Non-party campaigners: UK Parliamentary general elections

Valuing a donation where your organisation receives goods or services

As well as receiving donations of money, you may also receive donations of goods and services. If you receive goods or services free of charge, or at a non-commercial discount, you must ensure these are valued at a comparable market rate.

Non-commercial discounts are special discounts that your organisation, specifically, is given by suppliers. These are different to commercial discounts available to all customers, such as discounts for bulk orders or seasonal reductions. The donation regulations only apply to non-commercial discounts.

If you are given goods or services, this will count as a donation if:

• the market value of the goods or services, if given free of charge, exceeds £500 , or1
• the amount of the non-commercial discount exceeds £5002

The donation is the difference between the market value of what you receive and the amount (if any) you pay for it.3

As with all types of donations, you must also ensure any donation you accept over £500 is from a permissible donor.4

Valuing a donation where your organisation hosts an event or provides goods or services

If your organisation hosts an event, or provides goods or services, you must ensure these are also valued at a comparable market rate. Any money received over and above the market value for the costs of the event (or the goods or services) to your organisation, constitutes a donation.5

It is important you are aware of the market value of the goods and services you sell because if someone pays more than the market value, the difference between what they pay you and the market value will be a donation if this amount exceeds £500.6

This is because any additional payment will be received on non-commercial terms, and the laws on donations will apply. The market value, or commercial income, is not a donation.7

The value of any donation will be the amount of money over and above the market value of the costs of the event (or the goods or services) received by your organisation from each donor.

You should work out how much it costs the organisation for each person attending the event, or for each person receiving goods or services. Then, deduct this amount from what each person paid you to find the value of the donation. This will be a donation if this amount is more than £500.8

The guiding principle

The guiding principle is that, in all cases, you should make an honest and reasonable assessment of the market or commercial value of the goods or services you have received or provided.

If the exact or similar options of the item or services are available on the market, you should use the rates charged by other providers to guide you in making a valuation. For example, if the donor is a commercial provider, you should use the rates they charge other similar customers.

If there are no exact or similar options of the goods or services available on the market, you should base your assessment on the market rates of a reasonable equivalent. If you are still not sure how to value a particular donation, please contact us for advice.

You should keep a record of how you reached your valuation.

Selling exclusive services

When trying to ascertain the market value, you may also wish to consider the appropriate level in the market of what you are selling.

For example, in some instances it may be reasonable to use a higher end market valuation. This is especially the case where the services are exclusive and/or where you have a degree of monopoly in the market.