Couple givers

Giver profiles in the Giving module support the option to specify that a giver represents a couple rather than an individual and, for UK customers, the default Gift Aid split of each partner.

Overview of the intended functionality

While each individual who gives to your various causes will have a profile in the Giving module, it's not uncommon for couples to give jointly, i.e. donations on behalf of a couple or household. To cater for this scenario and to avoid one partner appearing as a non-giver in Giving module reports, you can designate a giver profile to be a Couple.

UK customers will be required to specify the Gift Aid Split that the couple has specified in the Gift Aid Declaration. Typically, the Gift Aid Split is determined by the giver and not by the church/charity; however (as per HMRC guidance) for donations received that have been drawn on a joint account...

• If you have a Declaration from one partner, you can assign 100% of the Gift Aid split to that one partner in the couple.
• Where you have a Declaration from both partners and where they have not expressly stated a different split %, you may be able to assume a 50:50 split.
• However, if you are unsure of the correct split, the charity is expected to seek instruction from the giver since it is the giver's responsibility to make good any shortfall of over-claimed Gift Aid from HMRC.

When producing donation statements, couple givers receive a joint statement listing their donations. For UK customers, the statement includes the Gift Aid Split and the total amount of each Gift Aid for each partner.

Couple givers with My ChurchSuite access viewing the My Giving section will both see the list of their couple donations unless the spouse also has their own linked giver profile. Couple-giver spouses are excluded from the non-giving contacts report.

Designating a couple giver

Working within the Givers section of the Giving module, select Edit the giver. Scroll down the giver profile and tick Couple, i.e. this giver represents a couple, not an individual.

If the giver is In the Address Book, their linked spouse's name from the Address Book will be pre-populated into the form and cannot be further edited. In this example, Fi is linked to Paul in the Address Book (with a marital status of "Married").

If the giver is Not in the Address Book, the spouse's First Name and Last Name fields will be empty - enter the giver's spouse's name (required).

For UK customers only, specify the default Gift Aid Split requested by the giver or, as applicable, based on the Gift Aid declaration/s held. This default split will be suggested when adding donations for the giver but can be optionally changed on a donation-by-donation basis as may be appropriate based on the giver's instructions.

When producing a Statement of Donations, the couple giver statement is addressed to the couple, summarising their joint donations and, for UK customers only, the total Gift Aid reclaimable on those donations. The statement shows the Gift Aid Claimed - which may be different to the amount shown Claimable in the list of donations - perhaps if some of the claimable donations have not yet been included in a claim. The statement is intended to only show a breakdown of the Gift Aid Claimed at the time of producing the statement. For couple givers, this is broken down for each partner based on the total of the underlying Gift Aid Split of each donation.

Note, for UK customers producing a Gift Aid claim: if an unsubmitted claim contains donations with a Gift Aid Split specified (because a giver was a couple at the time of adding the donations) but the Couple status was subsequently disabled, a warning message is surfaced during the claim review process explaining that those donations will need to first be removed from the claim before the claim can be finalised.

Note: UK customers managing Gift Aid claims will see donations for couple givers and the Gift Aid Split on the claim in ChurchSuite. Only the primary giver profile name is shown in this context, however, the HMRC submission and Claim CSV file show the aggregated donations and Gift Aid for each spouse on a separate row.