The GiftSpring tool started as a way to answer a simple question: why does processing Gift Aid for charities still take so much manual effort? This blog post shares what we learned while building a proof of concept for GiftSpring, why the problem is often really about issues with data, and what starts to change when you approach it differently.
Gift Aid for Charities: Teams Already Know the Problem
If you have spent any amount of time working with Gift Aid for charities, you’ll already know what the problem is.
Before we started the GiftSpring project, I spent time with several charity teams looking at how they process claims. What struck me wasn’t a lack of knowledge or capability, it was the amount of time spent doing careful, repetitive, manual work just to get to a point where people felt confident submitting a claim.
Different systems, messy exports, missing declarations, partial addresses, supporter records that almost match, but not quite and payment types that need checking.
And a lot of experienced people checking, rechecking, and second-guessing the data.
Gift Aid is incredibly valuable. But the process around it often feels harder than it should be.
That’s what led us to start the GiftSpring project.
Trying to solve a very real, very practical problem
We weren’t trying to build something clever or overly complex. The goal was simple, reduce the effort and help people feel more confident in what they’re claiming.
We wanted to take away some of the repetitive work, checking records, applying rules, spotting issues and instead make it clearer where people actually need to spend their time within the data.
So, we built a proof of concept using real charity data and incorporating operational processes.
The real problem isn’t Gift Aid, it’s the data
One of the key takeaways for me was that most Gift Aid challenges aren’t caused by a lack of understanding but by the condition of the data and the number of places it comes from.
And when you see how charities actually operate, that makes complete sense.
Different systems, built at different times, for different purposes. Data that’s been exported, reworked, re-uploaded. It naturally becomes fragmented.
You end up with things like “J Smith” in one system and “John Smith” in another, postcodes that are valid but formatted differently and declarations that exist, but don’t quite link to the donation.
One example is that charity were having a special event where people went as suprheroes and therefore a number of them put Superman as their name on the Gift Aid
For example, one charity ran a superhero-themed event, and several supporters entered “Superman” on their Gift Aid declarations. GiftSpring can flag these records for review while allowing legitimate names to pass through. Teams can then use their usual processes to identify the correct individual, although flagging Clark Kent may still be a challenge
None of this is unusual. It’s just how things evolve over time.
So instead of trying to force perfect data, we designed the tool around that reality.
GiftSpring brings data together, applies configurable rules, and surfaces what matters, while keeping people in control. It doesn’t make decisions blindly. It supports them.
What changed when we tested it
When we ran the proof of concept, we noticed the data was being processed much faster, but that wasn’t even the biggest benefit. What stood out was how much easier it became to see what was actually going on.
Instead of spending hours searching for issues, teams could immediately understand:
- which records looked claimable
- which were excluded
- where declarations were missing
- where data quality issues existed
- and which cases genuinely needed manual review
The tool could also suggest potential fixes, such as standardising addresses, correcting formatting, identifying likely matches, while still allowing teams to decide what to accept.
And that’s an important point. The tool doesn’t remove human judgement. It’s helps people focus where it matters most.
How the tool actually works
One thing I was quite conscious of when we started building this was not overcomplicating it.
In practice, the tool is fairly straightforward. It takes the data you already have, usually exports from existing systems and runs it through a structured checking process. Where more structured data is available, it can work with that too, but that’s not a requirement.
From there, it standardises the data, applies Gift Aid rules, checks for exclusions, and groups records into categories that are actually useful to work with.
What I found interesting wasn’t really the mechanics, it was what that clarity gives you.
You start to see patterns quite quickly. Missing declarations. Address issues. Payment types that don’t quite line up. Data that doesn’t match across systems. Rules being applied too late in the process.
Over time, that creates a much stronger foundation for reporting and visibility. At that point, Gift Aid stops feeling like a monthly clean-up exercise and starts to look more like a proper operational process.
Why we’re opening this up to more charities
One thing that’s been consistent across every organisation we’ve spoken to is how different things are. Different systems. Different processes. Different edge cases.
And that’s exactly why we want more charities to try the tool. We believe improving Gift Aid for charities starts with understanding how different organisations manage data, declarations and operational processes.
This isn’t about building a one-off solution for one organisation. It’s about creating something genuinely useful for the sector, shaped by the people and organisations across the sector.
A small process that points to something bigger
Gift Aid might seem like a relatively narrow operational challenge, but for me it highlights something much broader.
Across charities and public sector organisations, we keep seeing the same patterns:
- manual effort
- fragmented data and reporting
- duplicated checks
- and teams spending too much time validating information
What stood out was the value of clearer reporting, more trusted information, stronger governance, and practical tools in reducing operational effort without creating more complexity.
Interested in trying it?
We’re continuing to evolve the GiftSpring project and would love to work with more charities to shape it further.
It’s free to try.
If you’d like to explore whether it could help your organisation, or just want to talk through your current Gift Aid process, get in touch with Dominik Soanes or Ryan Preece at esynergy.
