Sunday the 10th October was World Homelessness Day 2021; This time last year Winchester BID launched their digital fundraising scheme, helping two local charities to fundraise digitally to tackle homelessness in Winchester.
Using Donater’s digital fundraising technology, Winchester BID will be taking digital donations via their donation boxes to support their Spare Change for Lasting Change scheme.
What is Spare Change for Lasting Change?
The Spare Change for Lasting Change initiative enables people to donate money to two local charities who are committed to tackling homelessness.
Our experience with fundraising in various communities sees that people are inherently kind and generous. It’s not easy to walk past a person on the street asking for money when you know that you could give them a few coins and make sure that they get a hot drink and maybe a sandwich!
The problem, unfortunately, is that this kindness can sometimes be misplaced. Although you may enable that person to buy a hot drink or sandwich, by giving directly to the person who is begging you may actually be hindering the chance for positive change. Enabling them to buy a coffee and some food is kind of course, but it also helps to increase that person’s dependency on begging. This in turn means that the likelihood of them engaging with support services decreases.
These vital support services are just what Trinity Winchester and Winchester Churches Nightshelter offer people facing homelessness in our city. The Spare Change for Lasting Change initiative gives donors the opportunity to do so directly to the charities that can help homeless people the most.
But how many times have you walked past a donation box and muttered – ‘Sorry, no cash!’ This problem was already on the rise, but Covid has acted as a catalyst. Many more people are opting for card or mobile payments over cash in these times. So what happens to the fundraising that depends on those donations? That’s where Donater come in.
How are Donater helping this scheme to fundraise?
Spare Change for Lasting Change have approximately 50 donation boxes across Winchester city centre, ready to receive donations – Now both in cash as well as digitally.
Our aim is not to replace cash donations – But to make donating easy and accessible to all potential donors. Not everyone carries cash – People are paying with notes and coins less than ever before. Contactless payments need to be available for donations too.
Our Donater Smart Stickers are an easy way to convert your donation boxes into a digital means of fundraising. The Stickers have a QR code and NFC tag, so anyone with a smart phone can tap or scan the sticker with their smartphone and be taken straight to a donation page.
How can the donor pay digitally?
Once the donor lands on the Donater donation page, they can then choose to pay with one of the following options:
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Entering their bank details
As we said earlier, people want to give – We just need to make sure that we are giving them easy opportunities to do so. These Smart Stickers on the Spare Change for Lasting Change donation boxes are a fantastic step in digital fundraising and will hopefully secure more money for these two brilliant local charities.
Last year on the launch, Winchester BID’s Business Crime Reduction Manager, Jane Bastock said:
“We are very pleased to be working with Donater to launch contactless, cashless and mobile donations for Spare Change for Lasting Change to support the work of Trinity Winchester and the Winchester Churches Nightshelter. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen cashless payments becoming the norm and with this new technology on our collection boxes, we can continue to encourage donations to this important scheme in a safe and easy way.”
Are you feeling compelled to make a donation? You can visit the Donater donation page for Spare Change for Lasting Change here.
Want to know more?
If you’re interested to see how Donater’s technology and Smart Stickers could help your charity to digitally fundraise, get in touch with us today.
You can find out more information on the charities mentioned in this blog and the amazing work they do by clicking on the websites below:
Winchester Bid – https://winchesterbid.co.uk/spare-change-for-lasting-change-contactless-donations/
Spare Change for Lasting Change – https://winchestersparechange.uk/
Trinity Winchester – http://trinitywinchester.org.uk/
Winchester Churches Nightshelter – https://wcns.org.uk/