St Mary’s has recently introduced a new way to give to our church that just requires tapping your debit card – no cash required!
Our new Goodbox donation system is a quick and easy way to donate to the church, and is as easy as using your card to get on the Tube or buy a coffee.
While our new tap-and-go system is set to £5, people can give as little as £3 per tap, or as much as £30 per tap, by pressing the £5 figure on the screen and then scrolling up or down to change the amount.
“Our hope is that this system will increase the amount of money we’re able to raise every year,” said Revd Adam Childs, who helped St Mary’s set up the system. “By having our Goodbox in the back of church, after services and events, it also reminds each of us that church happens only because we make it happen; that ministry happens because, as a community, we give.”
For St Mary’s, standing orders are incredibly important – i.e., ongoing monthly donations to the church that happen automatically (want to set up a standing order now? You can do so online, securely on our website) – as it helps the church to budget. However, our new tap-and-go system will allow visitors to give more easily – including those who come to St Mary’s for gigs, candlelight tours and special events – and will also allow those who attend regularly but have yet to take out a standing order give more easily (there are already more purchases by debit card in the UK than there are by cash, and by 2021, it is estimated only 27% of transactions will be by cash).
Others who currently give by standing order might also want to make an additional gift to the church over and above their monthly giving at certain times of the year, and a tap-and-go system makes doing so easier.
St Mary’s has purchased one Goodbox unit, which is portable, and is exploring whether we might have additional fixed or portable units as part of our Creative Church regeneration project. Goodbox – a company that works with charities – gets a very small percentage of each gift.
