Is your Charity Missing Out on "Touch and Go"?

There are many ways donors can give money to charities. The traditional way of using cash collection boxes is still very common at events, at your local chippy, news agents and butchers just to list a few.  You also see “charity muggers”, holding a cash collection bucket when we do our daily or weekly supermarket runs. 

Contactless was introduced to the UK ten years ago. It has been reported that more than half the transactions, up to the £30 spending limit, are made using some form of contactless payment. Also, there is Apple and Android pay available for smart phone users.

In 2016, Barclaycard started testing their lightweight portable box that looks similar to a cash donation box, but with a touch and go payment point built into it. According to Barclaycard, this was the first in the market to accept both Chip and PIN and contactless donations including those made by wearable and mobile devices.

How does this work? The card company or the bank will supply the charity with a box that will have the contactless technology embedded in the collection box. The charity will then need to decide the level of donation that will be collected each time a donor touches the contactless point. Ideally this amount should be set at a level that donors are willing to give. Charites should also factor in where these boxes are going to be placed. For example, if a volunteer is holding a collection box outside the local Tesco then it’s advisable to set the level at £1 for each “touch”.

This is the ideal time for charities, regardless of the size, to contact their bank and enquire into contactless collection boxes. Also, I am sure the regulators at Charity Commission will love the fact that your charity is reducing the risk of cash fraud substantially by using contactless payments. Every retail outlet is offering this service so it’s time charities embraced this “new tech” payment method too.

For more advice on how to adapt technology to improve your charity’s operations, contact our partner Suda Ratnam on 020 3146 1608 or suda.ratnam@raffingers.co.uk.

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On Thursday 9 November we’ll also be holding a free webinar for charities on how to prepare for GDPR. Your charity will most likely have to deal with sensitive donor information therefore this webinar is essential.