​Contactless payments are the new future for charities

Contactless charity boxes are set to replace traditional cash fundraising after a successful trial saw donations from the public soar.

Having no change will no longer be an excuse as the technology utilises the same point-of-sale systems used by credit and debit cards.

It could be the answer charities have been looking for as a recent trial undertaken by organisations including Oxfam and NSPCC gave three time more than they would have had they donated cash.

Barclaycard, which developed the hi-tech donation boxes, said contactless spending grew by 166% last year and more than half of adults now make a transaction with a contactless card at least once a month.

According to YouGov research commissioned by the company, one in seven people have admitted to walking away from a donation because they did not carry cash on them. Barclaycard said the technology could earn charities an extra £80m a year.

According the the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), charitable donations in the UK fell by £500 million in 2015.

Cash now accounts for less than half of all transactions in the UK and is expected to fall to a quarter by 2025 amid the rise of mobile payments and contactless cards, as well as a decline in bank branches and cash machines.

Chris Allwood of the 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.”

Megan Johnston, a fundraiser at the NSPCC, said: “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.”