How fundraisers can collect donations with a smartphone

However, in-person donations are still a vital income stream for charities and, until recently, the world of digital fundraising has struggled to replicate the spontaneity of the tried-and-tested bucket. While digital donations have helped charities discover more about their supporter base and keep them engaged, the sector has failed to strike a balance between gathering this information and making donations convenient. Complicated giving processes involving tablets and laptops become a much more daunting prospect than simply slipping a coin in a bucket or tapping a card to a machine.  

It is a significant problem for charities to contend with. As donors shift away from coins to contactless payments, how can we collect donations conveniently and make it easier for both supporters to give and fundraisers to capture their interest?  

Fortunately, the answer lies in our smartphones. Fundraising platform Give as you Live has created a free app that can be downloaded by charities as well as individual fundraisers to take donations directly to their respective charities or fundraising pages. The Tap to Donate app puts power in the hands of fundraisers and donors alike, creating a simple, convenient way of collecting donations without completing several different steps. For charities, the app provides a convenient free-to-use alternative to costly card readers, while for fundraisers the tech removes the need for paper fundraising forms and awkward chaser messages.  

Below, we explore some of the key factors that make the app useful for charities in 2025 and how they can boost their fundraising.  

Find out more about Tap to Donate  

Spontaneity 

Donor fatigue is a real challenge charities are facing in 2025. With thousands of charities running events, competing for attention and funds, donors can tire quickly of giving, particularly in an uncertain economy where finances become limited.  

The number of individual donors dropped in 2024 to the lowest levels recorded by the Charities Aid Foundation’s annual UK Giving Report since its inception in 2016. Charities must therefore look for ways to make fundraising an easier and more attractive prospect for potential supporters, meaning fewer steps and meeting them where they already are.  

Give as you Live’s Tap to Donate app takes just seven steps to process a donation, from choosing where you’d like the donation to go (i.e. directly to a charity or to a specific fundraising page) to entering your email address, selecting Gift Aid, and completing the transaction. Fundraisers can accept donations at exactly the time they capture their supporters’ interest, without laborious processes dissuading them from giving in the moment. Perhaps nothing beats the fundraising bucket for such spontaneity, but the Tap to Donate app gives us options.  

Convenience 

Being able to collect donations via smartphone is very convenient for charity representatives and fundraisers alike. Multiple staff members and volunteers can take donations for the same charity via their own smartphones using the charity’s specific four-digit PIN, meaning they can get started quickly and easily. And it’s super secure – no data is stored on the app or on the phone itself.   

Individual fundraisers can set up a fundraising page ahead of their events and take donations in-person via their phone, making the app a simple solution for a multitude of fundraising events: bake sale hosts can use it to accept payment for their delicious goods, challenge participants could accept on-the-day donations at their event, and those taking part in sponsored activity can accept donations as-and-when they’re chatting to friends, family and colleagues about their fundraising feats. 

The convenience of the app speaks to the ways we prefer to pay in 2025. In 2024, approximately 95% of all in-store payments were made using contactless, according to research from Barclays, with the bank describing it as “the default way to pay”. The research also revealed that contactless payments were popular with every generation, with the fastest growing segment of users being over-65s.   

Trust 

Spontaneity and convenience are all well and good, but if a payment process doesn’t look trustworthy, donors will still turn away. The Tap to Donate app comes with a number of security assurances – data is transmitted at the point of transaction, none is stored on phones. The app cannot be used on phones that don’t meet specific security requirements and is supplied by a PCI DSS certified payment provider. It is verified by Mastercard, Visa, and American Express. It has the credentials.  

But there are other ways to make sure the donation process feels secure to donors. Collecting email addresses means donors receive a thank you and confirmation of their donation after it is processed. It also means charities can follow up later to share the impact of that donation and keep the door open for further support.  

Donors are also given greater control over their donation amount, whether they want to cover payment fees, choose Gift Aid, or share a message alongside their donation. Fundraisers can set up whether payments go to their own fundraising pages or directly to the charity. For charities, there’s a daily donation history that’s accessible in the settings menu of the app available instantly, and it will appear in the charity admin account within 24 hours helping charities keep track of donations (and later perhaps double down on areas where they saw the most success). 

Remember that charity branding can go a long way towards reassuring donors that an app is as legit as a fundraising bucket. T-shirts, lanyards, posters, a swift thank you email (automated by Give as you Live), and much more can show that fundraisers are part of a clear community, raising money for a cause they care about, in a way that is simple and convenient for other potential supporters. It’s not about reinventing the wheel but taking a tried-and-tested fundraising method and adding a digital option for those who want it.  

To find out more about the Tap to Donate app from Give as you Live, visit their charity website below. 

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