We lost donations because no one had cash.
Our card reader stopped working at the worst time.
We didn't want to buy more hardware just to collect £50.
People aren't carrying cash any more, and we didn't have any way to take a card at the door.
Sound familiar? If you have ever run a fundraising event, you have likely faced the same headaches. People want to give. You want to collect. But getting those funds from donor to charity account can feel unnecessarily expensive and complicated.
And when you are part of a small charity, every missed donation counts.
In this article:
Why accepting in-person donations is still so hard
Imagine this. You have thrown the perfect event. Your supporters are so moved that they are queuing up to help your small charity.
The hard part is over, you might think. Except accepting in-person donations is still a pain.
It is not you. Every tried-and-trusted method of collecting in-person donations has its limitations.
Cash, cheque or card: pick your poison.
- Cash. Fewer people carry enough cash to make a dent in your budget. It is hard to track and easy to lose. Risky.
- Cheques. Vanishingly rare in UK community fundraising. If someone does know where their chequebook is, you still have to keep your own records and then travel to the bank to deposit the funds.
- Card. Card readers are built for market stalls and high-street retailers, not small charities. Systems such as SumUp and Zettle promise to solve the cash problem, but only if you buy their hardware and pay their transaction fees.
What you do not need to accept in-person donations
Most small charities rely on a mix of cash tins and card readers to collect at events. Neither is ideal.
You do not need...
- An (expensive) card reader
- A clunky point-of-sale terminal
All you really need to accept in-person donations is the one piece of tech you are probably never without: a smartphone. If you have a tap-to-pay donation tool.
What is tap to pay (and why it changes everything for in-person donations)
You have probably tapped a contactless card or your phone on a card reader when buying a coffee this morning. Accepting in-person donations should be just that simple.
Your donors do not carry cash or cheques. They do have:
- A contactless credit or debit card
- Apple Pay or Google Pay on their phone
That is all it takes. Tap-to-pay technology means you can accept a donation on the spot, with just your iPhone.
No reader? No problem. Here is when tap to pay saves the day:
Imagine you are...
- Volunteering at the PTA summer fair. Your table is low-tech, but that is fine. You can still accept in-person donations from parents, teachers and children (for the school trip fund) with nothing but a phone and a smile.
- Running a charity lunch in a local park. With tap to pay, your collection system is as mobile as you are. You can carry your phone from table to table and take donations on the go, all while making sure everyone gets a slice of cake.
- A trustee taking a potential donor to dinner. As soon as they are ready to give (hopefully before dessert), you are ready to accept. They do not need a chequebook, and you do not need a bulky card reader.
- Delegating to an enthusiastic new volunteer. You can step away from the donations table with confidence. Just hand them your phone, and they can continue taking donations with no card-reader confusion.
- Running the merch stall at a fundraising gig. Tap to pay lets you set up a stall in a field, a village hall or a crowded lobby. No wires, no Wi-Fi needed, no fees.
- Managing the check-in table at the local talent show. Someone's grandparents forgot to buy tickets. No problem. With the right tap-to-pay system, they can buy tickets on the spot, no internet, fees or cash required.
No more "I will donate when I get home." Tap to pay makes accepting in-person donations straightforward: no card reader required, zero fees charged.
Claim Gift Aid on tap-to-pay donations
Tap-to-pay donations are not just convenient; they can also unlock Gift Aid, the UK's most powerful fundraising tool.
When a donor completes a Gift Aid declaration at the point of giving (name, home address and confirmation that they are a UK taxpayer), your charity can reclaim 25p from HMRC for every £1 donated. A £100 gift becomes £125 to your cause at no extra cost to the donor. (HMRC Gift Aid guidance)
For smaller contactless donations where collecting a full declaration is not practical, there is the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS). Under GASDS, charities can claim a 25% top-up on cash and contactless donations of £30 or less without a written declaration, up to £8,000 of eligible small donations per tax year (a potential £2,000 extra for your cause). To use GASDS, your charity must have been HMRC-recognised for at least two complete tax years and have an existing Gift Aid claim history.
In short: tap to pay does not just replace the cash tin. It opens the door to Gift Aid income that a cash tin never could.
Built for UK charities, not high-street tills
Most point-of-sale systems are built for retail, where profit margins, taxes and per-transaction fees are simply part of doing business. That is not who you are, and it is not what you need. Everything a small charity does is in service to its mission, and fees eat into that good work.
Village halls, PTAs and church fetes across the UK face the same problem: cash is disappearing, and per-ticket card fees price them out of every other tap-to-pay option. A small UK charity running a summer fete, an autumn appeal and a Christmas raffle typically pays a card-reader vendor, a donation platform and a lottery licence fee. Zeffy handles the lot, free.
Zeffy, the only zero-fee fundraising platform, has built a tap-to-pay tool designed specifically for small charities.
Here is what small UK charities really need from an in-person donations tool:
- No card reader to buy or manage
- No transaction or processing fees
- Easy donor tracking and follow-up
That is exactly what Zeffy provides.
Tap to pay means no hardware.
After helping thousands of charities keep all of the money they raise, the team at Zeffy saw the problems with accepting in-person donations. To solve them, Zeffy built a tap-to-pay app that can accept in-person donations from any iOS device, any time, anywhere. No card reader necessary.
Zeffy means no fees.
With Zeffy, accepting in-person donations is completely free.
Zeffy offers an all-in-one, zero-fee fundraising platform for charities that includes:
- Online and in-person donations
No platform fee, no transaction fee, no card fee. Ever.
If a donor chooses to add a voluntary contribution to support Zeffy, we will accept it. That is always optional and always on top of the full amount going to your charity.
Card payments mean automatic donor tracking.
When you accept an in-person donation with Zeffy's tap-to-pay app, your Zeffy account keeps a detailed record. You will always know who gave what and when, so follow-up is effortless.
Compare Zeffy with UK card-reader alternatives
Curious how Zeffy's tap-to-pay stacks up against popular UK alternatives? The tools below were built for different organisations, and it shows in their features and fees.
|
| Platform fee | £0 | Device cost + per-transaction fee |
| Hardware required | None (uses your iPhone) | GBx device (purchased or rented) |
| Transaction fee | £0 | Yes (per transaction) |
| Gift Aid support | Yes | Yes |
| Setup fee | £0 | Yes |
| Works anywhere (mobile data) | Yes | Requires device connectivity |
| Donor records | Automatic | Varies |
| Suitable for small charities | Yes | Yes, with hardware investment |
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a card reader?
No. No card reader or cables to manage. Just the phone already in your pocket.
Zeffy's tap-to-pay app lets you use your iPhone to accept in-person donations from anyone with a contactless card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Is Zeffy really free?
Yes, really free. No platform fee, no transaction fee, no card fee. Ever. There is no hardware to purchase either.
If a donor chooses to add a voluntary contribution to support Zeffy, we will accept it. That is always optional and always paid on top of the amount going to your charity.
Can we claim Gift Aid on tap-to-pay donations?
Yes. If the donor completes a Gift Aid declaration at the point of giving (name, home address and taxpayer confirmation), your charity can reclaim 25p per £1 from HMRC on that donation.
For one-off small contactless donations of £30 or less where collecting a full declaration is not practical, you may be able to use the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) to claim a 25% top-up on the aggregate total, subject to HMRC eligibility (including two complete tax years of HMRC recognition). See HMRC's Gift Aid guidance for full eligibility requirements.
Is tap-to-pay UK GDPR compliant?
Yes. Donor names and contact details collected through the Zeffy app are processed in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Zeffy acts as your data processor. We know UK charities ask about data compliance before adopting any new tool, so we want to be clear: your supporter data is handled responsibly, and you remain the data controller.
Can I still track donations?
Yes, and with much less hassle. Every tap-to-pay transaction is recorded in your Zeffy account for easy follow-up and donor engagement.
What if we do not have reliable Wi-Fi at the venue?
Tap to pay works using your phone's mobile data connection. No venue Wi-Fi is needed.
If a donor has poor signal, that is fine. As long as you have mobile data, you can accept their donation from their contactless card.
.webp)
