Boosting fundraising results with card machines
Make-A-Wish UK is a charity dedicated to granting life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Children diagnosed with an illness miss out on being a child as lives are turned upside down. A child’s life shouldn’t be about illness, hospitals and diagnosis - it should be about wonder, joy and hope. That’s where we come in, we want to make their wishes come true. However, without the generosity of people’s donations, we can’t create these life-changing wishes. Put simply, fundraising is how we can continue to exist.
However, the difficult landscape in which charities operate has been widely reported, with stories highlighting the challenges the sector faces with fundraising. Charities are facing an ever-growing pressure on resources that are already stretched thinly, including shrinking staff numbers. The reduction in government funding has had a huge part to play in this.
A recent report by the House of Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee stated that children’s services in England are at breaking point and needed a £3.1bn minimum funding boost by 2025. While this figure makes the future of children’s charities in the UK seem bleak, charities can exist without government funding, as that’s exactly how Make-A-Wish UK survives.
Making fundraising easy
To date, Make-A-Wish UK has granted more than 13,000 wishes, and this is down to donations from the public, and the hard work of our dedicated volunteers. Our gala events are one of our major sources of fundraising, and are held throughout the year and attended by around 450 guests.
In the past, volunteers would ask for cash donations on the night from attendees which meant relying on the guests bringing money with them. Alternatively, we would follow up post-event to process any payments manually. Not only was this time-consuming and inefficient for volunteers, but it also meant we were storing attendees’ details on paper so we could follow up on the phone after the gala.
This then relied on us having the attendees' details noted down accurately to follow up on after the event. As a team at Make-A-Wish UK, we knew we could do something differently to help us raise money more effectively and efficiently.
This is where digital payment company Valitor came in. The payment process was streamlined by implementing payment terminals for our volunteers to use at any gala we were running. By using card machines, donations were taken more swiftly as attendees could simply hand over their card and punch in their pin code and be done in a matter of moments. In total, the volunteers saved a total of 20 hours in the week following our galas, which would have previously been spent on processing payments.
In addition to this, we’re no longer having to save attendees’ details on paper forms which could be lost, damaged or incorrectly filled in. By accepting payments via a card terminal, attendees have the reassurance and peace of mind that their personal details are secure.
Right card machine
When it comes to implementing card machines into a business, there are a few things that should be considered beforehand. Firstly, charities need to ensure they choose the right card machine. In our case, we knew a mobile terminal would be the most effective at our galas, as it meant our volunteers would be free to move around the venue and take donations at the tables, because they weren’t restricted to stay in one fixed spot.
We’d also recommend choosing a supplier where the terminals arrive already set up and are ready to go. Valitor offered us this and it made the implementation process a lot smoother and easier.
Since the implementation, we are now able to take the majority of payments at galas, there and then. In the first use alone, at our Spring Ball last year we were able to accept 78% of the payments on the night, which increased to 80% at our Winter Ball last November. Although this isn’t the only payment method we offer to attendees, as it’s much more seamless than accepting cash, our events are now much smoother which in itself increases support and encourages people to donate in a way that’s convenient to them without any stress.
Adopting technology
To achieve success as a charity, it’s important to take a step back and reassess if fundraising efforts are working effectively. Whilst our galas were a brilliant opportunity to meet attendees, and increase support and donations, the way we were accepting payments was an obstacle as it was a mostly paper-based process. By doing your research and listening to what volunteers and beneficiaries want, charities can adopt the technology that will encourage more participation, and not act as a barrier to engagement and donations.
This way of thinking is being recognised in the industry. A recent report from CAF revealed that 87% of charity leaders are investing in technological innovation to meet the evolving needs of their beneficiaries, which reflects a strong desire to plan ahead for the future. We’re living at a time where people are no longer carrying paper money and we’re rapidly moving towards a cashless society. It means a lot of charities have to think differently about how to raise money. Convenience is what society wants and that’s exactly what contactless payments provide.
Embracing this change now, and embracing this digital transformation will ensure charities can stay ahead and remain successful. Fundraising needs to be reinvented for the digital world to capitalise on the emerging revenue opportunities.
Compliance with regulation
Charities need to ensure they are compliant with the relevant regulations such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). PCI DSS is a global security initiative aimed at protecting cardholder details. This includes credit card numbers and personal data.
From our experience, we’d recommend taking the time to educate yourself and your staff and volunteers on the importance of being PCI compliant and to understand how your charity handles data as it flows through the payment network. By doing so, you can ensure the card payments you handle are dealt with safely and securely, protecting you and your donors.
Looking to the future, Make-A-Wish UK is aiming to grant as many wishes as possible. We’re also looking to increase our reach in the UK and part of this includes raising as much money as possible. Our partnership with Valitor is currently helping with this, as we are able to provide our volunteers with card terminals to make our events seamless and donations a quick and effortless process.
As a wider strategy for us as a charity, we are researching how illness and wishes impact not only the children but the families too. We realise that parents and carers have to spend time away from home to be with their children in the hospital and realise this can have an impact on their wellbeing too. This research will help us reach more children who would benefit from their One True Wish being made a life-changing reality.
Thus we really do need to maximise the potential of our fundraising events for raising money on the night. The more attendees we can attract to our events the more card terminals there will be to accommodate them.
