The Church of England has embarked on a new partnership with Visa, SumUp and Caution Your Blast to enable 300 more churches across the UK to accept contactless donations. With more consumers choosing to make payments with card, mobile and contactless enabled devices, the partnership will offer more options for churchgoers wanting to donate.
Church of England and Church in Wales churches applied to receive one of the 300 free contactless card readers, supported by Visa, which were distributed last October, evenly across England and Wales, making sure the card readers can benefit a wide range of communities. Parishes are now starting to see the benefits.
The Reverend Erica Wooff, Vicar of Stockwell in the Diocese of Southwark, pictured above with one of the contactless card readers, said: „This contactless device is a real benefit to us as a parish, particularly with visitors to our concerts, fundraising events and baptisms who don’t carry cash. The device is also enabling our regular congregations to think of stewardship and financial support in new and substantial ways.”
Andrew Dotchin, priest in the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is vicar of a parish benefiting from a contactless card reader. He explained that he has seen an increase in donations, especially from occasional offices such as baptisms, funerals and weddings. The contactless card reader is also used to accept donations for the postcards that are on sale at the back of the church, as well as refreshments such as the coffee the church serves after services.
The contactless card readers will remain as permanent fixtures in the churches, continuing to help raise funds that support their communities. This was a limited edition project and the solutions are not available to purchase.
The card readers were supplied by SumUp, the donations app was developed by Caution Your Blast, and the stand was designed and manufactured by Forme Studio (Payaz).
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Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
