Give A Little Webinar

This resource summarises the key points and includes the recording of the webinar.

Introduction

Vicky underlined the public shift to digital and contactless payments by highlighting that during January 2021, as little as 7% of donors used cash indicating people carry less cash and explained that while charities are well aware of the need to embrace digital giving since the pandemic, charities should also recognise the need to provide different payment choices as findings show an increasing number of people are paying with their phones’ digital wallets via Apple Pay and Google Pay, for example.

Additionally, charities need to choose technology that removes barriers to donations, creates smoother transactions and gives better donor experiences as research shows that 60% of eCommerce consumers will abandon their cart if they cannot pay with their preferred payment method, something that also potentially occurs when donors give digitally. 

Who are Give A Little?

Give A Little is the world’s only dedicated point of donation software platform boasting:

• 3,500 charities using the platform
• £8 million donated
• Over 550,000 donations

The platform is also part-funded by Give A Little’s parent company, Caution Your Blast Ltd, as part of its mission to use digital as a force for good.

Caution Your Blast, a digital consultancy, decided in 2018 to invest more in charitable products and services. Aiming to lower the barriers to receiving digital donations and to cut down the cost of setting up contactless donations for charities from £500 to £100, the company developed a point of donation software that could be freely and easily downloaded and would run on a cheap Android device (tablet or phone) and work with one of the low-cost payment card terminals available. 

Why is Give A Little different?

They are building a community where charities support each other.

• Their business model enables the smallest charities to access Give A Little for free, while the larger, more established charities benefit from valuable additional features by subscribing to Give A Little’s premium account.
• As Give A Little grows, they give back to the charitable sector by reducing their fees.

Using technology as a force for good

Give A Little is designed to be an enabler and to integrate with a range of devices, payment processors and technologies, so charities can select what works best for them.

• Give A Little specialises in creating the software to support charities and offer donors better experiences when giving.
• They team up with other companies such as Payaz, a Northern Ireland based company, and CollecTin who supply the devices.
• For payment processes, they work with Sum Up for Chip & Pin payments and Stripe who support all major payment cards, as well as smartphone wallet options Apple Pay and Google Pay. Stripe also supports individual donations via Give A Little web campaigns up to a limit of £999,999.99. 

Robert Hazle, Cultural Development Officer at The Noël Coward Foundation: ‘Being able to use the Give A Little point-of-donation software platform for free is enabling us to test the water with a cashless giving without having to pay upfront platform costs.’

Choose one option of the options below or a combination to get started:

Option 1: DIY

Combine an Android tablet/ Smartphone with a SumUp card reader and the Give A Little platform allows you to create campaigns and set customisable donation amounts using Give A Little's free, basic account.

Or upgrade to Premium for additional features including detailed reporting, GiftAid, remote device management and customisable campaigns.

Option 2: Donation Station

Give A Little is the software used by a growing number of device manufacturers including Northern Ireland based, Payaz and CollecTin. Choose from portable, handheld devices or fixed donation kiosks.

Option 3: Online Giving via Web or QR Codes

Create online campaigns easily from templates, adding custom video, images, donation amounts, and with valuable features such as regular monthly giving and QR codes. The average web donation amount via Give A Little is over £40 per donation. Choose between SumUp or Stripe for online web donation/transaction processing.

Give A Little has no tie in and pricing is tiered based on the amount you raise. This is no monthly fee if you raise up to £1,000 over 12 months and start at £7.50 per month for up to £7,500.

Who do they work with?

The work with a range of charities including London Zoo, The Change Please Foundation, Cancer Research UK and numerous smaller organisations, CICs, and churches and other religious institutions. 

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) with corporate partner, Bellway

CRUK use 20 CollecTin devices with the Give A Little platform to support their corpate fundraising. With their corporate partner, Bellway the devices are used for their employee fundraising activities at different locations across the UK. CRUK create campaigns centrally on the platform, activate these campaigns on the devices remotely, and can even send Bellway’s Charity Champion weekly reports to the device to show the employees how much they have raised.  

Tips for using the Give A Little app and platform 

• Add images and videos
• Try different amounts on the app and web campaigns, even choose a higher amount than you think as well as the choose your own amount option.
• Experiment with customising your campaigns for different audiences or for different causes even to considr the different locations of devices. 
• Enable Gift Aid
• Try out QR codes and NFT tags.
• You can also rent devices for events or to trial. You are not tied into purchasing.

Tips for choosing an online giving platform 

Vicky gave an overview of what charities should considered when choosing digital donation options to make sure it is right for your organisation.

• Always check the full costs and fees especially the small print.
  • Give A Little believes in being transparent and is currently in discussions with the Fundraising Regulator to achieve their badge. Give A Little differs from other online giving platforms in that they only approve charities to use their platform to fundraise and as such, avoid the potential difficulties that fundraising by individual members of the public can bring.
• Consider what functions you get for your monthly costs.
  • For example, can you produce unlimited campaigns and QR codes, can you control the devices remotely through the platform, what does the platform offer to enhance donor experiences including smooth transactions, does the platform offer solutions for every scenario where you are fundraising, etc?

Give A Little Webinar

To find out more and to discuss your options, please contact Vicky Hewlett at [email protected]