Royal British Legion trial contactless poppy donation tins with NatWest

NatWest, Worldpay and Thyngs have partnered with the Royal British Legion to introduce contactless and mobile donations to Poppy Appeal.

The trial is taking place across 13 NatWest branches and means that even people who aren’t carrying any cash on them will be able to donate just by tapping their contactless cards or mobile phones.

The tin, which has been developed by Worldpay, acts as a contactless payments terminal and allows people to donate £2 per tap. Mobile phone users can donate using Thyngs styckers which instantly direct them to a dedicated donation page. The Royal British Legion will also be able to collect gift aid to get the most out of the donations.

NatWest says that if the trial is successful, the technology could be rolled out across the country for next year’s Poppy Appeal and made available to other charities.

“We’re proud to be supporting The Royal British Legion. Charities face a huge challenge collecting donations in an increasingly cashless society, but our innovative technology provides them with an even greater opportunity. This is likely to be a growing trend in the charity sector,” said Nick Telford-Reed, Director of Technology Innovation at Worldpay.

The UK Cards Association earlier this year pointed out that cash donations were dropping rapidly. We started having discussions with charities last year after it became clear that cash donations were falling and there was a need to find alternative donations,” said Briony Krikorian-Slade, of the UK Cards Association.

As the Royal British Legion partnership shows, contactless donations points could be that viable alternative charities are looking for. The concept has already been explored at the Barbican’s Curve Gallery where contactless donation terminals were set up with each tap of a card donating £2.

“People are already increasingly comfortable with contactless transactions in a commercial environment and on the transit network in London, and so the transition to the charitable sector should be a natural one for many people,” Nick Adams, Barbican’s spokesperson, told PaymentEye when the terminals were being set up.

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