The only 0% POS for UK charities: Zeffy Tap to Pay vs SumUp, Zettle, Square and GoodBox (2026)

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Choosing a point of sale system for your UK charity is not like picking a retail till. Most "POS for charities" guides are retail software with a charity discount added as an afterthought. SumUp, Zettle by PayPal, Square UK, and the rest were built for shops, where a percentage-per-tap is simply part of the margin calculation. Charities are not shops. Every per-tap fee a card reader takes is a donation that never reaches the cause. And none of those retail tools capture a Gift Aid declaration at the point of tap, which means the charity silently forfeits 25p per £1 on every eligible gift.

Cash is dying at UK community fundraising events. Volunteers at fetes, village hall quiz nights, church retreats, and PTA summer fairs are already hearing: "I don't have any cash on me." Card readers are filling that gap, but most of the ones small UK charities have reached for, SumUp, Zettle by PayPal, and GoodBox, are percentage-per-tap tools with no Gift Aid flow built in. The Fundraising Regulator's Code of Fundraising Practice (updated 1 November 2025, with new Section 9 covering online platforms) sets the standard for transparent, compliant fundraising. Zeffy Tap to Pay is the only 0% option that captures the Gift Aid declaration at the same tap, so HMRC reclaims 25p per £1 on every eligible gift automatically, on top of the 0% Zeffy fee.

This guide compares the five POS systems UK charities and churches actually consider in 2026 and explains how to choose.

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In this article:

• Best POS for UK charities in 2026 compared

• 1. Zeffy POS: the only charity-native POS in the UK with 0% fees

• 2. Square UK: solid retail till, no Gift Aid capture, no supporter CRM

• 3. Zettle by PayPal (UK): easy plug-in for PayPal-native charities, no Gift Aid and no supporter records

• 4. SumUp: familiar UK card reader, no Gift Aid, no supporter CRM

• 5. GoodBox: dedicated contactless donation devices, hardware you buy or rent

• How to choose the right POS for your UK charity

• Key features every UK charity POS should have

• What is a charity POS and why does your charity need one?

• Real charities using POS systems

• Frequently asked questions

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Best POS for UK charities in 2026 compared

Five POS systems show up on almost every shortlist a small UK charity considers in 2026. Here is how they line up on the things that actually move fundraising economics: per-tap fees (UK), monthly fee, hardware cost (£), Gift Aid captured at point of sale, supporter CRM built in, and event ticketing built in.

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Read that table the way a charity treasurer would. Every percentage point a competitor takes on a £15 fete ticket or a £50 church gift is money the cause never sees. Zeffy is the only row where the in-person fee, monthly fee, and hardware cost are all £0, and the only row where Gift Aid capture and supporter records appear without a separate integration. The rest of this guide goes deep on each platform and then explains how to choose.

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1. Zeffy POS: the only charity-native POS in the UK with 0% fees

Zeffy POS is the only point of sale system for UK charities that charges 0% in fees. It runs as a Tap to Pay for charities app on iPhone or Android, with no card reader required, which makes it the only charity-native option in this comparison. Accepting a payment is as simple as a tap on the phone already in your volunteer's pocket.

Verdict: The only POS built from day one for charities. 0% fees, no card reader required, Tap to Pay on the phone in your volunteer's pocket, with Gift Aid declarations and a supporter CRM built in.

Zeffy was created to break the mould for charity payments. As Thibaut Jaurou, Zeffy's co-founder and CTO, puts it:

For too long, the technology offered to nonprofits was way behind that of other, for-profit industries. Zeffy was founded to reverse that paradigm.

That means trusted by 100,000+ charities and nonprofits globally, over £2bn raised, and £0 in fees on every in-person card tap. 100% of the money you raise goes to your cause. No platform fee, no transaction fee, no credit card fee. Ever.

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Gift Aid at the point of tap

When your donor taps their card at a Zeffy Tap to Pay stall or church offering, they can confirm their Gift Aid declaration in the same flow. Your charity reclaims 25p per £1 from HMRC on every eligible gift, on top of the 0% Zeffy fee. (Gift Aid, GOV.UK) Zeffy stores the declaration and supports HMRC reclaim through the Charities Online submission process. Your charity must be HMRC-recognised (holding a Charities Reference Number, which is separate from registration with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR or CCNI).

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Key features for UK charities

• No hardware needed. Zeffy's Tap to Pay app works directly from any iPhone or Android phone, with no card reader or terminal required.

• Supports credit and debit cards plus Apple Pay and Google Pay for UK charities directly from the phone.

• Captures Gift Aid declarations at the point of tap and issues automatic donation acknowledgements to the donor by email.

• Includes a built-in supporter CRM, so every Tap to Pay gift lands in the supporter profile with full giving history.

• Offers event ticketing from the same app: sell tickets online and scan them at the door from the same phone.

• Generates trustee-ready reports for board meetings, annual return documentation, and treasurer reconciliation.

• 100% web and mobile based with no software or setup fees, and no paid tier (the free tier is the only tier).

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Where Zeffy POS fits

• Fundraising events. Take a card payment at the registration table, the bake sale booth, or the bar, without a terminal.

• Merchandise tables. Sell T-shirts, books, and branded merchandise with digital donation acknowledgements.

• Walk-up donations. A donor with no cash can still tap a card on a volunteer's phone in seconds, and confirm their Gift Aid declaration at the same time.

• Ticketing at the door. Box office in the palm of your hand: scan pre-sold tickets and sell new ones on the spot.

• Churches and places of worship. A volunteer's phone becomes the giving terminal at services, retreats, and community events, with automatic Gift Aid declarations for tithes and gifts. Many UK churches with income under £100,000 are excepted charities and do not need to register with the Charity Commission, but they can still obtain HMRC recognition to reclaim Gift Aid on eligible gifts.

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Considerations for UK charities

• Currently available in the US and Canada, with UK availability subject to confirmation. Verify UK product readiness directly with Zeffy before setting up for an event.

• Tap to Pay requires an internet connection on the volunteer's phone.

• No retail-grade inventory management. No SKU forecasting, no purchase orders, no barcode label printing. Zeffy is the right fit for events, merchandise tables, walk-up donations, ticketing, and church giving, not for high-volume charity shops with complex stock management.

• No bundled hardware. Zeffy does not sell, lease, or rent card readers, terminals, or kiosks. The phone is the hardware.

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Pricing and hardware

• In-person processing fee: 0%

• Online donation processing fee: 0%

• Monthly fee: £0

• Hardware: None. Use the iPhone or Android phone you already own.

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2. Square UK: solid retail till, no Gift Aid capture, no supporter CRM

Square is the brand most volunteers picture when they think of a card reader. It is a serious retail tool: easy to set up, deep inventory features, a polished mobile app, and a free basic POS layer. The catch for UK charities is that Square was never designed around a charitable gift. It was designed around a sale.

Verdict: Square UK charges standard retail processing rates with no built-in Gift Aid flow and no supporter records. A solid charity shop till, just not built for fundraising at fetes or events.

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Key features

• Free POS app with inventory tracking and sales reporting.

• Accepts credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

• Online shop capabilities for selling branded merchandise.

• A "donation" can be set up as a custom button or item, but is treated like any other retail line item.

• Digital or printed receipts at checkout.

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Considerations for UK charities

• No Gift Aid declaration flow. Every gift taken through Square is a Gift Aid claim your charity has to rebuild manually from spreadsheets afterwards, if at all. For a charity processing £30,000 a year through a Square reader, that manual reconciliation gap represents a significant HMRC reclaim that simply does not happen.

• No built-in supporter management. Square stores retail customer records, not supporter profiles tied to giving history.

• No automatic donation acknowledgements. Gift receipts for donors must be created manually or generated by a third-party integration.

• Donation tracking requires manual exports or a separate CRM sync.

• Trustee-ready reporting (annual return, Trustees' Annual Report, recurring giving cohorts) is not native and typically requires add-ons.

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Pricing and hardware

• In-person processing fee: Standard UK retail processing rates apply, with no confirmed charity discount. Verify the current UK rate on squareup.com/gb before standardising on Square for your fundraising.

• Hardware: The Square POS app is free, but contactless tap requires a Square Reader or Square Terminal (purchased separately); verify current UK prices in £ on squareup.com/gb before purchase.

• Monthly fee: £0 for the basic tier.

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3. Zettle by PayPal (UK): easy plug-in for PayPal-native charities, no Gift Aid and no supporter records

If your charity already runs on PayPal, with donations landing in a PayPal balance, your treasurer paying suppliers out of PayPal, and your online giving page running through a PayPal donate button, then Zettle is the path of least resistance for taking cards in person. It is a mobile reader and app that plug into the PayPal account you already have. The downside is that Zettle is a retail product first, and a charity tool a distant second.

Verdict: Zettle by PayPal gives PayPal-native charities an easy in-person reader, but funds land in a PayPal wallet with no Gift Aid declaration flow, no supporter CRM, and no recurring-giving surface. See what PayPal charges UK charities for the full fee breakdown.

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Key features

• Syncs with PayPal for easy access to funds.

• Accepts chip cards, contactless payments, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

• Basic product catalogue and sales tracking inside the Zettle dashboard.

• You can create a "donation" item or button.

• Supports multilingual receipts.

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Considerations for UK charities

• No Gift Aid declaration flow. Every card tap that lands in a PayPal balance is a gift with no Gift Aid declaration attached. The charity has to reconcile donors manually to reclaim the 25p per £1 that Gift Aid would otherwise deliver, if it reconciles at all.

• No supporter CRM. Zettle records products and sales, not donors.

• Funds deposit into a PayPal account, which requires additional steps before they reach the charity bank account. UK charity volunteers have flagged this as an active concern: funds sitting in a wallet rather than a charity account creates reconciliation anxiety at committee level.

• The Zettle dashboard is limited for charities running ticketed events or recurring giving programmes.

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Pricing and hardware

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4. SumUp: familiar UK card reader, no Gift Aid, no supporter CRM

SumUp is one of the most recognisable card readers at UK fetes, village halls, charity shops, and community stalls. If you have run a table at a school summer fair or a village hall quiz night in the past five years, you have almost certainly seen the SumUp Air Reader sitting next to the card machine. Cheap hardware, straightforward setup, and familiar to any UK volunteer who has run a stall. The problem for charities is that every tap is retail.

Verdict: SumUp is a practical starting point for small UK charities that need a card reader quickly and cheaply, but it has no Gift Aid flow, no supporter profile, and no ticketing. Every gift through SumUp is an unclaimed Gift Aid reclaim your charity never sees.

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Key features

• Compact Air Reader that pairs with a smartphone via Bluetooth.

• Accepts contactless, chip-and-PIN, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

• Basic sales dashboard and transaction history.

• Simple to set up with no monthly subscription on the pay-as-you-go plan.

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Considerations for UK charities

• No Gift Aid declaration flow. There is no mechanism to capture a donor's Gift Aid declaration at the point of tap. A charity taking £20,000 a year through a SumUp reader is forfeiting around £5,000 in HMRC reclaims it could otherwise claim.

• No supporter management. SumUp stores sales records, not supporter profiles.

• No event ticketing. SumUp is a card reader, not a fundraising platform.

• No donation acknowledgements. Post-event donor communication is entirely manual.

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Pricing and hardware

SumUp's current UK in-person rate and Air Reader price change periodically. Verify the latest figures directly on sumup.co.uk before purchase. The model is a percentage per tap plus a one-off hardware cost, with no monthly subscription on the pay-as-you-go plan.

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5. GoodBox: dedicated contactless donation devices, hardware you buy or rent

GoodBox makes purpose-built tap-to-donate hardware: the GBx contactless donation device used by UK churches, museums, visitor attractions, and street fundraisers. It is a genuinely UK-native solution to the cash-is-dying problem at events and venues. Where SumUp and Zettle are retail tools repurposed for charity giving, GoodBox was designed specifically for the contactless donation moment.

Verdict: Purpose-built tap-to-donate hardware that genuinely solves the cash-at-events problem, but you pay for the box and pay per tap. Zeffy Tap to Pay does the same job from the phone your volunteer already owns, at 0%. See how Zeffy compares to GoodBox for UK charities for the full breakdown.

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Key features

• Dedicated tap-to-donate devices (GBx) designed for high-traffic donation collection in venues.

• Used by UK churches, museums, visitor attractions, hospices, and street fundraisers.

• Contactless card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay acceptance.

• Donation management dashboard with reporting.

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Considerations for UK charities

• Hardware cost. Unlike Zeffy, GoodBox requires you to purchase or rent a dedicated device. For a small charity running one or two events a year, the device cost may outweigh the benefit versus using a phone the volunteer already owns.

• Per-transaction fee. Every tap carries a device cost and a per-transaction fee. See the Zeffy vs GoodBox comparison for current UK figures (verified 2026-06-19).

• No Gift Aid flow built in at the tap. GoodBox captures the donation; Gift Aid declaration and reclaim still require separate handling.

• No event ticketing.

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Pricing and hardware

For current GoodBox device costs and per-transaction rates, see the verified Zeffy vs GoodBox comparison for UK charities (verified 2026-06-19).

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How to choose the right POS for your UK charity

Percentages feel abstract. Real Gift Aid losses do not. Here is a fast decision framework based on what your charity actually does:

• If you need 0% fees on every in-person card tap, Zeffy POS is your answer.

• If cash is dying at your fete, village hall quiz night, or PTA summer fair and you need a phone-based solution your volunteers can carry to any stall without a terminal, Zeffy Tap to Pay fits naturally. Tap to Pay on a volunteer's phone replaces the card reader entirely.

• If your church takes the Sunday offering or runs collections at services, retreats, or community events, Zeffy Tap to Pay is free for the church, captures Gift Aid on tithes and one-off gifts, and needs no hardware. Many UK churches with income under £100,000 are excepted charities and do not register with the Charity Commission, but they can still obtain HMRC recognition (HMRC) to reclaim Gift Aid on eligible gifts. If your church already runs GoodBox devices at the door for high-volume contactless giving, Zeffy Tap to Pay complements them by giving every volunteer a mobile terminal.

• If you run a charity shop with SKU-level stock management and have already accepted retail processing rates as a cost of running the shop, Square UK is the stronger fit for till management.

• If your charity is already deep in the PayPal ecosystem and you mostly need to accept the occasional in-person card, Zettle by PayPal is the path of least resistance, but understand the Gift Aid trade-off before you commit.

• If you run ticketed events such as a gala dinner, benefit concert, or charity auction, and want the box office on the same phone that takes walk-up donations, Zeffy POS with event ticketing from the same app handles both in one place.

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Key features every UK charity POS should have

Most "best POS" lists are written for retailers. When you read them as a charity, the feature priorities shift. Here is the checklist that actually matters when the goal is fundraising, not selling goods.

• 0% platform and processing fees on donations. Every percentage point a POS takes is a pound your cause never sees. Zeffy is the only platform in this comparison where this row is a yes.

• Gift Aid declaration captured at the tap. Your treasurer should not be hand-building Gift Aid spreadsheets after every event. The declaration needs to be captured and stored at the moment the card is tapped, so your charity can submit via HMRC Charities Online and reclaim 25p per £1 on every eligible gift. (Gift Aid, GOV.UK)

• Built-in supporter CRM. An in-person gift should land in the supporter's profile, not in an anonymous retail sales record. A built-in supporter CRM turns a one-time event tap into a long-term relationship.

• Event ticketing in the same app. Selling tickets online, scanning them at the door, and taking add-on donations should all happen on the same phone. Event ticketing from the same app avoids the "three logins on event night" problem.

• Hardware-free, mobile-first option. A volunteer should be able to take a card tap on their own phone, with no terminal to lose and no reader to forget.

• Apple Pay and Google Pay acceptance. Digital wallets are how a growing share of UK donors carry money. Apple Pay and Google Pay for UK charities should be table stakes.

• Trustee-ready reporting. Board meeting reports, annual return documentation, and recurring-giving cohorts need to come out of the same system as the card taps. Your POS should produce reports a trustee can read without a data-export specialist.

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What is a charity POS and why does your charity need one?

A charity point of sale system is software that processes in-person card payments (and often online ones) on top of features built specifically for fundraising: Gift Aid declaration capture, donation tracking, automatic donor acknowledgements, supporter profiles, event ticketing, and reporting that maps to how charities actually account for income.

That is meaningfully different from a retail POS. Card readers are built for retail shops. Retail POS software is built for businesses where profit, VAT, and processing fees are all a normal part of the margin. Charities operate differently.

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Charity POS vs retail POS

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The illustrative fee maths

Here is a quick illustrative calculation, not an industry benchmark. A UK charity taking £50,000 a year in in-person card payments on a standard retail card rate (a percentage per tap plus a fixed amount per transaction) could lose hundreds of pounds a year to processing fees before Gift Aid is even considered. That money does not appear on a donor acknowledgement. It does not appear in a grant report. It simply reduces the income your cause receives. On Zeffy, that same £50,000 stays with the cause, because Zeffy's in-person processing fee is 0%.

And that is before the Gift Aid calculation. A charity that captures Gift Aid declarations on all eligible gifts could reclaim an additional 25p per £1 from HMRC. On £50,000 of eligible gifts from UK taxpayers, that is up to £12,500 in Gift Aid reclaims the charity would otherwise forfeit if using a retail card reader with no declaration flow.

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Real charities using POS systems

The right test for any charity POS is whether it gets out of the way during an event. From François de Kerret, Zeffy co-founder and CEO, on why the product exists in the first place:

Zeffy's here to empower nonprofits to raise more by charging 0% in fees. We made this possible online, but nonprofits still had to purchase expensive devices and pay fees of 3% or more to accept in-person donations. Tap to Pay is a significant innovation for nonprofits that want to eliminate costs and replace in-person cash and cheque donations.

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Frequently asked questions

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