In the United Kingdom, a donor's tax relief flows back to the charity — automatically. Gift Aid USA brings that same mechanism to America, powered by behavioral science and §170(p) of the tax code.
Behavioral economics, tax policy and technology — to capitalize donations and catalyze impact.
Academic partner: UNICEF Lab Spain · Tech partner: Stockcrowd · Status: Field trial launching Q2 2027
Three post-pandemic trends converge: Americans increasingly prefer recurring gifts over one-time donations. Tax refund season has become the year's highest-engagement moment for giving. And more donors than ever understand behavioral nudges as tools for their own self-improvement — they want to pre-commit.
Gift Aid USA doesn't ask policymakers to change. It asks donors and nonprofits to act — using the law as it exists today.
HMRC data shows consistent, predictable adoption: once donors understand it, they use it. Once charities are equipped, they scale it.
£50M (1990) → £1.7B (2024). Thirty-four years of unbroken growth. Source: HM Revenue & Customs.
For over thirty years, British donors have been able to hand their tax relief directly to the causes they love.
When a UK taxpayer gives £100, the charity claims an extra £25 from HM Revenue & Customs. No extra cost to the donor. No paperwork burden. The state's incentive becomes the charity's income — built into the machinery of government itself.
In the United States, the equivalent value exists — the charitable deduction under Section 170 — but it stops with the donor. The nonprofit never sees it.
Gift Aid USA is the artisanal version of what the UK does systemically: same mechanism, activated by donors and nonprofits themselves — today, under existing law.
Rooted in Thaler & Benartzi's Save More Tomorrow: people commit more generously to their future selves than to their present ones. Gift Aid USA turns that insight into a second gift.
You donate to a nonprofit you love — and authorize a second, automatic gift of 15–35% of your donation (default: 20%). It mirrors the tax value your gift generates.
Your commitment is revocable at any moment, with one click. No lock-in, no fine print. Low risk is what makes high adoption possible.
At the emotional peak of tax season, the nonprofit collects your second gift directly. No intermediaries, no platform fees — full value, straight to the mission.
Move the sliders. This is what one decision, made once, does on May 15.
One signature. Zero extra decisions. Fully revocable.
"Gift Aid makes a significant difference to our ability to support more older people across our region. For charities like ours, that extra 25p on every pound transforms what we can achieve."
Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough · Verified via official communications
"Sue Ryder Care recovered £1 million in Gift Aid that would never have been reclaimed through traditional channels. That's 1,000 hours of care our donors didn't know they were funding."
Sue Ryder Care · HMRC case study (2007), still active
Gift Aid USA launches as a field experiment before it launches as a movement. Every claim we make in 2028 will trace to data we generate in 2027.
A pre-registered randomized controlled trial, developed with academic partners in behavioral science, testing the pre-commitment mechanism with real donors and real nonprofits.
May 15 is the coordinated collection moment — the operational heartbeat of Gift Aid USA. A single national date concentrates attention, simplifies operations for nonprofits, and gives the media a story worth telling every year.
Research integrity note: all performance figures cited on this page are UK figures from HMRC. U.S. results will be published from the trial — not before.
Only 501(c)(3) organizations registered with the IRS. Donors must be U.S. taxpayers. The second gift is collected via ACH direct charge on May 15.
The revocation is honored in full. The nonprofit does not charge. No dispute, no penalty. Revocability is the trust mechanism.
No. DAFs remain separate. Gift Aid USA is for direct donors. A donor can do both — DAF contributions for long-term giving, Gift Aid USA second gifts for immediate campaigns.
Yes. Donors can tag their first gift (and thus their second gift) to a specific program, fund, or campaign. Full donor intent controls both.
The nonprofit and donor agree at pre-commitment time. Standard ACH dispute protocols apply. If a donor contests the charge, the nonprofit must refund within 10 business days.
Varies by platform. Stripe integration: standard processing fees (2.2% + $0.30). Direct ACH: your bank's standard rates. Nonprofit receives full net of fees; we don't take margin on the second gift.
Yes. §170(p) OBBBA allows donors to authorize charitable organizations to collect the monetary value of their tax deduction. Binding written agreement required (digital signature accepted).
Yes, as of May 15. For your 2027 fiscal year, if collected on May 15, 2027, it counts as FY2027 revenue. Consult your accountant on timing per your fiscal year.
Phase 1 proves the mechanism works without changing a single law. Phase 2 uses that proof — plus three decades of UK precedent — to make it permanent.
Launch the Gift Aid USA MVP with pioneer nonprofits. Run the Give More Tomorrow trial. Demonstrate real adoption, no crowd-out, and clean operations — under existing §170(p) law, with no government dependency.
Take Year-1 data and the UK's £1.7B precedent to policymakers: let donors assign their §170(p) deduction to the nonprofit directly at filing. The government becomes the matching partner of every American donor.
Line — Charitable deduction assignment. Check here to assign the value of your §170(p) charitable deduction directly to the qualified organization(s) you supported this year.
This box does not exist yet. Everything on this page is how we earn it.
Gift Aid USA is the American expression of a family of initiatives built on one idea: fiscal incentives, redirected by donor choice, can become a permanent engine of generosity. UNICEF Lab Spain validates the behavioral science across cultures. Stockcrowd operates the infrastructure.
The Spanish pioneer testing Ulysses Pact pre-commitment with real donors. UNICEF Lab Spain measures donor psychology — insights directly inform Gift Aid USA design.
Applies Spanish behavioral findings to §170(p). Stockcrowd platform handles direct collection. Giving Tax Day (May 15) is the coordinated moment.
Tech infrastructure + transparent RCT results. Both available to other countries replicating Gift Aid model. Learnings flow backward: USA data feeds into Redona optimization.
We are assembling the founding coalition for the first Giving Tax Day — launching Q2 2027. There are three seats at this table.
Be among the first 8–12 organizations in the pilot. Direct collection, full control, and a national story your community will remember.
Next step: Apply by Dec 2026. We'll match you with a giving platform and train your team on mechanics.
Apply for pilot →One API integration: a pre-commitment checkbox and a May 15 ACH charge. Add a compounding layer to every donation in your system.
Technical specs: Stripe, Plaid, or ACH-native. Webhook on commitment, charge on May 15. Documentation available Q1 2027.
Request API docs →Co-author behavioral research with UNICEF Lab Spain. Full data transparency, published findings, and direct input on U.S. policy design.
Collaboration timeline: Study design Q1 2027, field trial Q2–Q4 2027, publication Q1–Q2 2028. Research collaborator and funder roles open.
Join the research →Or open a general conversation:
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