Welcome to Zeffy’s blog

UK charities relying on PayPal as their main donation platform lose money to fees and handle Gift Aid claims manually. This guide compares 8 PayPal alternatives for 2026, from Zeffy (0% fees, Gift Aid declarations built in) to CAF Donate, Wonderful.org, and GoCardless, with honest UK verdicts and fee calculations on a £20 gift.

Read more

Social media lets a small UK charity reach supporters without a marketing budget. This guide covers the top strategies for 2026: from adding Gift Aid-friendly donation links and running compliant paid social to managing influencer partnerships under ASA rules. It also covers what to include in a charity social media policy and which tools help you plan, design, and measure your content.

Read more

A platform-by-platform comparison of the best crowdfunding platforms for UK charities in 2026, with honest fee breakdowns, Gift Aid handling notes, and guidance on which platform fits which size of organisation.

Read more

Choosing the right price for your charity raffle tickets involves balancing your fundraising target, prize value, audience affordability, and UK legal caps. This guide walks through pricing strategies, the step-by-step formula, small society lottery rules under the Gambling Act 2005, and why Gift Aid never applies to raffle ticket purchases.

Read more

Learn how to make raffle tickets for a UK charity raffle in 2026. This guide covers numbered e-tickets on Zeffy, Word mail-merge, Canva bulk-create, and print shops, alongside UK small society lottery rules, the Gambling Commission's ticket requirements, a Gift Aid callout, and a side-by-side comparison of all four methods.

Read more

Mailchimp prices by contact count and send volume, so every new donor on your list moves the bill up. This guide ranks 10 Mailchimp alternatives by total annual cost at the list sizes most small and mid-size UK charities actually run (5,000 and 10,000 contacts), then breaks down which platforms make sense above that price floor. The only one where unlimited contacts, unlimited sends, Gift Aid handling, and a built-in supporter CRM stay at £0 is Zeffy, and a native Mailchimp importer means switching takes minutes.

Read more

A practical guide to spring fundraising for UK charities, PTAs, and community groups. Covers 70+ ideas from quick wins you can launch in a week to full event programmes for March, April, and May, each tagged by setup time, volunteers, and budget. Includes UK calendar moments (Red Nose Day, Mothering Sunday, London Marathon, Christian Aid Week, VE Day, and Eurovision), Gift Aid guidance, Gambling Act raffle rules, and a free-tools toolkit powered by Zeffy.

Read more

A practical guide for UK charities, PTAs, and community groups on how to sell raffle tickets in 2026. Covers small society lottery registration with your local council, pricing with the (target + costs) ÷ tickets formula, online and in-person sales channels, 11 promotion tactics, the UK legal framework under the Gambling Act 2005, and a 9-step hosting checklist. Includes a clear note that Gift Aid does not apply to raffle ticket purchases.

Read more

Most thank-you letter roundups hand you a stack of Word documents and call it a day. But the template was never the bottleneck. What moves donor retention is the send: an automated acknowledgement at the moment of the gift, a physical letter for major-gift follow-up, and a Gift Aid-compliant acknowledgement that handles compliance so the letter itself stays human. This guide gives you 16 free thank-you letter templates organised by donor type, plus email subject lines, HMRC Gift Aid requirements, and a practical playbook for sending them at scale.

Read more

Valentine's Day sits in the fundraising gap between the Christmas Challenge and the spring appeal season, making it an ideal moment to run a creative, community-building event. This guide sets out 21 Valentine's Day fundraising ideas for UK charities, PTAs, and community groups, from school discos and candy gram stalls to date-night raffles and heart-health awareness days. It includes plain-English guidance on small society lottery registration under the Gambling Act 2005, Gift Aid eligibility, and UK-specific fee comparisons so your charity keeps more of what it raises.

Read more

Donor management software helps UK charities track donations, manage supporter records, handle Gift Aid declarations, and build lasting relationships. This guide compares the top tools for small and mid-size UK charities in 2026, including free options like Zeffy and established UK-built platforms like Beacon and Donorfy.

Read more

Discover 75+ community volunteering ideas for 2026, organised by age group and cause. Whether you are a primary school pupil, a secondary student building a UCAS personal statement, a university society, or a small charity organiser, this guide gives you practical ideas you can act on today, from foodbank collections and care home visits to virtual befriending and environmental projects.

Read more

A complete UK guide to running a 50/50 raffle for your charity or community group. Covers UK lottery law (Gambling Act 2005), the two legal routes (incidental non-commercial lottery vs small society lottery), how to price and sell tickets, tips to raise more on the night, and the legal considerations every organiser needs to know before selling a single ticket.

Read more

Preparing a corporate sponsorship presentation for your charity event takes more than a polished slide deck. This guide walks UK charities, community groups, and PTAs through every step: researching the right sponsors, structuring your pack, understanding the Gift Aid and VAT rules that apply to sponsorship, complying with the Code of Fundraising Practice, and following up in a way that builds long-term partnerships.

Read more

A practical guide for UK charities on writing donor thank-you letters that include Gift Aid declaration prompts, registered charity numbers, and the trust signals supporters expect.

Read more

Most UK charity websites quietly lose nine out of ten visitors at the donate page. This guide shows fundraising managers and charity volunteers the form-level decisions that move conversion from average to excellent in 2026: fewer fields, Gift Aid declaration capture, Direct Debit for regular giving, and mobile wallets. No enterprise testing stack required.

Read more

Giving Tuesday 2026 falls on Tuesday 1 December. This UK guide covers the eight-step campaign playbook for small charities, Gift Aid declaration capture, matched giving, peer-to-peer fundraising, and channel tactics for email and social, all in one place, free with Zeffy.

Read more

Raffles are one of the quickest ways for UK charities, PTAs, village halls and community groups to raise funds. This step-by-step guide covers the legal framework under the Gambling Act 2005, how to register a small society lottery with your local council, what must appear on your tickets, and how to promote and close your raffle correctly, all in plain English, with links to the relevant Gambling Commission and HMRC guidance.

Read more

GoFundMe is one of the world's biggest crowdfunding platforms, but UK charities and not-for-profits have a different set of needs: Gift Aid handling, Fundraising Regulator alignment, and the option of a platform that genuinely keeps 100% of every £1 raised. This guide compares the best GoFundMe alternatives for UK charities in 2026, with real fees in £ and an honest take on Gift Aid, the JustGiving tip prompt, and what a registered charity actually needs from a fundraising platform.

Read more

Every pound you lose to ticketing fees is a pound off your mission. This guide compares the seven best Eventbrite alternatives for UK charities in 2026, with honest fees, real UK examples, and a clear verdict on which platform suits your events.

Read more

Zeffy is free for charities because donors can choose to add a voluntary contribution at checkout. No platform fee, no transaction fee, no credit card fee. Ever. This article explains how the model works, why it is different from the tip prompts UK donors distrust, and what it means for Gift Aid and your fundraising stack.

Read more

Eight archetype-specific welcome letter templates for UK charities, covering members, first-time donors, recurring supporters, newly appointed trustees, volunteers, churches, associations and PTAs. Includes UK-specific guidance on Gift Aid, trustee duties, the Direct Debit Guarantee and data protection.

Read more