I am in awe of technology, new ideas, applications and how it’s being used.

I recently came across this little machine at a restaurant in Perth, Australia and thought it was brilliant.

This is a contactless donation collection point that charities can use to collect small value donations. In this case it was: ‘tap your card and donate $3 to the Guide Dogs charity.’

When I researched further, this was developed by Quest Donation Point: TAP - apparently this has been around since 2016 where charities can have their own branding design attached to the machine as well as choose how much they wish to collect with each EFTPOS tap.

According to the Quest website benefits to charities are:

• Reduced management costs compared to traditional volunteer-led fundraising
• Fully electronic, reducing the opportunity for theft
• Removes the barrier of ‘no spare change’ making it simple to donate with contactless cards
• Maximise donations by moving Donation Point Tap between high traffic areas
• Display or promote charity brand, campaigns, aspirations and achievements on the banner
• Saves time and reduces the cost of collecting cash Donation Tins
• Fully secure card payments paid electronically to charity account.

What I think?

I’m not sure how much QUEST charges charities to brand and install the technology, though I think it will be a nominal rate.

I am a ‘card swiper’ and don’t often have cash on me so I think this machine appeals to today’s modern consumer where we can quickly tap and donate on the spur of the moment.

Thanks to automation, the extra volunteers can work to have as many of these machines installed as possible throughout cafes, restaurants, supermarkets and retail stores throughout.

If anyone knows how much these things cost to operate, I’d love to hear more.

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