The UK government is encouraging a move to
charitable e-payments by delivering a call to action to banks and
ATM providers to help facilitate the option of automatic charitable
donations upon withdrawing money from ATMs.
Currently, charitable giving by cash is the
most popular method of donation with 50% of donors opting to choose
cash. A green paper on ‘giving’ released by British Prime
Minister David Cameron and his Tory/Lib-Dem government last month
signals a desire to replace such cash donations with e-payments as
“cash donations tend to be smaller and more irregular than methods
such as direct debit”.
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The UK government has voiced its excitement
about the potential that e-payments can bring to the charity sector
and cites a big opportunity in the area. 7% of donors chose to
donate online compared to 58% of adults who shop online.
Taking the lead from the Colombian system of
ATM giving, which allows customers to make a donation every time
they withdraw money, the green paper asks banks and ATM providers
to tell the government how this can be replicated in the UK.
Ron Delnevo, charirman of ATM trade association, ATMIA Europe,
and managing director of a UK independent ATM operator Bank
Machine claims in principle the proposal is a “good one”
but there must be a focus on allowing consumers using local ATMs to
donate to local charities.
“We would be delighted to work with LINK on encouraging the
whole industry to get behind this in a meaningful way, which offers
charitable donation as an option to interested consumers,” he
said.
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By GlobalDataDelnevo also points out that he hopes this initiative may lead
to the addition of other interesting function options to ATMs
in the future.
Research into consumer’s attitudes to donating
via ATMs will now have to be carried out to determine whether the
government’s vision will be realised, according to a spokesperson
for the UK Payments Council.
“The point has now been raised and we are
definitely happy to work with the government but it is now about
ascertaining whether there is that desire among UK consumers to
donate using ATMs,” said the same spokesperson.
“We want payments systems to reflect the needs
and requirements of users and if it is a requirement we will be
keen to implement.”
The ‘giving’ green paper cites the Pennies
Foundation, which has developed an ‘electronic charity box’
allowing consumers to ‘round-up’ their purchases at the
point-of-sale and donate spare change to various charities.
By pressing a button on a chip and PIN machine
or opting in online, consumers can choose to ‘round-up’ purchase
values using their credit and debit cards.
“Some UK businesses, such as Domino’s Pizza,
have already started working with the Pennies Foundation and we
want to see others following their lead,” said the government.
“During 2011 we will convene a working group
of businesses to discuss the roll-out of a ‘Round Pound’ initiative
in conjunction with the Pennies Foundation.”
Give Change Make Change (GCMC) is a similar
initiative that will launch next month with its first retailer, The
Hut Group. The project is centred on the concept of a ‘virtual
collection tin’, which allows consumers to ‘round-up’ their online
purchases and donate the spare change. Charities associated with
GCMC are Cancer Research UK, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), British Red
Cross and Great Ormond Street children’s hospital.
Speaking to CI in September, Sophie
High, senior project leader of the innovations team at Cancer
Research UK, said: “GCMC is about creating new consumer behaviours.
We have a vision of this becoming the norm and people should expect
to be able to write off their change, which is valueless to
them.
“The process is simple, convenient and easy to
understand which really comes into its own in the online
environment. Simplicity drove us there with the view that the
biggest opportunity in the long term was the online space.”
Cameron’s goal to increase charitable giving
is part of his ambition to create a Big Society. He describes this
vision as “creating a country in which people are more in control,
supported to pursue their collective and individual goals and are
less reliant upon the state.”
One of the ingredients of the government’s Big
Society is social action and it is under this heading whereby the
aim to encourage new resources into the charity sector “during
these times of austerity”.
