FAQs

We aim to provide a comprehensive education in a quality setting to as many children as possible. Each school will be set up according to local requirements and available space. Usually, schools will have several classrooms, a library and play areas, and may also have a computer room and science lab.

The number of children who can attend will vary depending on the size of the school, and they may be from nursery age to older teenagers. The idea is that every school will be able to expand, so that over the years, many generations of children can get an education.

Yes, you can set up a monthly Direct Debit. This is the most efficient way to support Penny Appeal as it reduces the cost of administration. Regular monthly commitments allow us to plan ahead and ensure we have a reliable source of income to provide aid.

It really helps us if you can Gift Aid your sponsorship or donation – it increases the value of your donation by 25%. If you are a UK taxpayer, selecting to 'Gift Aid' your donation (either by checking the box online or ticking the box on a paper donation form) will make it worth more to us at no extra cost to you.

In order for Penny Appeal to reclaim the tax you have paid on your donations, you must have paid income or capital gains tax (in the UK) equal to the tax that will be claimed by all the charities that you donate to (currently 25p for every £1 you give) in the same tax year. 

The tax reclaimed will be used to help fund the administration costs of the charity so that more of your actual donation can go directly to those in need. 

Gift Aid can be added to your donation if you are donating your own money. We regret that Gift Aid cannot be reclaimed if you are paying donations that you collected from others, even if everyone was a UK taxpayer. Neither can it be reclaimed on donations made by companies. Other taxes such as VAT and council tax do not qualify. Gift Aid cannot be claimed on payments for any ticketed events.

Please notify us if you are no longer eligible, wish to cancel this declaration, change your name or home address or if you no longer pay sufficient tax on your income and/or capital gains. 

By ticking the box you agree that you are eligible to claim Gift Aid as explained above and that we can treat this donation, any donations made in the last 4 years, and future donations as Gift Aid, and that you understand that if you pay less income tax and/or capital gains tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all your donations in that tax year, it is your responsibility to pay any difference.

Please get in touch with us before cancelling your monthly payment as we could reduce the amount so that you can still help us provide life-saving aid. It also helps if you tell us first so that we can update our records.

We only use secure systems with banking standard safety features to make sure that your payment and financial data cannot be compromised. All online payments are securely processed via KeyIVR Ltd, PayPal or SmartDebit, and no financial data is retained on our servers.

An important part of the Education First appeal, our ‘Build a School a Year’ scheme allows us to bring you together with other donors to form a ‘monthly committee’, each of you making monthly donations of £60 for the duration of a year - your collective contributions will amount to the cost of an entire school!

Our schools cost approximately £15,000. We always provide a cost breakdown of the school in your final report.

School construction runs from January – December each year. If you begin donations between January - November, we will add your contributions to the existing cycle of donations. We always ensure our Monthly Committee projects are scalable, which gives us the option of enhancing the School along the way. We check in with our overseas partner as the year goes on, and any additional funds will be utilised in the most beneficial way – for example, additional desks, supplies, stationary and educational materials. If you are considering donating to the scheme therefore, there is no need to wait until the start of the year as all contributions will make a huge difference to the beneficiaries! Any donations received in December will go towards the following years' school.

Locations are selected on a ‘Where Most Needed’ basis by our International Programmes team alongside our trusted overseas partners. We will confirm the location of your school including the district and country soon after your first donation has been received. Please note, in line with our Safeguarding Policy, we do not provide you with the village name.

Yes, you will receive updates over the course of the year. Please see the approximate timeline below.

 Progress updates will include construction updates and/or images. 

Your Project Completion Report will include a full account of your project from start to finish, including images of the beneficiaries and very often a message from the Village Leader and/or local people. 

As previously noted, if you begin donations January-November you will be included in the committee for that year and will receive all up to date information upon starting your donations. 

We always encourage donors to commit to 1 full year of donations if possible, as you will be part of a Monthly Committee, and each contribution is therefore important. We do however understand that people’s situations change, so if you find yourself in a position where you are not able to continue with payments, we ask that you call our Customer Care Team. It is possible for us to reduce the monthly amount so that you can still help us provide life-saving aid, or of course, we can simply update our records if you wish to fully stop payments.

If you are happy to continue supporting the appeal after your first year of payments, you do not need to take any action – donations will continue automatically and we will send you all the information you need regarding your next School.

Please note, if you wish to stop your donations after 12 months, it is your responsibility to cancel your Direct Debit.