CRUK successfully trials cashless giving with corporate partner Bellway

Like many charities, CRUK (Cancer Research UK), is trialling cashless giving solutions to find new ways for supporters to donate.

Kristy Brown, Senior Giving Platforms Operations Executive, CRUK said: ‘We are seeing a major shift in giving and payment trends as donors move away from giving physical cash to cashless giving with contactless card payments and digital wallet payments using Apple Pay and Google Pay. The pandemic has rapidly increased this pace of change and we want to ensure that we keep up with this trend and meet our audience’s growing needs for cashless donation and giving options.’

CRUK corporate partner, Bellway, were keen to take part in a cashless giving trial for their employee fundraising activities and after testing out an alternative, they found they preferred the combination of a CollecTin More donation kit, which comes with an integrated SumUp card reader and tablet, along with access to the Give A Little app and software platform. Give A Little is the world’s only dedicated point of donation platform and enables charities to create customised fundraising campaigns, capture GiftAid and donor contact details, and manage the account with functions such as detailed reports.

Give A Little offers a flexible and customisable platform for cashless giving, which aligns with Cancer Research UK’s cashless strategy and expanding programme of cashless options.

Bellway are currently using 20 CollecTin More devices across 23 Bellway locations. A charity champion at each location is given volunteer access to the Give A Little account, with the central admin of the accounts managed by the CRUK head office team. Each of the Bellway teams is targeted with raising £1,000 in donations.

Rebecca Williamson, Bellway Partnership Manager, said: ‘The flexibility and portability of the CollecTin devices really suit Bellway as they’re able to use them for on-site fundraising activities and off-site events such as golf days. The Give A Little software is easy to use with attractive campaigns being created centrally at CRUK, where we send out weekly reports showing the charity champions how much they have raised. Any concerns around using new technology were allayed by a video that CRUK sent out with the devices that took charity champions through all the steps to set everything up and we have had really positive feedback as it has made collecting donations much easier. Bellway staff are already really familiar with making contactless payments and the fact that you don’t have to go through a website to donate streamlines the process.’

Kristy Brown added: ‘We find it really easy to create engaging campaigns running on the CollecTin More kits centrally through the Give A Little platform and like the fact that we can remotely manage the devices. We are keen to experiment more with campaigns in future as Give A Little allows us to manage as many devices and campaigns as we like, which is great as we roll out cashless giving across the wider organisation. The platform will allow us to create bespoke campaigns for our seasonal activities such as World Cancer Day, CRUK for Children & Young People, Stand Up To Cancer and the Bobby Moore Fund and then switch them on, on the relevant devices. We are really pleased with how the trial with Bellway is going - donation revenues are strong - and we look forward to extending the trial with more corporate partners and across other parts of the organisation, including our high-street retail shops.

On why CRUK would recommend the Give A Little point of donation platform, Kristy said: ‘Give A Little offers a flexible and customisable platform for cashless giving, which aligns with Cancer Research UK’s cashless strategy and expanding programme of cashless options. The opportunity to run multiple campaigns live simultaneously and link them to multiple channels and devices will allow our shop staff to react to seasonal sub-brand and campaign activity throughout the year and which will enhance their fundraising activities. We are looking forward to seeing how Give A Little’s user and reporting access structure can potentially match our fundraising structure more closely, allowing for wider use across the charity.’

And on the advice, she would give to other charities looking to start their cashless giving journey, Kristy added: ‘One option doesn’t fit all, so making sure you are aware what cashless options best match your audiences, how they can work alongside each other, talking to other charities about their approach and then utilising partners such as Give A Little who provide a range of giving options in an integrated dashboard is a sensible approach.’