A consortium of five Birmingham charities has urged businesses across the city not to miss out on Government grants to help set up and promote payroll giving initiatives for their employees.
As Sunday's deadline looms on the Government scheme which offers grants of #300 to #500, the Five of Hearts consortium wants as many employers as possible to get involved.
The Five of Hearts links five of the city's most respected charities enabling them to work together to raise vital funds to help support the thousands of disadvantaged and life-limited children and adults in the region.
Included in the consortium are: Acorns Children's Hospice, Birmingham; Children's Hospital Charity, Birmingham; Focus on Blindness, Birmingham Foundation, and St Basil's. All donations to the group are shared evenly across each charity.
Under a new initiative the Government has recognised the benefits to charities from payroll giving and is now awarding companies a cash incentive to get more to sign-up.
A payroll giving donation is tax efficient as it is deducted from an employee's salary after NI but before tax. It's a transaction that's completed within the work-place but which gives the employee the choice of giving to a charity outside of any chosen charity that the business might have.
If a company employs fewer than 500 people, they will receive the cash grant as long as their payroll giving scheme is used by at least one employee.
One local company who has already set up a payroll giving initiative is printing.com-Birmingham South, a design and print specialist based near Five Ways.
Owner Robert Boulter said: "You actually pay less than you donate because it's tax-efficient.
"Whether you can spare #1 or #20 a month it all helps, especially to these local charities as it allows them to plan their activities for the long-term.
"I recommend every chief executive and director in Birmingham promotes payroll giving with Five of Hearts. It's one of the easiest things we've ever done and it's a great feeling to know t hat printing.comBirmingham South is helping to make a positive difference."
As printing.com-Birmingham South employs fewer than 500 people, they will receive a #300 cash grant and have already pledged to donate it to the Five of Hearts.
Fidelis Hynam, manager of Five of Hearts, said about the new consortium: "It makes sense for local charities to work together to make the most of payroll giving schemes. Because of the fact that marketing resources are scarce for the five local charities in question, working collaboratively gives us a louder voice.
"It also means employees across the city don't have to choose one charity to invest in, but can play their own part in supporting all five charities."
