UK cash machines to get charity donation option

From next year Brits will be able to make charitable donations at cash machines thanks to an agreement forged by industry players and supported by the government.

The government floated the proposal in December in a "giving" green paper designed to promote a "culture of generosity" as part of PM David Cameron's big society agenda.

The idea appears to be popular, with a YouGov poll of 2094 adults for Link finding that 43% of those that use a cash machine at least once a fortnight would sometimes make a donation. Over a quarter of 18 to 24 year olds who use an ATM at least once a month say they would always make a 10p donation.

Now the Link ATM network says banks, building societies and cash machine operators have agreed to come together to introduce the feature from next year.

Under the plans, all 100 million Link-enabled cards will be able to donate through ATMs with a donations option offered as a separate menu item on the screen, or as a post-transaction offering. Customers are likely to be able to choose a value to donate from a range of pre-set figures or enter a specific amount of their own choice.

Whether to offer donations at a particular ATM will be a decision for the individual operator as will the choice and number of charities involved.

Francis Maude, cabinet office minister, says: "I am delighted by the support of Link's member banks, building societies and ATM operators for enabling charity donations at cash machines. This will make charity giving quicker and easier for so many people as they can incorporate giving into their regular routine."

In the latest big society relaunch, Cameron is set to give a speech this morning in which he will also push to make it easier for people to donate automatically from their paychecks.

However, the government plans come as charities are raising concerns that donations could be hit by the planned abolition of cheques in 2018. Last month the Institute of Fundraising warned that the proposal could "spell disaster" for many.

Related Companies

Link Interchange Network

Channels

Retail banking Payments

Keywords

Cards Automated teller machines and network services

Comments: (4)

Melvin Haskins - Haston International Limited - 23 May, 2011, 11:32

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Given that there are more than 250,000 charities in the UK I look forward to seeing how long it takes to scroll through the list before making a donation. Alternatively, who is going to choose which charities receive funds and which get nothing?

Mel Haskins

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A Finextra member 24 May, 2011, 08:44

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I would be more worried about the Mizuho casestudy - so many donations leading to a failure. Hope they load-tested the solution!

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John Dring - Intel Network Services - Swindon 24 May, 2011, 09:16

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How about putting a 'Robin Hood tax button' on the ATM to allow customers to select if they want the bank to apply Robin Hood Tax on the transaction. That tiny amount of course comes from the bank margins, not straight from the customer account.

Putting a small bank levy on all ATM txns would be a marginal impact but make a nice contribution to that scheme.

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Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 25 May, 2011, 13:07

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@Melvin H:

That was exactly my thought, and I hadn't even thought that there were as many as 250K charities in the UK. There's no way selection of charity by the ATM user would work on a queue-based venue like ATM.

On the face of it, the best option appears to be one where donors need to simply press one out of several buttons labeled "Donate 10p", ..., "Donate 25 GBP", and not have to select the charity unless they choose to, with some agency at the backend distributing the collections to the charities. However, it won't take long for this agency to start facing charges of non-transparency, etc.

A more practical alternative could be for charities to buy display ads on the ATMs that are capable of accepting donations. In addition to the donation amount button, ATM users would simply need to press on the ad of their favorite charity and the money goes to that charity. Many charities anyway advertise on various media, ATM becomes one more and probably the one that delivers the greatest bang for their buck.