How Teamo helps sports clubs collect donations

It’s important to address a key issue within the club: finances.

We're talking about Gift Aid — the government scheme that tops up every £1 donated to your club by an extra 25p, straight from HMRC. That's right, the taxman is giving you money for a change. And with Teamo, collecting donations and claiming Gift Aid has never been simpler.

But before we dive in, there are some important differences depending on how your club is set up. So, take a moment to review this — it’s well worth your attention.

In the UK, sports clubs generally fall into two camps when it comes to tax relief: registered charities and CASCs

CASC stands for Community Amateur Sports Club. It's a scheme that's been running since 2002, and there are over 6,300 clubs registered across the UK. It was designed to give grassroots sports clubs access to "charity-type" tax reliefs — including Gift Aid on donations and business rates relief — without the full regulatory overhead of being a registered charity. To qualify, your club needs to be open to the whole community, promote participation in eligible sports, and keep costs accessible (there are caps on membership fees to make sure you're not accidentally running an exclusive members' lounge).

The key thing to understand? Both charities and CASCs can claim Gift Aid on donations. But the rules around what counts as a donation are different — and errors in this area may result in complications with HMRC and should therefore be avoided.

Here's where it gets interesting.

If your club is a registered charity, you have a neat trick available. You can state in your governing documents — your constitution, articles of association, or whatever your club calls its rulebook — that a certain percentage of your membership fee is actually a donation. The logic is that this portion doesn't pay for any direct services; it supports the club's charitable mission, funds volunteers, covers community outreach, and so on. We know of large cricket clubs that operate exactly this way: the membership might be £150, but the club's documents state that, say, £30 of that is a charitable donation. Gift Aid gets claimed on that £30.

Important update: From March 2026, HMRC requires charities to clearly advertise the split between the membership element and any charges for facilities or services before anyone subscribes. So this needs to be transparent and upfront — not buried in the small print.

If your club is a CASC, you cannot do this. CASCs cannot claim Gift Aid on membership payments because members receive personal access to the club's facilities and services in return. That's HMRC's position, and it's non-negotiable. For a CASC, a donation has to be a genuinely separate, voluntary payment — completely distinct from the membership fee.

This is a crucial distinction, and it's the one that trips up the most clubs. Plenty of committees sit around thinking, "can't we just roll the donation into the membership fee and keep it simple?" If you're a CASC: no, you can't. If you're a charity: yes, but only if it's properly documented.

Here's the good news. Even with these rules, collecting donations doesn't have to be complicated — and this is where Teamo comes in.

The simplest approach? Keep your membership fee as your membership fee, and ask for an optional donation at checkout.

Say your junior membership costs £100. When a parent gets to the checkout in Teamo, they'll see a recommended donation — let's say £10 — with the option to increase it if they'd like. No pressure, no awkwardness, just a simple "if you can afford a bit extra, it makes a real difference."

You'd be surprised how many parents are happy to chip in. People want to support their kids' club. They just need to be asked in the right way, at the right moment. And checkout, when they're already in "paying for things" mode, is exactly that moment.

Here's where it gets really flexible. With Teamo, you're not limited to a single generic "donate to the club" option. You can create multiple donation products for different causes:

• Fund a scholarship — help a family who can't afford fees so their child can still play
• Support the junior section — new equipment, coaching, away trips
• Pitch maintenance fund — because that drainage isn't going to fix itself
• Community outreach — funding taster sessions for local schools

People are far more likely to donate when they know exactly where the money's going. "Donate £10 to help a local kid play cricket this summer" hits differently from "please give us some money."

Now, the really clever bit. Teamo partners with Swiftaid for automatic Gift Aid collection.

Swiftaid is an HMRC-recognised intermediary that takes all the faff out of Gift Aid. Traditionally, claiming Gift Aid meant collecting paper declarations, chasing down donor details, filling in spreadsheets, and submitting claims manually to HMRC.

With the Teamo and Swiftaid integration, it works like this:

• Your club sets up Swiftaid through Teamo (you'll need your HMRC reference number and an authorised official)
• You create a donation product in Teamo with a recommended amount
• Donors opt in to Gift Aid when they make their donation
• Swiftaid handles the rest — creating declarations, matching donors, submitting claims directly to HMRC, and keeping all the records

The donor only needs to authorise Swiftaid once per tax year, and from then on, Gift Aid is applied automatically across any platform in the Swiftaid network. No more chasing forms. No more spreadsheets. No more wondering if you've claimed everything you're entitled to.

That 25p per pound adds up fast. On £5,000 of donations across a season, that's an extra £1,250 from HMRC. That's a new set of nets, or coaching courses for three volunteers, or subsidised memberships for a dozen families.

A note on Swiftaid and charities using the membership fee split: The Teamo/Swiftaid integration works specifically with donation products — the standalone donation items you create in your shop or checkout. If your club is a registered charity using the approach where a portion of the membership fee is treated as a donation, Swiftaid won't handle that automatically. You'll need to collect the required Gift Aid declaration yourself — typically through your registration form — asking the member to confirm they are a UK taxpayer and consent to Gift Aid being claimed. This is standard practice, but it does mean you'll need to manage the HMRC claim for that portion separately.

Like all good things, there are some practical considerations:

Donations with Teamo work with one-off payment products. They don't currently work with rolling subscriptions or instalment plans. If your club uses instalments for membership and wants to add donations, you'll need to manage the Gift Aid compliance side yourself and add any eligibility questions to your registration forms.

The donor must be a UK taxpayer. Gift Aid can only be claimed when the donor has paid enough Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax to cover the claim. If they haven't, they're responsible for the difference — so it's important that the Gift Aid declaration wording is clear (Swiftaid handles this, thankfully).

Keep it separate if you're a CASC. We've said it before, but it bears repeating. If you're a CASC, the donation must be a distinct, voluntary payment. Don't try to bundle it into your membership. HMRC will not be impressed, and "we didn't know" is not a defence they tend to accept with a warm smile.

If your club isn't currently a charity or a CASC, you can still collect donations through Teamo — you just won't be able to claim Gift Aid on them.

But here's the thing: registering as a CASC is specifically designed for clubs like yours. It's less regulatory overhead than becoming a charity, and it unlocks Gift Aid on donations, business rates relief, and certain corporation tax exemptions. If your club is open to the community, promotes participation in a recognised sport, and keeps its fees accessible, you're probably already meeting most of the criteria.

It's worth a conversation with your committee. The Sport and Recreation Alliance runs cascinfo.co.uk with guidance on the whole process.

Donations aren't just for big charities with glossy campaigns and celebrity ambassadors. They're for your Saturday morning under-9s. They're for the parent who volunteers six hours every weekend and never asks for a penny. They're for the kid whose family can't quite stretch to the full membership fee.

With Teamo, you can set up donation products in minutes, present them naturally at checkout, offer donors the chance to support causes they care about, and let Swiftaid handle the Gift Aid so you don't have to.

It's not complicated. It's not scary. And it might just be the easiest money your club ever raised.

Want to set up donations for your club? Head to your Teamo dashboard or get in touch with our team — we'll have you up and running before your next committee meeting.

• HMRC: Gift Aid — what donations charities and CASCs can claim on — gov.uk/guidance/gift-aid-what-donations-charities-and-cascs-can-claim-on
• HMRC: Community Amateur Sports Clubs — detailed guidance notes — gov.uk/government/publications/community-amateur-sports-clubs-detailed-guidance-notes
• HMRC: Chapter 3 — Gift Aid (detailed guidance) — gov.uk/government/publications/charities-detailed-guidance-notes/chapter-3-gift-aid
• HMRC: Claiming Gift Aid as a charity or CASC — gov.uk/claim-gift-aid/what-you-can-claim-it-on
• HMRC: HS342 — Charitable giving (self-assessment helpsheet) — gov.uk/government/publications/charitable-giving-hs342-self-assessment-helpsheet
• cascinfo.co.uk — Information service for CASCs maintained by the Sport and Recreation Alliance — cascinfo.co.uk
• Swiftaid — Gift Aid made easy — swiftaid.co.uk
• Charity Tax Group: Membership subscriptions and Gift Aid — charitytaxgroup.org.uk/tax/donations/gift-aid/membership-subscriptions

This blog is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Clubs should seek professional advice before making Gift Aid claims or changing their constitutional documents.