From corporate events to the London Marathon: How the Stroke Association is scaling its cashless giving with Give A Little

The challenge: Bridging the "cashless gap" for frontline teams and supporters

As public behaviour has shifted toward contactless payments, the Stroke Association faced a growing hurdle: supporters wanted to donate, but they rarely carried physical currency.

However, the "cashless gap" wasn't just a donor issue; it was a logistical one for the charity’s Locality Impact teams. These staff members work on the front line, visiting survivors and their families in their homes. Frequently, these families would express their gratitude by offering a donation on the spot. Because these teams are not equipped to handle or process physical money, they were often forced to decline these generous offers.

"The vision was about giving the Give A Little Champion app to staff that go into stroke survivors’ homes because they often get asked to make a donation and they can’t take cash. We find that this happens to 59% of staff who turn down donations as they don’t have the means," explains Paul Montgomery, the Stroke Association’s Fundraising Operations Lead

The charity needed a solution for both scenarios that was agile, scalable, and - most importantly - digital. They needed to move from a "cash-centric" model to a seamless "tap to donate" experience that empowered every member of the organisation to capture support safely and securely, whether at a corporate gala or in a supporter's living room.

The strategy: A multi-tool approach

The Stroke Association chose Give A Little because they could mix and match from a flexible range of products and services, ensuring they had the right tool for every scenario - from home visits to supporter-led fundraising and corporate events.

This served as an accessible and affordable "tap-to-donate" solution for a number of groups including the Locality Impact teams during home visits, corporate fundraising teams at events, and supporter-led fundraisers at mass participation events like the London Marathon.

Lydia Deane, Stroke Association’s Fundraising Operations Officer adds: "The Give A Little Champion App is the perfect solution for fundraisers who need a quick solution without having to worry about returning hardware and troubleshooting devices."

The charity is trialling the app with its Locality Impact team in Devon and results are positive so far so they plan to roll out to further areas in 2026.

For high-profile events where a larger, more prominent device is key, the charity invested in five CollecTin More contactless donation boxes. These were sourced from Give A Little’s device partner, CollecTin, to provide professional and recognisable donation points.

Separately, the charity added unique QR codes to their traditional collection buckets. These are sent out to volunteers and community fundraisers, allowing the organisation to track digital donations back to specific buckets and locations.

Lydia explains: “Adding QR codes to the buckets is a great way to increase visibility of Give A Little within the organisation and our volunteers and it has really surpassed my expectations of what I thought we would raise that way. It’s also really useful to track how much each QR code has raised.”

The Stroke Association has raised £14,606.90 since setting up with Give A Little. The average donation amount has been £27.25, boosted by corporate partner events and taking those events out of the mix, it’s still a very impressive £12.26.

The real-world supporter-led fundraising test

The true power of the Give A Little Champion App for supporter-led fundraising was proven on the ground by Lydia Deane, the Stroke Association’s Operations Officer. After years of trying to secure a spot in the famous ballot, Lydia finally landed a place in the London Marathon. Trailblazing how the Give A Little Champion App can be used for supporter-led fundraising, Lydia used the app to help her raise her £2,500 target in memory of her nana.

Because mass participation events like the London Marathon require high-level targets, fundraisers often need to go beyond just sharing a link. Lydia boosted her total by hosting her own community events, including weekly pub quizzes and karaoke nights. It was at a "tiny pub" near Nottingham where the Give A little Champion App truly shone.

"I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere near where I am with my fundraising target without the Give A Little Champion App... I was in a really tiny pub at my fundraising event, and nobody had cash. But as soon as I had the app, everyone was willing and happy to use it. I ended up raising over £800 from that one event using the app."

The app didn’t just help with planned gifts from friends; it captured spontaneous generosity from people who were moved by the cause in the moment.

"There were people who didn’t know the event was on, but they turned up to see what was going on and donated £50 because their dad had had a stroke. It was really good to capture those immediate donations. It worked consistently too on the night."

It’s not only Lydia who is using the Give A Little Champion App for the London Marathon. So far, 22 London Marathon runners have the app on their phones and six of them have started using it. Between them, they’ve taken 33 donations at an average of £12. 

Lydia’s verdict on why the Stroke Association chose Give A Little

Customisation and brand trust

"The Give A Little software is really customisable. You can brand it with your brand colours and your logo and any image that you like... we included the fundraising regulator logo on our images. It’s really easy to brand it up to your spec, so then everybody knows it’s a legit thing."

User experience for staff and donors

"It's so easy from a donor's perspective to go through the donation process and ask if the person wants to add Gift Aid, marketing consent or a receipt. And from a charity employee's perspective, again, it’s so easy. The reporting is really easy in the back office too - as soon as a donation is made, you press refresh and it’s already showing on the dashboard."

Setting Up Campaigns

"The way that Give A Little allows you to split and track your fundraising by campaigns is super easy to set up. It takes seconds. I had a request the other day with two months' notice to set up a campaign for an event - and I said it's already done!"

Lydia sums up: "Give A Little is so easy to use... everyone that has used the platform or the app has gone, 'Oh, that's so good. That's brilliant.' It meets the needs that have been identified by supporters as their behaviour is shifting towards cashless." 

Looking Ahead: The Stroke Association’s 2026 cashless fundraising vision

As the Stroke Association moves through 2026, the goal is to shift digital giving from a "specialised tool" to a standard part of every fundraising conversation. Building on the success of the corporate team’s events; the Devon Locality Impact trial and Lydia’s trailblazing marathon fundraising efforts, the charity plans to expand the use of the Give A Little Champion App across all scheduled events, including every marathon and half-marathon on their calendar.

Crucially, the organisation is focusing on the "human element" of tech adoption. The operations and support relations teams are being encouraged to proactively offer the app to supporters during their standard stewardship calls. By asking supporters if they’ve considered a cashless option, the Stroke Association aims to remove the "mystery" of the technology. As Lydia notes, the plan is to make the app a "normal" part of the toolkit so that no matter where a donor is - at a gala, on a doorstep, or at a finish line - they have a secure, effortless way to say "yes" to a donation.