The future of on-the-go fundraising

Charities aiming to maximise funds must offer donors the right payment options. They’ll need to shift payment options to meet changing consumer demands, to match shifts in public purchasing behaviours. They’ll need to make the most of each donation. And they’ll need to transform on-the-go donations into the long-term, turning one-off payments into life-long commitments.  

In this article, we look to the future of on-the-go fundraising. We explore how charities can meet donor expectations, how to stay ahead of the curve, and how to transform donors into advocates.  

Meet your donor expectations 

Buckets were all the rage, just two decades ago. You’d walk out of a train station and often hear the familiar rattling tins, the shake of the bucket. It was on-the-go fundraising in a way consumers understood, usually famous charities running campaigns during difficult periods. Often people carrying buckets wore Christmas hats, or badges, and the cause was usually loud and clear.  

Nothing much has changed. The rattle might have disappeared, but the familiar sights remain: the Christmas hats, the clear causes, the people with large smiles. The only substantive change is the form of payment, shifting to meet the way people give and the way people expect to give.  

“Behavioural change only happens when a critical mass of people change,” Chris Hind, Treasurer of Cricket Without Boundaries, said in a recent Give as you Live session at the Charity Digital Fundraising Summit (DFS) 2025. The critical mass of people has indeed changed – and continues to change. Projections suggest, in fact, that just 6% of transactions will involve cash by 2030, a statement that would have seemed absurd just a few years ago. Most transactions will not even use cards. The majority will involve phones and, increasingly, wearable devices. 

So charities need to offer contactless and mobile payments. And they need to make those payments as simple and seamless as possible. “It’s all about ease and convenience,” Annabelle Risdon, Director of Give as you Live said in the DFS session. Annabelle explained that people live busy lives and want to donate quickly and securely. Charities must strive to meet expectations, to meet that consumer demand, aiming to generate maximum impact with minimum hassle.

Transform one-time donors into advocates 

In the UK, according to UK Finance, more than half of UK adults now use mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Wallet registrations are continuing to increase and translating into real activity. And they’re increasingly secure, with improvements around biometrics, meaning that mobile devices often require levels of security one would not get from cash or card payments.  

And perhaps the best way to collect mobile payments is through mobile devices. Consider the Tap to Donate app, created by Give as you Live. The free app allows charities and individual fundraisers to create a simple, convenient way of collecting donations in a matter of moments, without costly card readers or any other obstacles. You just use the app. And so can all volunteers in your charity, all members of staff, even just friends of the charity who happen to be at an event. The app takes seven short steps to finalise a donation, start to finish, which includes minor elements of data capture and the choice to include Gift Aid – always essential for charities. Plus, the value of contactless donations tends to be higher than their cash counterparts, as a result of suggested amounts at the point of donation. 

Apps like Tap to Donate do not simply provide ease. They also offer the promise of further engagements with one-time donors.  The app provides a secure transaction and collects small data points, such as an email address. That gives charities the ability to create further interactions with one-time donors, perhaps offering a thank you email after their donation has been confirmed. Further comms could highlight the impact of the donation, perhaps showing what your charity could achieve with more money, highlighting the overall potential of impact. 

A seamless, secure, and frictionless app is hard to beat. It allows anyone to raise money, at any time, in any space, in a way that suits pretty much everyone. The biggest risk can be averted by way of a phone charger. But, more than that, the tech allows charities to gain small-scale data about donors, enough to transform conversations further support and, perhaps, in the end, advocacy. The app optimises the way charities raise funds. It’s the future of on-the-go fundraising.  

Find out about Tap to Donate app from Give as you Live by visiting their website below.  

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