Charity bids to recoup €5.5m in donations

A leading charity has begun a campaign to recoup €5.5m in charitable donations from the Government.

Concern has used its computer database to identify the 27,000 people who gave more than the 250 euro donations threshold last year and is contacting them individually by phone, letter and email.

“We think it’s definitely worthwhile putting the resources into it because it is €5.5m and we can potentially get that back if everyone does return their forms,” said donor programme leader Angela Whyte.

Concern raised more than 40 million euro from the Irish public last year, with extra donations flowing in to help the victims of the Asian tsunami.

Under the charities tax relief scheme, it can reclaim the tax paid on donations of more than €250.

Individual donors are being sent letters pointing out the specific amount of tax the charity would be able to reclaim on their donation.

For example, an individual who donated €270 last year, could increase the value of their donation by €67.50 by sending the relevant signed form back to Concern. If he or she was on the higher rate of tax, Concern could claim back as much as €195.52.

Ms Whyte said the charity was hoping for a good response from the public so that as much of the €5.5m euro as possible could be reclaimed.

“It’s a huge amount of money and it could support our emergency operations in the Horn of Africa for example, any future emergencies or long term development projects that we’re working on overseas,” she said.

Around 1,600 donors have returned their tax foms to Concern so far.

The number of donors who reached the €250 threshold for tax relief last year was the highest in Concern’s history.

The charity believes this is due to the appeals for donations in the wake of the Asian tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake.