1. DEC Help
  2. Donations

Donations

How to Make a Donation

  • What's the best way to donate?

    The best way to donate to a DEC appeal is by Donating online. This is the fastest and safest method and will allow funds to be received by the DEC straight away.

    There are also lots of other ways to donate including: 

    • Phone - 01204 770822
    • JustGiving - https://www.justgiving.com/dec
    • Post (cheque, voucher etc)
    • CAF Charities Aid Foundation)
    • Paypal - https://www.paypal.com/uk/fundraiser/charity/40098

    For a full list visit http://www.dec.org.uk/many-ways-to-donate

    If you wish to make a corporate donation you can find details on how to do so at http://www.dec.org.uk/corporate-support

    If none of these above suits you, please get in touch and let us know how we can help.

  • Which address should I send donations to?

    All donations should be made payable to DEC **Name of Appeal** and posted with a completed postal donation form to: 

    • DEC **Name of Appeal**  
    • PO Box 999,
    • London,
    • EC3A 3AA

    It is, however, a lot easier to make a donation online and helps us to process donations faster.

  • Can I set up a Direct Debit / make a regular donation?

    Unfortunately we don't have an easy-to-use way to make regular payments such as by Direct Debit. This is because the DEC is a disaster response charity and our appeals are usually only open for six months after the disaster has occurred. Once an appeal has closed we stop accepting donations so a regular donation would no longer be suitable.

    If you want to make a regular payment we recommend you look at our member charities who all have ongoing fundraising programmes. Donating regularly to a member agency will mean that your donation will go towards longer term sustainable development. A list of our member agencies can be found by following this link: http://www.dec.org.uk/member-charities

    If you are particularly interested in supporting the DEC's ongoing work it is possible for us to accept regular payments by standing order. Any money received when no appeals are active will go towards the next appeal and towards the DEC's work as a whole.

    If you do want to set up a standing order please contact us with your name and address and we will send you a reference number and our bank details.

  • How do I donate by cheque?

    To send a donation through the post please download our postal donation form.

    All donations can be made payable to DEC **Name of Appeal** and sent to:

    DEC **Name of Appeal**

    PO Box 999,

    London,

    EC3A 3AA 

  • How do I make an anonymous donation?

    Anonymous donations can be made either by sending us a cheque or arranging a bank transfer.

  • There are no live appeals, can I still donate?

    When not running any appeals the DEC suspends most of its fundraising activity.

    If you want to donate toward a specific cause the best thing to do is to check the websites of our member charities to find a suitable appeal. You can find a list of our members by following this link.

    If you are particularly interested in contributing to the DEC's ongoing work you can still donate but the methods by which you can donate are limited to cheque or bank transfer. If donating by bank transfer please contact us first and we will send you a payment reference and our bank details. Please make cheques payable to DEC General Appeals and send to:

    DEC General Appeals
    PO Box 999,
    London,
    EC3A 3AA 

Your Donation

  • Did you receive my donation?

    DEC website or Paypal Donations

    If the donation has been successfully submitted a message is displayed stating: “The donation has been Received”. This is followed by an email sent to the email address provided confirming the status of the donation. If the email has not been received check junk folder/spam filter. The email can take around 3 hours to arrive, or longer depending on your email account. If after this time the confirmation has still not been received we can look into and confirm. Contact us here.

    Postal Donations

    All donations should be processed within 5-10 working days of receipt. If we are unable to process a donation we will send a letter.  If after this time a confirmation has not been received we can search for the donation using the details provided with the donation such as name and address. Contact us here.

    Phone Donations

    All donations should be processed within 5-10 working days of receipt. If we are unable to process a donation we will send a letter. Phone donations can take slightly longer when we have a really large appeal as they need to be transcribed before we can send receipts. If after an extended period of time a confirmation has not been received we can search for the donation using the phone number used to donate. Contact us here.

    SMS / Txt Donations

    A text message saying thank you for the donation should be received within 2-3 hours. If after this time a confirmation has not been received we can search for the donation using the mobile number. Contact us here.

    Over the counter (at the Bank / Post Office) or ATM Donations

    Its important to keep the stub of a paying in slip or a receipt for the payment. Local bank branches supporting the appeal are meant to send in paying in slips to the DEC so we have a record of the individual payments, however we often don't receive them. As the payments are paid to us in bulk without an individual breakdown it may be difficult for us to confirm payment. If we are sent proof of donation in the form of a receipt, paying in slip or bank statement then we can confirm the donation and send a thank you. Contact us here.

    Bank Transfer

    We'll acknowledge most donations once they have been received into our bank accounts, provided the Reference number we gave was used. Even then we'll do our best to acknowledge all other donations, unless otherwise requested. We need a few days for the transfer to take place and for us to send thank you confirmation. If a reasonable amount of time has elapsed with no confirmation we can chase up. Contact us here.

    Donation via another platform (e.g. JustGiving, CAF)

    Acknowledgement of payment should be received from the relevant platform. If not received we can search for the donation. Contact us here.

  • How will my donation be spent?

    Approximately 93% of what you donate is divided between our 14 member agencies. Of this amount, they can use up to 7% to cover their own management costs related to the appeal (this includes things such as overheads relating to staff working on the response and monitoring and evaluation of their programmes). The remainder will then go directly towards the response programme. Of this, 50% minimum will pay for supplying items such as medicines, water, food, hygiene items, temporary shelters, tarpaulins etc. The rest will cover costs such as transporting these materials, the costs of staff carrying out distributions or providing health care (the majority of whom are locals from the affected area), or communications costs to ensure good coordination and information sharing.

    Only around 7.3% of your donation (based on a five year rolling average) will be used to cover the DEC's wide-ranging costs incurred through running the appeal (advertising, fundraising costs such as the telephone donations systems, monitoring and evaluation of how funds are spent) although we do try our best to get as much as possible for free. We only spend what we absolutely need to run a successful appeal and we try and keep this as low as possible.

Problems with your donation

  • Why can't I find how to donate?

    The DEC only raises money during appeals (which last 6 months) so once an appeal closes we stop accepting donations. Find out which appeals are live at http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals

    Outside of appeal times you can still donate to our Emergency Fund which will help to fund our next appeal - https://donation.dec.org.uk/decemergencyfund#/

  • Do credit card companies charge money for donating to the DEC?

    Major UK credit card companies don’t charge the DEC or you for donations to our emergency appeals. So it shouldn’t cost you anything if you pay via credit card or by debit card directly from your account. If you are unsure, however, please check with your credit card issuer.

    Using some other payment channels you will incur a small charge - for example Paypal charge their standard rate for charities.

  • I live outside the UK, can I still donate?

    You can still donate even if you live overseas. The best way to donate to the DEC's appeal is by Donating online. This is the fastest and safest method and will allow funds to be received by the DEC straight away.

    Other methods can be found at http://www.dec.org.uk/many-ways-to-donate although not all of them are suitable for donations from outside the UK. If possible, we would appreciate you not sending a cheque from an overseas bank account as the costs of processing it are high. 

    If you wish to make a corporate donation you can find details on how to do so at http://www.dec.org.uk/corporate-support. 

    If none of these methods are suitable then please contact us and we can give you the details of our bank account for international donations.

  • Why aren’t your bank details on the website?

    We don’t put our bank details on our website because if people pay directly into our bank account it is much more difficult for us to trace the payment and account back to them.

     

    We have thousands of payments into the account each day and we only get a basic list of each amount and a name, with very few other details. This means that we can't send you a receipt or a thank you letter and if there are questions or problems about a donation it is very difficult for our finance team to locate the payment and deal with the query or even to tell if the donation has successfully been made.

     

    Further to this we are also concerned about the security of putting our bank details on the internet due to the possibility of fraudulent activity.

     

    There are numerous other ways in which payments can be made which can be found at https://www.dec.org.uk/many-ways-to-donate. If, however, a bank transfer is the only way in which you can donate then please contact us with your full name and address and we will send you our bank details along with a unique payment reference number which will assist in tracking your donation.

     

    If you wish to make a corporate donation you can find details of how to do so at http://www.dec.org.uk/corporate-support.

  • I have made a mistake with my donation on-line/text/ etc what shall I do?

    To help us trace the donation, we will require as much information as possible so we can see if it has been processed. We have many different ways to donate so in order to trace the donation please could you provide as much of the following information as possible:

    • Full name 
    • Address 
    • Email
    • Date of donation 
    • Amount donated 
    • Donation method
    • Reference number or copy of paying in slip or receipt if received

    If donation made by phone: the phone number used & the last four digits of the card used for payment
    If donation made by cheque: date the cheque was sent & the address it was sent to
    If donation made by text: the mobile number used
    If donation made by ATM: a receipt from the ATM or a copy of a bank statement showing the donation

    This may seem like a lot of information but, as we have thousands of donations each day during an appeal, it is necessary for us to be able track down one individual payment. If you give us as much information as you can hopefully we will be able to trace your donation in order to take any further action needed.

     

Refunds

  • When can I claim a refund?

    The DEC is happy to refund donations when;

    • There was an error in the donation
    • The donation was made for the wrong amount
    • A duplicate donation was made in error
    Refunds will be Given
    • If there was an overpayment as the result of a DEC error, e.g. the amount was transcribed incorrectly
    • If there was an overpayment as the result of the following common mistakes:
      • Incorrectly adding 00 for pence (e.g. making a £1000 donation for £10.00)
      • Incorrectly pressing the refresh button on the website.
    • If a telephone donation was made but, due to the delay in processing, an erroneous second donation was made in another way (evidence of the second donation being made must be provided)

    Refunds will not be Given

    • If a donation is made to an Appeal and you subsequently change your mind we cannot routinely make refunds because this exposes us to Money Laundering activities. You should not make a donation without first checking that you can afford it, however cases in which donations threaten hardship for the donor will be considered on a case by case basis.


    For instructions on how to claim a refund please go to How do I claim a refund?

  • How do I claim a refund?

    See When can I claim a refund? for details on when the DEC will and will not give refunds.

    You can request a refund by using our contact form. In the Type of Query box select My Donation then Request a Refund, then in the Description box add as much of the below information as possible.

    In order to process a refund we must first trace the original donation. To help us do this, we will require as much information as possible so we can see if it has been processed. We have many different ways to donate so in order to trace the donation please could you provide as much of the following information as possible:

    • Full name 
    • Address 
    • Email
    • Date of donation 
    • Amount donated 
    • Donation method
    • Reference number or copy of paying in slip or receipt if received

    If donation made by phone: the phone number used & the last four digits of the card used for payment
    If donation made by cheque: date the cheque was sent & the address it was sent to
    If donation made by text: the mobile number used
    If donation made by ATM: a receipt from the ATM or a copy of a bank statement showing the donation

    This may seem like a lot of information but, as we have thousands of donations each day during an appeal, it is necessary for us to be able track down one individual payment. If you give us as much information as you can we should be able to trace your donation and process the refund.

     

Terms & Conditions

  • Open Information Policy

    See the Open Information Policy page of our main website.

  • Privacy Policy and Data Protection

    See http://www.dec.org.uk/privacy-policy

  • Text Donations (SMS) terms and conditions
    • Our Privacy Policy can be read here https://www.dec.org.uk/article/privacy-policy 
    • The service is open to all residents of the UK (Excluding Manx and Jersey Telecom customers), You must be 16 or over and please ask the bill payer's permission.
      You can donate by texting a correct keyword to the number 70787. Keywords may vary between appeals, please ensure you are using a keyword for the current appeal and that appeal is active.  
    • Your text message entry will result in a £10 donation to the DEC Appeal for each successful text transaction.  
    • The following mobile network operators have waived their charges in order to allow the full Donation Value of the reply confirmation text message (described below) to go entirely to support the DEC: 3, O2, EE, Sky, Virgin and Vodafone. In addition, HMRC has confirmed that no VAT should be charged on these donations
    • As well as the relevant Donation Value, each text message will incur your standard network message charge (based on your service provider rates)

    • Please note that if you wish to make multiple £10 donations from the same mobile number there is a daily £40 limit.

    • If your keyword and short code are valid, and your text message is received within the specified times and dates, you will be charged the £10 donation via a bounce-back message.  

    • Texts to 70787 will cost your standard network rate 

    • The promoter of the service is the Disasters Emergency Committee.  
    • We may send outbound texts with links to update you on what your donations are doing to help. You can text STOP at any time to opt out of communications via Text.
    • If you have any problems you can call 0844 800 4884 calls to this number cost between 0p and 7per minute depending on your provider, alternatively you can email support@dec.org.uk 
    • The text service is provided by Fonix Mobile PLC. If you have any queries regarding the service, please contact Fonix at the following email address: care@fonix.com or write to Fonix Mobile PLC, 23 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BQ or call on the following Helpline Number: 0208 114 7001 (Monday to Friday 9:00 - 17:30)

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