It takes a 6.3% cut - 5% from the donation plus a share of the Gift Aid and credit card fees.

BBC: Believe.in and the business of charity

Gift aid enables charities to reclaim the tax paid on one-off donations.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Charities 'to lose tax millions'

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) says the fall in the basic rate will reduce the amount of gift aid charities can claim on donations.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Charities 'to lose tax millions'

The Gift Aid scheme is for gifts of money by individuals who pay UK tax, and allows the charity to reclaim the basic rate tax on the donation.

BBC: Charities 'fear closure' due to cuts and donation fall

Believe.in has what looks at first a very simple, indeed unbelievable, pitch: it will pass on 100% of the money you raise in donations and Gift Aid to your chosen cause.

BBC: Believe.in and the business of charity

Income growth from gift aid relief, for example, which supplanted deeds of covenant with a more generous scheme for donors and recipients, slowed in the first year but seems to be picking up again.

ECONOMIST: Generosity seems to be on the rise

The gift will aid the museum in its efforts to catch up to the depth and scope of the African art collections in other encyclopedic museums around the world, including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

WSJ: Boston Museum Gets Major Gift of African Art from Lehman Heir

More than 60 percent of international food aid comes as a gift from the people of the United States.

CNN: Transcript of State of the Union

In recent years, financial advisers have suggested the following strategy to wealthier families who don't qualify for financial aid: Parents and grandparents gift highly appreciated stocks and other assets to teens, so the kids sell them while in college, paying taxes on the gains at a lower tax rate.

FORBES: Rich College Kids: Take A Tax Hike

Now I am not advocating looking the gift horse in the mouth with respect to college aid.

FORBES: College Aid Announcements Sign of Predictable Change