Article
Kiosks transform charitable donations and create opportunities for giving
Kiosks are creating new and easier ways to give to charitable organizations.
July 22, 2014 by Nicole Troxell — Associate Editor, Networld Media Group
In a time when more and more transactions take place electronically, charities and nonprofits are facing a "giving" challenge with outdated modes of payment.
Many people no longer carry or even use checkbooks; and the numbers who rarely use cash are on the rise. But these payment methods are often the primary ways for donating to charitable organizations.
In recent years, kiosks have helped address the changes in currency habits by creating new and convenient avenues for people to give to their favorite organizations.
Convenience
Imagine attending a gala for your charity of choice and realizing your forgot to take your checkbook or cash to donate. A forgotten checkbook could mean a missed opportunity. Kiosks can be useful for cashless giving.
In the case of churches, for example, passing around the offering plate isn't what it used to be.
"As fewer and fewer people write checks, to not have a giving kiosk in a church is denying people the opportunity to give as they feel called to give," Rick Carlson, the president and CEO of Ocean City Tabernacle Church in New Jersey, told Kiosk Marketplace.
Nonprofit kiosks allow organizations to keep up with ways donors are spending their money, making it easier to give. Patrons no longer have to remember to carry their checkbook or cash.
If the old ways of giving could lead to fewer donations, kiosks may actually bring in more money than expected. Kiosks have recurrent payment capabilities, which allow users to regularly have money taken out of their bank account automatically and donated to an organization.
"Some churches are already funded well over 50 percent by electronic giving," Carlson said in an email exhange. "People who give electronically also will likely give more because they are not limited to how much cash they have in their pockets.
"When we recognize that we live in a culture where the digital transfer of funds is not only the wave of the future, it is the 'here and now,' as religious institutions, we have to make credit and debit card giving an option for our people."
Advertising
One of the benefits companies can get from using kiosks is their capability for product or brand placement in new environments where advertising opportunities are found, and nonprofits are no exception.
For example, Coinstar's Coins that Countprogram advertises numerous charities to their coin-counting kiosk users. Visitors have the option of donating to a nonprofit from one of their many kiosk locations. If the desired charity can't be found on a particular kiosk, the program has a charity locator that will direct the user to the specific kiosk with the customer's preferred organization.
Also, donation kiosks are portable. This means effectively endless opportunities for nonprofits raising money. They can be placed in almost any location, not just fundraising events or Coinstar locations. Donation kiosks can also target shopping malls, sporting events, grocery stores or anywhere with access to people.
Time and Money
Kiosk placement also allows organizations to reach more people in less time, saving money on planning and staffing fundraisers.
Interactive touchscreen panels have the ability to separate donations for specific purposes. For example, a nonprofit may collect donations for different needs. The touchscreen permits users to select which account their donation will go to, automatically dispersing the money where needed.
Donation kiosks can be used for multiple purposes. Users can register for events, fill out applications and leave comments for organizations, ultimately saving nonprofits time and money spent filling out paperwork and divvying up specialized tasks.
For example, Laurence Cohn, president and CEO of eAnytime Corp., a provider of signature and custom kiosks, said that his company helps nonprofit Opioid treatment centers to save money because their medicine-dispensing kiosks audit for appropriate use of medication and validate patient and staff identification.
Self-service kiosks are "a way to reduce the cost of doing business as well as gain competitive advantage," Cohn said.
Kiosks may also increase giving, not just offer new opportunities for staying level. A case study conducted by iPad kiosk provider Lilitab on donation kiosks and donation software found that its clients using secure POS software and secure giving kiosks reported 20-percent-and-higher increases in giving, with a significant uptick in first-time giving.
"Even when people are not able to attend service, they can still donate at any time," Ann Williams, the director of finance at Stevens Creek Church in Augusta, Georgia, said in the case study. Stevens Creek Church has giving kiosks placed around the church's atrium. "Members of the congregation didn't want to continue to use the longstanding tradition of writing checks and stuffing them into envelopes. They just make their weekly donations through the self-service kiosks. The kiosk giving process is essentially goof-proof and made a believer of me instantly."
(Photo courtesy of Lilitab.)
