A trial of contactless donations has led to an "overwhelmingly positive" response from the public and some charities have continued to use the boxes.
More than £20,000 was raised through contactless donations during a four-month trial in partnership with 11 national charities last year.
Barclaycard issued 100 lightweight donation boxes to charities including NSPCC, Oxfam and the Royal British Legion to use between September and December. Some charities have continued to use the boxes.
The boxes also accepted chip and pin donations so that charities could accept donations above the £30 contactless limit.
According to a survey of 2,000 carried out by YouGov 15 per cent of people have walked past a donation box because they are unable to give by card. Barclaycard says this means that charities are “missing out on more than £80m”.
Barclaycard provided the technology that allows charities to accept payments through the donation boxes.
Paulette Rowe, managing director of Barclaycard Payment Solutions, said: “We are proud to use our payments expertise once again to open up more opportunities for fundraising, and are excited to work with the charities to help them adapt the technology to best suit their needs.”
Payworks developed the contactless donation box app, and integrated payment functionality into the card reader. The card reader was provided by Miura and the box design was created by Sprout.
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) consulted on the trial. Chris Allwood, head of product development at CAF, said: “People in the UK donate around £10 billion to charity every year. However, a rapidly growing number of them can no longer make donations on the street when they feel inspired to do so because they have stopped carrying cash. This makes it vital that charities are able to accept payment by debit and credit card.”
Success for NSPCC
NSPCC used 10 boxes 40 times at events and for volunteer fundraisers collectors raising money in public spaces.
At an event at the Houses of Parliament the charity took a £1,000 donation using the device.
The charity preset the donations at £2, but donors were able to change it and the average donation was £3.07, not including the £1,000 donation, which the charity said is higher than the amount it gets from spare change.
Megan Johnston, senior fundraiser at NSPCC, said: “The feedback we received from the public was overwhelmingly positive. Previously, many people have said they would like to donate even though they no longer carry cash, so it was great to offer a cashless giving alternative through our hard working volunteers who are committed to our fight for every childhood.”
NSPCC has continued to use the boxes.
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