Charities turn to phone payments as fewer people carry cash
Melanie May | 24 May 2016 | News
A big rise in the number of people carrying no cash means more charities are turning to phone payments, according to a survey by DONATE.
DONATE, the charity brand of the National Funding Scheme, carried out the survey in conjunction with YouGov. The findings reveal that 37% of GB adults carry £10 of cash or less with 15% of those between 25-34 carrying no cash at all.
In addition, 74% of adults hold £30 or less in their wallets, while 60% hold £20 or less and 8% hold no cash at all. This is a further reduction from 2013 when 5% of UK adults carried no physical money, and is mirrored by more than £525,000 being raised by the DONATE mobile payment platform to date. The platform was founded in 2013, and launched formally last summer.
Philippa Esson, development & communications director of DONATE, said:
“This research underscores the importance of charities making use of the one device that all of us have; a mobile phone, for collecting donations. No longer can charities rely on their donors having cash in their pockets.”
Figures released by The Payments Council also show an increase in cashless payments, with 2015 the first time cash was used for less than half of payments made by consumers. According to the UK Payment Markets 2016 report, published this month, use of cash by consumers, businesses and financial organisations fell to 45% of payments last year, compare to 64% in 2005.
At the end of 2015, around half of all cards in the UK had contactless functionality according to the report (56% of debit cards and 38% of credit cards). More than three times as many contactless card payments were made in 2015 than in 2014, with 1 billion contactless payments made, accounting for almost 9% of all consumer card payments.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.