Online Donations and Announcements Service

At R. Locke and Son, we understand that families often prefer to nominate a charity that holds meaning to them, for friends and family to donate to in place of, or in addition to, sending flowers.

At the start of the Covid-19 lockdowns we introduced an online donations collection service via our website. This makes it much easier for friends and family to pledge in memory of a loved one, especially if they are unable to attend the funeral. With each announcement, you will find full funeral details and any preferences from the family for donations.

Donations can be made through the Announcements and Donations page of our website. When making a donation, you also have the option to also leave a message of condolence on the individual person’s announcement page. The announcements page can include a significant photo alongside full details of funeral arrangements and a few words about the life being mourned and celebrated. Families are able to look and see the thoughtful messages left as well as see how much money has been donated at any time of the day.

Unlike many online donation collection sites, we do not deduct credit card charges or transaction fees from your donations. Indeed, because we believe so strongly that every penny that is generously donated in the memory of a loved one should go to the charity, we pay the credit card charges and transactions fees ourselves. We also provide an option to add ‘Gift Aid’, again without taking a commission fee so that your full pledged donation and Gift Aid is passed to the charity. Before Covid, Gift Aid was difficult to collect in cash donations whereas now we have the online system, approximately 40% of donations received have Gift Aid added to them.

Gift Aid is the UK Government scheme which enables registered charities to reclaim an extra 25p tax on every £1 donation made by a UK taxpayer, effectively increasing the amount of the donation. Simply complete the donation form on the individual funeral announcement and click ‘Add Gift Aid’.

Since we started offering this service, many local and national charities have already benefited and in the last 12 months we have collected £140,926.65. For these charities over £11, 078.52 of Gift Aid has been able to be claimed, thanks to the generosity of the families, friends and communities who choose to donate in memory of someone they love.

Please feel free to call us for a chat if you have any questions about donations, funerals or any aspect of funeral planning. You can visit our contact us page for telephone numbers of our Brailes, Wellesbourne and Kineton offices.