International donations

Whisper has a very international donor base. Information about tax-deductibility of donations and legacies in different countries can be found here: https://www.transnationalgiving.eu/country-profiles and the discussions of international charity law here: https://www.cof.org/country-notes may also be useful.

There is a Europe-wide donation facility here: https://donate.giving.eu/page/home although when I last checked with CAF there was a £500 setup fee.

International matched giving

In some countries, donations to foreign charities are not tax-deductible, making it harder for Whisper to raise funds. A simple, cheap solution is international matched giving. A donor in the UK agrees to make donations to Whisper that match donations made to one or more specific charities based in the country concerned.

Australia

We tried to open an account with Global Development Group, a large Australian DAF, but they wanted us to raise a minimum of AUD 50K annually, which we could probably do but not from a standing start. They offer fundraising pages indirectly through Raisely https://raisely.com which works with their API. The 50K minimum is a recent requirement.

Austria

Austrians can receive 10% tax deduction on donations to EU/EEA charities on the official list of approved charities. Whisper CZ can apply to be on the list after running for 3 years.

Canada

Normally it’s not possible for Canadians to make tax-deductible donations to foreign charities but CAF Canada now offers a project-based service for 6.5% plus an initial CAD 750 organisational vetting fee. Minimum initial donation to open an account is CAD 5000.

China

Charity is reasonably popular in China but there have been some high-profile fundraising scandals and fundraising is now heavily regulated. The popular Chinese mobile payment systems Alipay and WeChat Pay don’t allow payments to charities. Since 2016, domestic Chinese charities have been required to raise online funds through 11 designated platforms of which Tencent Charity, Taobao Charity and Ant Financial are the 3 largest, accounting for over 90% of donations. As a foreign charity, Whisper could set up a Chinese branch which could accept donations but it would not be allowed to actively fundraise. A better approach might be for a Chinese supporter to set up a local independent charity that would support Whisper’s work.

Czech Republic

Normally, Czech donors should donate to Whisper through the platform darujme.cz or by direct bank transfer. On request, Whisper will issue a tax receipt at the end of the Czech financial year, which is the same as the calendar year. darujme.cz charges a 2% fee per donation, and an annual account fee.

It’s much less relevant now that Whisper has a Czech branch, but just to note that donations to foreign charities from the Czech Republic are now tax deductible. This document says that donations of at least CZK 1000 (or at least 2% of a person’s taxable income if lower) to EU or EEA charities are now tax deductible up to 15% of a person’s taxable income. The claim has to be made on the tax return and a decision is made by the tax authority on a case-by-case basis.

Donation by SMS has become popular¹ although Whisper CZ found the service Dárcovská DMS http://www.darcovskasms.cz to be uneconomic.

Denmark

There’s a Danish charity fundraising platform here.

Germany

Germans can donate tax-efficiently to EU/EEA charities, so they can donate to Whisper CZ.

Germans can also donate tax-efficiently through the Maecenata Foundation to charities that belong to Transnational Giving Europe (TGE), either by bank transfer or by card payment using the online form. The minimum donation for UK charities through this route is £250; this minimum is imposed at the UK end by CAF. Whisper is not currently a member of TGE but we could join when we have a significant German donor base.

Ireland

In principle Whisper UK could register with the Irish Charity Regulator as a foreign charity. It would involve the submission of an annual return, together with (optionally!) the UK Annual Report and Accounts, which could be submitted unmodified.

After two years, Whisper could qualify for the Charitable Donation Scheme the Irish equivalent of Gift Aid, which would be the main point of Irish registration, and which pays out at 45% of the net donation. However, to qualify for that scheme, for charities with a turnover of over €100K, Revenue (the Irish equivalent of HMRC) requires audited accounts, so until there’s a significant supporter base in Ireland, it’s not going to be economic. It’s not clear whether the audited accounts presented to Revenue would need to be presented in euros and/or have to be audited in Ireland; the answer is probably “no” to both those questions but it would need to be checked when the time comes. The Charitable Donation Scheme is limited to donors who give at least €250 to charity in a tax year, so many donations would not qualify.

Slovakia

Donations to charities are not tax deductible in Slovakia.

Sweden

Charity donations for relief of poverty are technically tax-deductible in Sweden (Whisper should qualify, even after Brexit) although the upper limit is very low, 25% tax deduction on up to SEK 1500 of donations. Whisper would have to apply to the Swedish tax authorities and would have to send a receipt for the donation to them. The small amounts involved mean that it may not be worth the admin time, for now.

Most people in Sweden use the Swish mobile payments system; Whisper would need to open a bank account with a Swedish bank to access Swish.

USA

Setting up a 501c3

If Whisper decides to set up a 501c3, these people https://instantnonprofit.com may be helpful. They charge $677 for setup and $400 annually to help with compliance.

GlobalGiving

GlobalGiving allows US donors to give to UK-based charities tax-efficiently. Sponsored runners etc in the USA can set up their own fundraising pages on the site in support of Whisper’s campaigns. GlobalGiving charges a 5% fee, plus 3% for the payment processor.

Benevity

Whisper is registered with Benevity, which runs a DAF (donor-advised fund) focussed on workplace giving and corporate giving in the USA, allowing tax-efficient donations. We occasionally receive donations through them. We don’t know their fees.

Below are three other organisations that could be useful in future when we have more donations from the USA:

Myriad USA

Their Friends Funds are cheaper than CAF America’s https://myriadusa.org/services/american-friends-funds/

Anglo-American Charity

The Anglo-American Charity provides a tax-efficient donation service for US residents who want to donate to UK charities and vice versa. They charge a sliding scale of fees starting at 4% and the minimum donation is $1000, with minimum fee $250 https://www.anglo-americancharity.org/how-to-give/. No setup costs are mentioned. If a donor wants to donate $5000 or more, consider opening a CAF America Donor Advised Fund instead (see below) because that will allow other people to donate to Whisper with no minimum donation.

CAF America

CAF America http://www.cafamerica.org provides a tax-efficient international donation service from US residents to charities in other countries. CAF America is a 501(c)(3), the US equivalent of a registered charity. Whisper would have to apply to be on their list of approved charities http://www.cafamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/CharityFAQ_May20.pdf and then reapply every 3 years. There would be an application fee of USD 500 unless a US resident donor has specifically asked to donate to Whisper. There are currently two ways to donate to Whisper through CAF America:

There is a searchable database https://cafa.iphiview.com/cafa/GiveNow/GiveNow/tabid/612/Default.aspx which can be used for one-off donations, referred to as Donor Advised Gifts. There is a minimum donation of USD 500 and an 8% fee would be deducted from these donations².
A Donor Advised Fund can be used to donate to Whisper and to other non-US charities. This differs from the charity giving accounts provided by CAF in the UK because in principle any US resident can donate to the fund. So a US friend of Whisper could open and administer a fund called “USA Friends of Whisper” and any US resident could then donate to it via the CAF America site. The minimum initial donation to set up the fund is USD5000 and a 5% admin fee is deducted from donations to the fund; there is no minimum donation. We would need to trust the person administering the account because in principle it could be used to donate to other charities. The donation page supports one-off and recurring donations. It’s a little clunky although reasonably mobile-friendly, and it can’t be customised; there’s an example here. ³.
A Friends Fund could be set up by Whisper at an initial cost of USD1000 and an annual fee of USD2500 https://cafamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Friends-Funds_CAF-America.pdf. There is a 3% fee for the first USD15000 and tiered charges of 5% to 1% thereafter. There is no minimum balance or minimum donation. The donation page can be customised. This option is uneconomic for Whisper until it’s receiving six figures annually from the US, for example if Whisper receives donations of USD15000 in a year then the annual charges are almost 20% of the amount donated, and at USD100K they would still be 5.5%. ⁴.