For companies
Fundraise for charity without holding the money
Run raffles, auctions and campaigns for the charities you support — while the money goes straight to a registered charity, never through your business account.
Signed Jersey
£45
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£120
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£85
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£30
It was never your company's money
A gala, a golf day, a raffle at the summer party, a percentage of December sales: corporate fundraising is one of the most valuable things a business can do — UK companies give an estimated £4.2 billion a year.
But the moment your business tells customers or staff that "proceeds go to charity", it takes on a legal role most companies have never heard of: the commercial participator. Money raised for a charitable institution doesn't belong to your company — not in the till, not in the business account waiting for someone to sort it out after the event. Under the Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994 it must be held securely and paid over as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 28 days at the latest.
A corporate account with DONATE removes the problem at the root: the funds never enter your company's accounts at all. DONATE is itself a UK registered charity (no. 1149800). Donations are made to us, and we pass them to the charities you nominate.
You never hold the funds
No corporate bank details, no 28-day clock, no reconciliation. Donations reach a registered charity from the moment they're made.
A signed agreement per charity
Every charity you nominate signs a permission contract before your fundraising goes live — the written agreement the Charities Act expects, built into sign-up.
One charity or several
Nominate multiple beneficiaries and set the percentage split per campaign, raffle or auction. The split is recorded, applied automatically and shown in your reporting.
Gift Aid still gets claimed
A company can't claim Gift Aid on money it collects from other people. Because donations are made to a charity, eligible gifts keep their Gift Aid — up to 25p in every £1.
Charity rates, not commercial rates
Corporate accounts pay the same rates as our charities, because the funds are for charities. No setup fee, no subscription.
The full fundraising toolkit
Licensed raffles, live and silent auctions, campaign pages, text giving and contactless terminals — the same platform thousands of UK charities use.
How it works
- Register your company. No bank details required — you'll never receive funds.
- Nominate your charities. Search the register, pick one or several, and set how much each receives.
- They sign, we approve. Each charity signs a permission contract online. Our team reviews and approves before anything goes live.
- Run your fundraising. Raffles, auctions, campaigns, text and contactless giving — under your company's branding.
- We pay the charities. Donations reach DONATE, Gift Aid is claimed on eligible gifts, and funds are remitted to your beneficiaries with a full audit trail on both sides.
The rules your company is signing up to
Whether you use DONATE or not, these apply to any business fundraising for a charity. (General guidance, not legal advice — the Charities Act 1992, Part II and the Fundraising Regulator's guidance are the authorities.)
A written agreement, before you start. It is unlawful for a commercial participator to represent that contributions will go to a charity without a written agreement with that charity meeting the Act's requirements — signed by both sides, setting out what the charity receives, how it's calculated, how long the arrangement runs and how it ends. The Charity Commission's own review of charities and commercial partners lists non-compliance with "Part II of the Charities Act 1992 and The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994" as the first of the main difficulties it encounters.
A solicitation statement on every promotion. Before people hand over money, you must name the benefiting charity and explain how the amount it receives is worked out. "Proceeds to charity" doesn't meet the standard; "£2 from every ticket goes to the Smith Foundation" does. Misleading fundraising has been the single most complained-about issue to the Fundraising Regulator for three years running — and the regulator issued fresh guidance in August 2024 because charities and their partners kept saying they weren't sure when agreements and statements were required.
Secure holding and payment within 28 days. Including proceeds from selling donated goods or auction lots, from the moment your company receives them.
Gift Aid you can't claim. Gift Aid belongs to the donor's gift and is claimed by the charity receiving it. Route donations through a company account and that link usually breaks — the claim is simply lost. (Raffle tickets and auction purchases are largely outside Gift Aid anyway; see Gift Aid rules for raffles and auctions.)
There's a well-established pattern in UK law for exactly this situation: put a regulated charity in the middle. Payroll giving already works that way by design — employers may not pay charities directly, the money must flow through an HMRC-approved agency. A corporate fundraising account applies the same logic to everything else your company raises.
Corporate — from our Inspiration library
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Frequently asked questions
Can a company raise money for a charity? ＋
Yes. But if your business promotes goods, services or events on the basis that money will go to a charity, it is acting as a commercial participator under Part II of the Charities Act 1992 — which requires a written agreement with the charity, a solicitation statement on the promotion, and the funds paid over within 28 days.
Does my company need a written agreement with the charity? ＋
Yes. It is unlawful for a commercial participator to represent that contributions will benefit a charitable institution without a written agreement with that charity meeting the requirements of the Act. On a DONATE corporate account, every nominated charity signs a permission contract before fundraising can go live.
How long can a business hold money raised for charity? ＋
Under the Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994, funds must be held securely and paid to the charity as soon as reasonably practicable, and no later than 28 days after receipt, unless the charity has agreed otherwise. With a corporate account the question doesn't arise — the money never reaches your company.
Can a company claim Gift Aid on money it collects for charity? ＋
No. Gift Aid attaches to the individual donor's gift and is claimed by the charity that receives it, so donations routed through a company account generally lose it. When donations are made to a charity directly, eligible gifts keep their Gift Aid — worth up to 25p per £1.
Can we support more than one charity? ＋
Yes. Nominate as many beneficiary charities as you like and set the percentage split per campaign, raffle or auction. Each one signs its own agreement, and each receives its share automatically.
What does a corporate account cost? ＋
The same as a charity account — no setup fee and no subscription, just our standard per-transaction rates. See the pricing page for the full breakdown.
Get started
If your company fundraises for charity — or is planning to this year — a corporate account takes the compliance, the banking and the Gift Aid off your desk.
Prefer to talk it through first? Contact the team.