giving: Fund your CAF Charity Account straight from your salary through CAF Give As You Earn or another payroll giving scheme. Find out more about CAF Give As You Earn.

No, once a payment is paid into your CAF Charity Account, we’re unable to make any refunds. However, you decide which charities the money is distributed to.

No, the CAF Charity Account is not designed for long-term investment. We ensure that your funds are available for you to use immediately, so any interest accrued is minimal and we’ll keep this to maintain low fees.

If you’re interested in long-term giving, a CAF Charitable Trust can help you plan your philanthropy. You’ll need to initially fund the account with at least £10,000. For further information about opening a Trust, please contact us on 03000 123 028 (between 9am and 5pm Monday - Friday, except public holidays).

We’re always happy to help. You can contact us here or call our Customer Service team on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

Yes, you can set up regular payments to your favourite charities. Simply log in, choose ‘manage donations’ then ‘maintain standing orders’.

Yes, simply log into your account and select 'manage donations' and then select 'maintain standing orders' where you will be able to view, update and delete your existing standing orders. If you wish to change the frequency or payment date of your donation, you will need to cancel the original standing order and set up a new one.

Log into your account and select 'manage donations' and then select 'maintain standing orders' where you will be able to view, update and delete your existing standing orders.

No, you can only use the funds from your CAF Charity Account for charitable purposes. This means that you cannot use these funds for any personal benefit, including goods and services.

Vouchers cannot be used to pay for an item won at an auction. However once you have paid for your item by cash or other means you can use your voucher to make a separate donation if you wish.

If you want to sponsor someone, you can make a donation directly to the charity and add details of who you’re sponsoring in the ‘Special instructions’ field.

If there aren’t enough funds in your account to pay the donation, then we’ll be unable to honour the request until sufficient funds are available. You can top-up by logging in and selecting the 'manage funds' option.

Once there are sufficient funds in your account, the donation will be paid automatically. Any donations that remain unpaid after 60 days will be cancelled.

Please ask your charity to contact us on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

Yes, find out more from our donate overseas page.

If you don’t have a UK address, please enter your address manually when you make a donation.

We can only make donations with the money available in your CAF Charity Account at the time the donation is requested, or a CAF Voucher is processed. If there are insufficient funds, we’ll continue to try and make the donation from the account for up to 60 days. Once the balance of your account is large enough, the donation will be paid automatically. Any donations that remain unpaid after 60 days will be automatically cancelled.

You can register your CAF Charity Account online here. Please note that you’ll need your 8 digit CAF Charity Account number and your memorable word, which you should already have recorded with us. If you are unsure of this, please call our Customer Service team on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

Yes, it's easy to manage all of your CAF Charity Accounts online; just make sure that you have requested to manage each account online. When you next log into the site, you’ll be presented with a list of your accounts and asked which one you’d like to manage. Please call our Customer Service team on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays) if you need any help.

You can find the 'log in' option in the top-right corner of each page on our website.

Your password or username may not match our records; you can reset your password here. If you can't remember your username or you are still unable to log in please call our Customer Service team on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

You can reset your password here. You’ll need your username. If you don't have a memorable word or can’t remember it please call our Customer Service team on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

You can update your details online by logging into your account and clicking on 'my profile'. If you’d like to request a change of name, please put this in writing with a copy of your change of name documents (eg your marriage certificate).

Please re-register to change your username and manage your account online.

Our statement downloads are set up to work with the latest versions of most browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome. If you need any help, please call us on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

We send a report to HMRC each week detailing Gift Aid claims. It can take 6 to 8 weeks for us to receive these funds. Once we’ve received them, we’ll add the Gift Aid to your account.

You can call our Customer Service team by phone on 03000 123 000 or by email between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, except public holidays.

You can change your preferences by logging in to your CAF Charity Account and updating your preferences, clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link on any marketing emails you receive from us or by calling our Customer Service team on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

Sorry that you’re thinking about closing your CAF Charity Account. Give us a call on 03000 123 000 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday, except public holidays).

Please email or post the original death certificate to us at:

Charities Aid Foundation, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, Kent ME19 4TA or email charityaccounts@cafonline.org

We’ll contact you with details of what to do next.

Please send us details of your name, address and date of birth, along with evidence that you’re entitled to act for the account holder.