Surrey baby bank Stripey Stork boosts contactless donations with CollecTin.

Surrey-based charity, Stripey Stork was born in 2013 when a group of mums sought a way to pass their unwanted children’s items on to others. Over ten years later, the charity is now a large-scale operation supporting over 200 families a week across Surrey and in the London Borough of Croydon.

Background

Working with a network of professional referral partners, including health visitors, schools and other charities, Stripey Stork supports families with newborns right up to the age of eighteen. Each referral request is tailored to the individual needs, ranging from essential items for a newborn to a fully equipped school bag for a teenager whose attendance has been affected by a lack of supplies. The charity aims to ensure all their support bundles feel like gifts rather than handouts and while they focus on pre-loved donations, there is always a need for new items, such as nappies, mattresses, nappies, and underwear. This means that cash donations are essential for the charity.

Following the national lockdown and restrictions put in place by the Covid-19 pandemic, the charity recognised the need to provide new ways for supporters to donate, as many no longer carried cash. They realised that offering card payment options was essential not only for their events but also for their corporate partners.

Opportunity

Stripey Stork operates across two sites, a large warehouse in Reigate and an office in Redhill, where all the seasonal campaigns are coordinated. Both locations are bustling hubs that welcome volunteers, corporate partners, funders, referral partners and local families who drop off items their families have outgrown.

After extensive research to find the most affordable method for collecting cashless donations, Stripey Stork, chose the CollecTin More contactless collection box, powered by Give A Little software.

Result

It has been two years since Stripey Stork Introduced the CollecTin donation boxes, which have proved invaluable due to the large number of visitors at both their sites. The boxes allow visitors to make cash donations in addition to dropping off items from their wish list. The CollecTins have been used at events and for corporate donations when they have corporate volunteer groups visit. The CollecTin and Give A Little solution facilitates the collection of both large and small donations making them an effective way to collect corporate contributions.

Sophie Johns, Stripey Stork’s, funding, finance, and impact manager says:

“We did a lot of research and CollecTin and Give A Little seemed to be the most accessible option in terms of cost and functionality. We wanted to find a partner with a good track record in the industry as it was a new way of working for us. We have two CollecTin More contactless donation boxes that use Give A Little software. We use them at events and, when they’re not out and about they are set up in the reception areas of our sites. We use them all year round.

We have had very positive feedback from both our staff and volunteers using the devices as well as our supporters making the donations. The custom fundraising campaigns displayed on the device work very well for us. Through Give A Little we can quickly change the donation amounts depending on the audience, which has been very helpful.

We are so pleased to have found CollecTin and Give A Little. We are happy with how much we have raised and are so supportive of what you’re doing - thank you!”