Gift in kind guide

Why do we need your help?

Our mission is to grant a wish for every eligible child living with a critical condition in the UK. Right now, we aren’t reaching every child that needs us, but your Gift In Kind donations will enable us to drive down our increasing wish granting costs, and grant more magical wishes for the children that need us.

By offering your baking services to make a princess cake or your limousine company for our VIP wishes, you will not only create magic for one child, but allow us to save cost and grant more life-changing wishes for more incredibly powerful, strong and deserving children. 

What are gifts in kind?

Gifts in kind are donations of goods, services, and skills, donated free of charge or at a discounted rate. They can be anything from tickets to a concert to children’s entertainers, brand new toys or princess outfits!

Our quality control framework:

Our wish children’s safety and happiness is at the heart of everything we do, therefore we have developed a quality control framework, which allows us to seek and grow gifts in kind without compromising the quality of the wish. When submitting a donation, depending on your gift, you may be asked to share the following documentation with us:

• Proof of being a registered company/sole trader/charity - Any persons providing services on a wish must be government registered with Companies House or HMRC and provide us with their unique 10-digit tax reference or charity number.
• Public Liability Insurance - Any tradesperson, venue etc. must have public liability insurance and provide us with a copy of their certificate.
• Hygiene Certificate - Any catering/cake supplied must hold a food hygiene rating with the Foods Standards Agency and can provide a list of all ingredients to comply with allergens, upon request.
• Evidence of the normal cost of your gift - In order for us to report on your donation for any audit purposes, we just need written confirmation from yourselves of how much you would normally charge for the goods or services that you are happy to offer to Make-A-Wish UK, and then how much you will be charging us for these goods or services please (just written in an email is fine, and if you are not charging Make-A-Wish UK anything for your gift, please state that after telling us the normal costs).
• A link to testimonials/reviews of your gift - This will help us describe your gift and its impact in more detail, and match it with an appropriate wish child.

Further documentation such as a DBS certificate or business vehicle insurance certificate may also be required if you're directly involved in granting a wish for one of our children.

What we can’t accept

We can't accept the following offers at this time: private lease properties, motor experiences in a private/personal vehicle, or airline miles/points. If you're donating an item, we require it to be brand new and in its original packaging. We're also currently unable to arrange collections of gifts in kind and therefore, won’t be able to accept your kind gift if it cannot be delivered to us.

What happens to your gift in kind donation?

Click the links below to read about some of the wishes that came true through gifts in kind from generous people like yourself.