News - Small Business Insider

Launch of new lifestyle fundraising App Chatraise helping turn hobbies into fundraising events

Posted on July 19, 2019 Written by Administrator

A new app that allows like-minded people in the same area to organise charity fundraising events based on their hobbies launches the UK this week (18th of July).

Incorporating elements of JustGiving and Meetup, Chatraise is a community platform that helps users looking to turn their hobbies into fundraising events – whether it’s by setting up an event or joining an existing one. Chatraise connects those who want to raise money with those who are looking for fun activities to take part that also helps their favourite charities.

The platform allows users to explore and join fundraising experiences that fit their lifestyle, including activities they may have always wanted to try.

Founder Emmanuel Linardatos refers to this as Lifestyle Fundraising® – the process of raising money for charity through everyday activities. Linardatos was inspired to create the platform after finding a lack of variety in charity events, with the majority catering to a select few interests.

“Fundraising is currently dominated by one-off events or challenges such as skydiving, distance runs and exotic treks,” explained Linardatos. “As these events don’t fit everyone’s lifestyle, they discourage many people from raising money for good causes.

“Those who like to raise money through these types of events also struggle to reach their target. This makes sense, considering that they’re asking people to sponsor them without giving them the chance to be part of the experience. Only the fundraiser has the fun.”

This perceived lack of diversity in donor-led fundraising events limits the potential income of the charitable sector and its ability to solve big issues.

“Chatraise brings people together to make friends, have fun, and change the world in the process.”

Chatraise allows fundraisers to create almost any type of event to raise funds for a chosen charity. These can include yoga sessions, workshops, short runs, or even music festivals. Other users in their area are then able to browse events on the platform and donate to the charity in order to join them. The platform connects those who want to raise money with those who are looking for fun activities to take part that also helps their favourite charities.

Last year, UK charities received more than £10bn^[i] from individual donors. However, as Linardatos notes, while this number is massive, it does not come close to solving the issues that charities are trying to tackle.

He believes that the UK launch of Chatraise, which also coincides with an equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, will help to kickstart a global Lifestyle Fundraising® movement.

“Individual fundraising and donations play the most important role for most charities,” he said. ”So, if we want to seriously address issues that we care about, individual fundraising should get the attention it deserves.”

Linardatos added: “Individuals should not have to go out of their way to fundraise or make a donation. The fundraising sector should put the donor first by making it as easy as possible to create and join genuinely fun activities that fit into many different lifestyles, rather than those happy to go for a run or jump out of a plane!”.

Following the successful soft-launch of its pilot app, Chatraise will launch in the UK an^[ii]d Switzerland with more than 100,000 charities on the 4th of July.

Chatraise was founded in 2017 by Emmanuel Linardatos, a Lancaster University business graduate and COO of Linardatos Publishers for six years. He helped to turn the publishing company to profitability and make it the sector’s second-biggest firm in less than two years.

About Chatraise

Chatraise is a Lifestyle Fundraising platform which combines JustGiving and Meetup in one app, allowing its users to create and join events based on the activities they love.

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Tweets by chatraise

https://www.instagram.com/chatraise/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/linardatos/

www.crowdcube.com/chatraise

Citations

https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf-uk-giving-2019-report-an-overview-of-charitable-giving-in-the-uk.pdf

Expenses pitfalls to avoid when completing your businesses taxes

Posted on July 18, 2019 Written by Administrator

The general rule that says you can claim all expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of your business looks as if it should be simple apply, but the reality is more complicated.

Let me share a sample of the surprising things your business cannot tax deduct.

Sponsorship

Sponsoring an event is an area that might surprise you. HMRC will disallow the cost if they can show that perhaps the sporting field you are sponsoring is a director’s, partner’s or proprietor’s regular hobby or if the party being sponsored is a relative of the business owner, or if there is no proposed or actual return on investment from the sponsorship.

So, the trick here is to ensure that the sponsorship deal is structured correctly and there is a clear commercial benefit for your business.

Travel

Let’s assume that you operate as a self-employed doctor or sole trader rather than limited company. You have a home-based office. You travel to see different patients or clients on a regular basis. Your journey starts from your office (at home) and includes a few itinerant travels from one client to the other client. Can you claim the full travel expenses? Logic will tell us that yes. However, the rules deem the travel from your home office to patients / clients as ordinary commuting and therefore not tax deductible.

Client Entertainment

As part of your sales and marketing, you decide to take clients to a relaxed restaurant to discuss new business. The purpose is to negotiate and generate new business. The income will be taxed so the expenses should be ok to put through the business, right? Unfortunately, the rules specifically disallow these expenses to be claimed against tax. Part of the reason behind this is that you could have had the same conversation over a cup of tea in the office, plus there is an element of personal benefit in the entertainment.

Promotional Gifts

It’s true that nothing ever happens in business until a product or a service is promoted and sold. And when it’s sold at a profit, tax gets collected accordingly. However, if you promote your business by spending too much money on promotional gifts to customers and the gifts cost more than £50 per customer, you won’t be able to deduct these costs against your income. Even where the gift cost £50 or less, make sure it carries a conspicuous advert for your business.

Clothes for Work

Imagine you’re a barrister and you’ve purchase your gown to be worn in court. You don’t wear this gown in public. Can you go ahead and claim the cost of the gown against your tax? Not according to the famous tax case of Mallalieu v Drummond which established that “no deduction is available from trading profits for the costs of clothing which forms part of an ‘everyday’ wardrobe. This remains so even where the taxpayer can show that they only wear such clothing in the course of their profession.”

However, some protective and work clothing with logos and other business branding are claimable. If in doubt, speak with a tax accountant.

Staff Reward via Trust

Your staff are well engaged within your business and you want to reward them. You decide to make payment into a Trust to demonstrate that the money has been earmarked for them and waiting to be paid when they hit their targets.

As the money has been paid out of your bank account to the Trust, can you claim it as a legitimate business or staff expenses? Unfortunately, not. Because of a specific tax avoidance rule, this legitimate expense cannot be claimed.

Parking Fines

Your business is delivering some items to a customer. The driver parks for a few minutes and get a parking ticket. Surely the reason for the fine is because of business activity so it should fall under the wholly and exclusive for the purpose of business rule? Not quite. Fines incurred for breaking the rules are disallowed.

Legal Expenses

Not all legal costs are tax deductible. For example, fees in connection with the purchase of a business premises or investing in shares are disallowed.

In addition, fees that have both personal and business elements may fail the wholly and exclusive test. And legal costs associated with breaking the law are also disallowed. For example, where you’ve got a parking fine and you decide to call your lawyer to defend the case and you lose, you won’t be able to claim the legal fees.

Wages to Spouse or Kids

A great way to keep more of your cash within the family is to employ your spouse and kids. And there is nothing wrong with this plan. However, where you pay family members over and above the market rate, where they don’t actually perform any task for the business or where you’ve structured this working arrangement incorrectly with no evidence or paperwork to back up your plan, HMRC will not allow their salaries to be put through the business. Do take care with this as it’s currently a hot spot for HMRC enquiries.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Amponsah CTA FCCA is an award-winning chartered tax adviser and accountant who has advises business owners on entrepreneurial tax reliefs. Jonathan is the founder and CEO of The Tax Guys. www.thetaxguys.co.uk

Tips for making an impact as a small food or drinks brand

Posted on July 15, 2019 Written by Administrator

It can be tough for small businesses in a competitive sector such as food and drink. After all they simply don’t have the resources of their large established competitors.

So, the questions are: How does a new food or drinks brand get products onto the shelves of big supermarkets without a proven track record? How do they compete with the marketing clout of popular high street brands with little money? Or to put it another way how can a small brand punch above its weight and succeed in getting listed?

Despite the many hurdles, small businesses, young brands, and new products can make an impact. I’ve been successful myself with a number of once-unknown brands and products. Let me share some tips based on what I’ve learned in the process.

Be bold

When you’re leading a small company, it’s understandable to think, for example, that supermarkets won’t be interested in stocking your new brand. You might be surprised! The only way to find out is to engage them with a strong pitch and an open mind.

When I wrote to Jason Gissing, one of the founders of Ocado, to introduce Gusto. I was a little surprised when he agreed to meet so I could show him the range. It turned out that he loved our brand and ethos and helped us.

As a small brand it’s easy to get lost in the noise. Finding influential advocates really helps. LinkedIn is a goldmine for key industry contacts, as are in-person networking events. Finding one open-minded person who’s influential in the organisation, could help you enormously.

Follow the retail seasons

The popularity of many food and drink products has seasonal fluctuations. We launched three drinks last April in preparation for summer and learned the hard way that the summer buying window starts around September/October and extends as far as March.

It’s crucial to know all the cut-off dates for retail seasons and offer your products e.g.to retail and restaurant chains well ahead of the cut-off date. Ideally, you’ll have decided your seasonal ranges a year in advance so you can also get a head start on marketing.

Prepare for launch

To succeed, your new product obviously needs to taste good, look appealing, and be sold effectively. All three must be up to scratch. Better to delay a launch rather than push a product with bland packaging, a hastily pulled together sales strategy, or a taste that isn’t quite perfect.

A misjudged sales strategy will scupper your crucial launch and the first stage of growth, putting off potential retailers, investors, and partners who may doubt your abilities and your product’s mass appeal. Getting the taste, texture, or appearance of your product wrong, or indeed using poor branding, will be hard to recover from.

Make sure you get all three aspects ready and as you want them to be.

Work to your vision

If you design a product you feel is simply missing from the market, it’s best to create it in your vision. Chances are that if you love it, many others will too.

We created Gusto because there were no natural, organic, and Fairtrade drinks out there, and we wanted one to drink regularly! So, rather than using focus groups or flavour houses, we set out to make the taste we wanted, by using only the ingredients we wanted to consume. Likewise, we made sure the design and branding resonated with us. Thankfully, it’s struck a chord with many others.

Sticking to your guns is also the best way to bring out a genuinely new and unique product. And if you really love your idea, you won’t get tired of trying to share it widely. This will make your advertising more genuine and enthuse customers.

Make sure you’re truly happy with your products and brand from the get-go.

Act with patience

Good opportunities can often take a frustratingly long time to come to fruition. We’ve had plenty of conversations with retailers and restaurants that have lasted more than a year before they agreed to stock Gusto. It was certainly worth the effort though. If you think the opportunity is an important one and the retailer hasn’t closed the door, don’t throw in the towel.

In general, strong sustainable brands with a broad customer base take time to build. So, seek to win over one shop, one café, one bar at a time. There is no silver bullet, just time and persistence.

Clarify your brand values

Every business is faced with an array of decisions, some of which can also challenge your ethics and values. Having clearly defined brand values helps a brand navigate their decisions and remain consistent. So, it’s best to incorporate your own ethos into your brand and stay true to it. Will you choose cheap or Fairtrade ingredients? Go organic or not? Will you add sugar and preservatives or tweak the recipe? Will your packaging be recyclable?

Clearly big businesses have advantages over small and new would-be competitors. However, if you act boldly and use these tips you might be pleasantly surprised by your success. I wish you all good fortune.

About the Authors

Craig Sams and William Fugard are co-founders of Gusto, the world’s first natural, organic, and Fairtrade energy drink.

Craig Sams is also the co-founder of Green & Black’s luxury chocolate, and Whole Earth Foods.

Gusto is available from over 600 outlets, sold in eight countries and distributed by 20 UK Wholesalers. Gusto is stocked by Ocado, Whole Foods Market, The Waldorf Hilton, Sourced Market, Eat17, Tate Modern, SKY TV head offices & Chiquito restaurants. Gusto Organic was the official soft drinks sponsor for 2018 & 2019 Tour of Britain Pro Cycle race, and we directly market with Craft Clubs through their 28,000 monthly Gin subscription boxes.

Gusto Organic: https://drinkgusto.com/

Crowdfunding: https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/gusto-organic/pitches/Z1n13b

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GustoOrganic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gustoorganic/