Welcome to the Charities Aid Foundation

We help donors to give more impactfully and charities to build their resilience so they can do more of their life-changing work.

Personal giving From one-off donations to long-term giving, or designing your personal philanthropic strategy, we work together to help you realise your giving ambitions. Corporate giving You have the vision for making a difference. So do we. We help you plan how to give based on your goals. Services for charities Helping your charity or social enterprise become more resilient. Insights Discover the latest insights for donors and charitable organisations to help create a greater impact About us We are a leading charity, working at the centre of the giving world. We help donors to give more impactfully and charities to build their resilience so they can do more of their life-changing work. Donate  
 
 
 

Personal giving

From one-off donations to long-term giving, or designing your personal philanthropic strategy, we work together to help you realise your giving ambitions.

DISCOVER OUR PERSONAL GIVING SOLUTIONS

Corporate giving

You have the vision for making a difference. So do we. We help you plan how to give based on your goals.

DISCOVER OUR CORPORATE GIVING SOLUTIONS

Services for charities

Helping your charity or social enterprise become more resilient.

DISCOVER HOW WE SUPPORT CHARITIES

Insights

Discover the latest insights for donors and charitable organisations to help create a greater impact

Explore

About us

We are a leading charity, working at the centre of the giving world. We help donors to give more impactfully and charities to build their resilience so they can do more of their life-changing work.

Find out more about CAF
Fundraising Fundamentals

Major Gifts Fundraising

Major donors can come in many shapes and sizes. We’ve put together a list of major donors you can include in your fundraising strategy and some tips to bear in mind when approaching them.

Trusts and Foundations

Around 10% of the charity sector’s income comes from the 10,000 or so charitable trusts and foundations in the UK.

Each trust will have its own set of criteria outlining what it will and won’t fund. Some are focused on particular geographic areas; some will fund particular causes; others will only fund projects and not running costs.

Think of your application to trusts and foundations as largely about demonstrating how your organisation and project can help them achieve their purpose.

Top tip

Most trusts will provide detailed guidelines on what they are looking for in applications. Do not ignore these. A common complaint from trusts is that too many charities ignore their funding criteria. Read their guidance and tailor your application accordingly.

Corporates

Corporate support can take many forms, be it a one-off donation, staff fundraising or volunteering, or gifts-in-kind such as cause-related marketing, the use of facilities or donations of goods and services.

You should make sure that the companies you receive donations from do not engage in unethical behaviour as this could be damaging to both beneficiaries and your reputation. 

The VAT rules applied to corporate fundraising can be complicated so check HMRC guidelines to ensure you don’t receive an unexpected tax bill.

Top tip

Most corporates look for charity partners that can help them achieve one or more of their own strategic goals, which could be creating access to new audiences, strengthening their reputation or increasing employee loyalty, so highlight how a partnership would be mutually beneficial when making a pitch. A generic scatter gun approach rarely sees good results.

High-Net Worth Individuals

Wealthy people give to charities for similar reasons to everyone else: because they have a personal passion for, or a connection to, a cause and want to contribute constructively towards a social challenge.

Because of the large sums of money involved, they often require a much closer involvement with the charity and its staff than a low-level donor.

It can take 12 to 18 months to build a relationship with a major donor to a position where there is sufficient trust and understanding for a large gift to be made.

Top tip

Most major donors prefer to interact with leadership or front line staff, and at a time and place that suits them, such as at their office or yours, or over a quiet lunch. Making a big ask for support at a busy and noisy event is not likely to be the most ideal method. Relationship building is key to HNWI fundraising.

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Charity resources

Fundraising Fundamentals

A toolkit to help you put the foundations in place for an effective fundraising strategy

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Why corporates give back

Find out why corporates are empowering their employees through Payroll Giving to provide a long-term and regular income stream to the causes most important to them.

Learn more

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Get help with your fundraising plans

Our team of advisers are here to share their expertise and help you build your fundraising strategy.

Find out more

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Philanthropy comes of age

With donor advised giving on the rise, read our report to find out its future potential to build support for charities amongst high net worth individuals.

Read our report