Does DONATE have to approve my company before I can start?

No. DONATE checks each charity, not your company. See How do we open our account?

Does my company need to give bank details?

No. Your company is never paid. See What do we need before we start?

Can a company raise money for more than one charity?

Yes, with a share for each. See How do we split funds between charities?

The charity did not receive its link. What can I do?

Resend it or copy it from Beneficiary Charities. See How do we choose our charities?

Who claims the Gift Aid?

DONATE claims it for your charities. See What does it cost?

A donor wants a refund. What happens?

It depends on how they gave and whether it is in a payout yet. See What does it cost?

A company has asked to raise money for us. What are we agreeing to?

That you know the company is raising money for your charity, and that you agree to receive the funds into the bank account you give. The full contract is on the signing page, to read before signing.

Do we need a DONATE account to receive funds from a company?

No. You sign online from the link in the email and DONATE pays the bank account you give. If you already have a DONATE account, you only approve the request, and DONATE pays the account it already holds.

Yes. If you are already on DONATE, click Decline on the page the link opens. Otherwise, do not sign and tell hello@nationalfundingscheme.org. Nothing is paid to you.

DONATE Corporate fundraising

Sign up as a company and fundraise for charities

Open a DONATE account for your company, add the charities you raise for, and publish your first campaign. DONATE pays what you raise straight to the charities.

Your company never holds the money raised
DONATE pays each charity its share directly
Find charities on DONATE and the charity register
Split what you raise across several charities
Give any campaign, raffle or auction lot its own split
Charity agreements and bank checks handled by DONATE
Charity rates on every donation

Updated 28 October 2026About this solution

What is a corporate account?

A DONATE account for a company that raises money for charities, not for itself. You run the fundraising, DONATE takes the payments and pays what you raise straight to the charities you choose, so your company never holds the money. There is no set-up fee, and each donation carries charity rates.

A corporate account in six steps

Sign up: choose Corporate and give your company and your own details.
Finish your registration: your logo, description, website and address.
Add each charity you raise for. DONATE emails it a link to sign.
Agree to the Fundraising Partner Terms. Your account opens straight away.
Each charity signs and gives its bank account, and DONATE checks it.
Once one charity is confirmed, set your split and publish.

Why raise for charities this way?

Because your company never handles the money: DONATE pays each charity its share directly, and gets and checks each charity's agreement and bank account for you.

What DONATE does for you

Every payment is taken by DONATE and paid straight to the charities.
DONATE emails each charity a contract to sign, takes its bank account and checks both before anything is paid.
Find charities already on DONATE and on the Charity register in one search. Those that welcome company fundraising carry an Open to corporate partners badge.
Split what you raise across several charities, and give any campaign, raffle or auction lot its own split.
Companies raising for charities pay charity rates on every donation.
You get a statement each time your charities are paid, and each charity gets its own.
The same account runs campaigns, team challenges, raffles, auctions and voting.

What do we need before we start?

Your company name and Companies House number, your contact details, a logo and a short description, and for each charity its name, number and the email of someone who can sign for it. No bank details and no verification documents.

What to have to hand

Your company name and Companies House number.
Your company address, phone number, email and website.
A logo and a short description for your company's DONATE page.
For each charity, its name, charity number and the email of someone who can sign for it.

What a company is not asked for

No bank details. Your company is never paid, so there is nowhere to pay.
No verification documents.

How do we sign up?

On the sign-up page, choose Corporate, give the company name and number and your own details, and click Create account. It takes a minute. Then log in with your email.

How do we finish our registration?

The first time you log in, open Account Details. It has four parts, Web page, Details, Charities and Agreement, and ticks show what is done. Start with your logo, description and website, then your address and phone.

Good to know

The logo, description and website are all needed, and they appear on your company's DONATE page.
You can set up campaigns, raffles and auctions at any time, before or after your account opens. When you can publish is in How do we publish a campaign?

Your logo and description

Upload your logo, describe your company and give your website. All three are needed, and they appear on your company's DONATE page.

How do we choose our charities?

From Beneficiary Charities in the menu, click Add charity and search by name or charity number. Add every charity your fundraising pays to. You need at least one before your account can open, and you can add more at any time.

Finding a charity

Results come from charities Already on DONATE and the Charity register.
Charities that welcome company fundraising carry an Open to corporate partners badge.
A charity Already on DONATE has Connect. DONATE alerts it, and it approves or declines your request. It signs nothing, gives no bank details, and is paid into the account DONATE already holds.
Not listed? Click Add manually and give the charity's name, number and a contact who can sign.

While you wait

Resend link emails the charity a new link. Copy link lets you send it from your own address, in case the email was filtered.
The pencil button changes the contact name or email.
What each label on the list means is in the table at the end of this guide.

Search for the charity: In Add a charity, search by name or number. If the charity is not found, click Add manually. — Search for the charity
In Add a charity, search by name or number. If the charity is not found, click Add manually.

Give a contact at the charity: Check the name and number, and give someone who can sign for the charity. Save & send link emails them the signing link. — Give a contact at the charity
Check the name and number, and give someone who can sign for the charity. Save & send link emails them the signing link.

The charity is Awaiting charity: Until it signs, the charity shows Awaiting charity, with Resend link and Copy link. — The charity is Awaiting charity
Until it signs, the charity shows Awaiting charity, with Resend link and Copy link.

What do our charities have to do?

Each charity you add gets an email from DONATE naming your company. The person who signs reads the contract, gives the charity's bank account and signs online, with no DONATE account and no password. A charity already on DONATE only approves the request.

The charity's part

The link is unique to the charity and lasts 30 days. Sending it again makes a new one and the old one stops working.
The charity reads the contract to the end, gives the bank account its funds are paid to, and signs.
The bank account must be the charity's own. Signing records the signer's name, email, the time and the IP address.
Signing confirms the charity knows your company is raising money for it and agrees to receive the funds into the bank account it gives. The full contract is on the signing page.
DONATE then checks the agreement and the bank account before anything is paid.
A charity can say no. One already on DONATE clicks Decline on the page the link opens; any other does not sign and tells hello@nationalfundingscheme.org. Nothing is paid to it.

The charity's invitation email: The email names your company and asks the charity to read the contract, confirm its bank account and sign online. — The charity's invitation email
The email names your company and asks the charity to read the contract, confirm its bank account and sign online.

The charity reads the contract: The page names your company and the charity. The bank and signature fields open once the contract is read to the end. — The charity reads the contract
The page names your company and the charity. The bank and signature fields open once the contract is read to the end.

Bank account and signature: The charity gives the bank account its funds are paid to, then signs with a name, email and role. — Bank account and signature
The charity gives the bank account its funds are paid to, then signs with a name, email and role.

How do we open our account?

In the Agreement part of Account Details, agree to the DONATE Fundraising Partner Terms. The account opens the moment you agree, as long as the other parts are done. DONATE does not need to approve your company.

The agreement

Open the terms before you can tick the box.
Agree yourself if you are responsible for the fundraising, or on behalf of that person with their name, email and job role.
DONATE records who agreed, when, and which version.
Once your account is open, DONATE emails you to say so.

Agree and open your account: Open Read the Fundraising Partner Terms, tick I agree to the DONATE Fundraising Partner Terms, then click Agree and open account. — Agree and open your account
Open Read the Fundraising Partner Terms, tick I agree to the DONATE Fundraising Partner Terms, then click Agree and open account.

How do we split funds between charities?

On Beneficiary Charities, type each Approved charity's share in its Split box and click Save split. The shares must total 100. A charity shows Approved once DONATE has checked its agreement and bank account, and DONATE emails you when it is.

How the split works

The default split is each Approved charity's share of everything you raise.
Everything you raise, ticket money included, goes to your charities, split as your campaigns are.
Your first Approved charity is given 100 per cent. When you add more, type each share and click Save split.
Only Approved charities can have a share.
A campaign, raffle or auction lot can have its own split. If it has none, it uses the default split.

Set your default split: Each Approved charity has a Split box. The shares must total 100. Click Save split. — Set your default split
Each Approved charity has a Split box. The shares must total 100. Click Save split.

How do we publish a campaign?

Build a campaign at any time, then switch it on once one of your charities is Approved and your shares total 100. Until then it stays Not live, and Preview still shows its page. For everything else a campaign can do, see the Campaigns guide.

Before you publish

Each campaign uses your default split unless you give it its own under Charity split.
Anything promoting the campaign must carry the DONATE logo and the legal statement, under Promotion requirements on the campaign.

Publishing waits for a charity: Switch the campaign on before a charity is Approved and the portal says A charity has to confirm first. Nothing is published. — Publishing waits for a charity
Switch the campaign on before a charity is Approved and the portal says A charity has to confirm first. Nothing is published.

This campaign's charity split: Charity split shows Default split. Add a charity there to give this campaign its own shares, then click Save split. — This campaign's charity split
Charity split shows Default split. Add a charity there to give this campaign its own shares, then click Save split.

How do our charities get the money?

DONATE pays each charity its share directly, about three months after the month the donations were given, once at least £100 is due. Each payout is one payment per charity.

Payments and statements

Each charity receives one payment for its share, into the bank account it gave, or the one DONATE already holds.
You get a statement each time your charities are paid. Each charity gets its own statement once its payment is sent.
Each charity's payment carries its own transfer charge, and the usage fee is shared between them in proportion to what each receives. The charges are in What does it cost.

What does it cost?

No set-up fee. Companies raising for charities pay charity rates: 4.5 per cent plus 22p on a donation without Gift Aid, and with Gift Aid no percentage fee, only 40 per cent of the Gift Aid plus 22p.

Fees and Gift Aid

Each donation without Gift Aid: 4.5 per cent plus 22p. When the supporter adds Gift Aid there is no percentage fee: the charity keeps the whole donation less 22p, plus 60 per cent of the Gift Aid, and our fee is the other 40 per cent.
Gift Aid applies only to a UK taxpayer's own money given as a gift, never to a payment from a company card or company account.
DONATE claims the Gift Aid and pays it to your charities with their payments, less that 40 per cent. Your company and your charities should not claim it as well.
A small VAT amount on the fee is also deducted.
Charges on each payout: a usage fee of £3 for each week (Monday to Sunday) in which your organisation receives £10 or more (at most £12 a month), and a transfer charge of £7.50 plus 0.5 per cent of the payout for charities and companies raising for charities, or 1.5 per cent for other organisations (at least £3 either way).

Refunds

Donors refund their own donation by logging in at easydonate.org/login with the email they gave and opening Donations, while it is not yet in a payout. This works for a one-off donation by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Direct Debit. The whole payment goes back, including any tip, and Gift Aid is not claimed on it.
DONATE emails them "Your refund of £10.00 to" followed by your company's name. You are not emailed.
Text donations are never refunded. For a monthly donation or a PayPal payment not yet in a payout, email hello@nationalfundingscheme.org and DONATE refunds it.
Once a donation is in a payout, the money is your charities'. The donor sees "This payment has been passed to" your company's name, "Ask them about a refund." Put them in touch with the charity, which refunds them.

Settings reference

What each charity label means

Every charity on Beneficiary Charities carries one of these labels.

Label	What it means	What happens next
Contract required	The charity is on your list, but no signing link has gone to it yet.	Click Send link on its card.
Awaiting charity	DONATE has emailed the charity its link and it has not answered yet.	It signs, or approves if it is already on DONATE. You can resend or copy the link.
Awaiting review	The charity has signed and given its bank account.	DONATE checks the agreement and the account, then emails you.
Approved	The charity is confirmed and can be paid.	Give it a share of your split. You can publish.
Rejected	The charity declined, or DONATE could not confirm it.	DONATE emails you. Contact hello@nationalfundingscheme.org if you think it is a mistake.

Questions

Does DONATE have to approve my company before I can start?: No. DONATE checks each charity, not your company. See How do we open our account?
Does my company need to give bank details?: No. Your company is never paid. See What do we need before we start?
Can a company raise money for more than one charity?: Yes, with a share for each. See How do we split funds between charities?
The charity did not receive its link. What can I do?: Resend it or copy it from Beneficiary Charities. See How do we choose our charities?
Who claims the Gift Aid?: DONATE claims it for your charities. See What does it cost?
A donor wants a refund. What happens?: It depends on how they gave and whether it is in a payout yet. See What does it cost?
A company has asked to raise money for us. What are we agreeing to?: That you know the company is raising money for your charity, and that you agree to receive the funds into the bank account you give. The full contract is on the signing page, to read before signing.
Do we need a DONATE account to receive funds from a company?: No. You sign online from the link in the email and DONATE pays the bank account you give. If you already have a DONATE account, you only approve the request, and DONATE pays the account it already holds.
Can we say no?: Yes. If you are already on DONATE, click Decline on the page the link opens. Otherwise, do not sign and tell hello@nationalfundingscheme.org. Nothing is paid to you.