Contactless Donations Enabled at Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity

Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) supports the work of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh. The charity works tirelessly to provide seriously ill children and their families with the extra support they need when facing a life-changing hospital stay.   

Alongside NHS Lothian who provide world-class medical treatment and care, ECHC aims to speed up recovery, take away fear, and provide reassurance and distraction every step of the way. 

Background  

Like many organisations and charities, ECHC recognised the need for a more convenient and accessible method for collecting donations as society becomes increasingly cashless. To meet the needs of the diverse range of fundraising events they run across the city, the charity chose to invest in a CollecTin More contactless donation box, which uses Give A Little software.  

Opportunity  

ECHC first identified the opportunity to introduce a new contactless fundraising option when it planned 19 festive fundraising performances on the steps of The Dome restaurant in Edinburgh. These events, aimed at raising funds and engaging the local community, featured several choirs each performing for two hours, and over 30 fundraising volunteers armed with cash buckets and the CollecTin More contactless donation terminal. This terminal featured an eye-catching, branded fundraising campaign created with the Give A Little software. 

ECHC also had other opportunities to use the CollecTin terminal outside of the street events, including at the monthly stall the charity runs within the hospital as well as opportunities with supermarkets, businesses and volunteer-led events. Even when donations aren’t the main goal, the CollecTin can be taken along to the events to offer the option to donate.  

Result  

The CollecTin with Give A Little software has been well received by ECHC donors, with the charity commenting that the issue of people not donating due to having no cash had now been addressed as they can offer a cashless donation option. 

The volunteers found the device easy to use and were able to get going with minimal instruction. The charity was surprised to see that very few donors had questions; people just instinctively knew how to donate.  

ECHC has continued to extend the use of the CollecTin at all their events and is using the Give A Little campaigns effectively to support different types of collections.  

Fiona Brian, Fundraiser at ECHC, explains, “For our street collections and supermarket bag packs where the donors are potentially in a hurry or just walking by, we wanted to make the donation process as quick and easy as possible, so we leave the marketing opt-ins switched off. At other events such as working with the Royal Bank of Scotland where donors are more engaged, we enable both the marketing opt-in and Gift Aid. It’s great to have that flexibility.” 

The charity acknowledges the security and logistical concerns over handling cash and is now able to let volunteers take the device to events that are not attended by staff. The ability to log in to their Give A Little account remotely and get sight of the donations allows them to check that everything is going well and then to see the money going straight into their bank account.  

Fiona Brian adds, “The CollecTin with Give A Little is such an easy and simple way to give our volunteers something to use at events that has our charity branding and messaging. We’d definitely recommend Give A Little and CollecTin to any charities looking to collect contactless donations. The solution is really flexible as you can use it portably or in a fixed location and the Give A Little software gives us loads of great features whether it’s the ability to create branded fundraising campaigns or enable really useful features like Gift Aid and marketing opt-in.” 

ECHC continue to use the CollecTin and Give A Little software to support their events, particularly during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where over 3 million people visit Edinburgh and ECHC will again host performances on the steps of The Dome.