Cashless giving

It is not a new kind of generosity. It is the same ask, without requiring the giver to have cash on them. Churches and charities have used plates and tins for that ask for a long time. Cashless giving keeps the ask in the room when wallets hold phones more often than coins.

The giver still chooses an amount. The organisation still receives it. What changes is the rail: instead of counting a tin, the payment is processed by a payments company (for TheTin, that is Stripe) into the organisation’s own account.

Fewer people carry coins to a service, a stall, or an appeal. Counting cash takes time and is a security risk. A cash-only tin silently turns away people who would have given.

Moving off cash does not have to mean a full giving suite or a monthly stewardship product. Many groups only need something that works in the doorway, for guests as well as regulars.

• QR-based giving — a printed code opens a page on the giver’s phone. No terminal to hire, no power point. The organisation prints once.
• Card and wallets — on that page, Stripe Checkout may offer cards, Apple Pay, or Google Pay depending on country, device, browser, currency, and eligibility. Not every giver sees every method.
• EFTPOS — a terminal in someone’s hand. It works, but it needs hardware, a float of attention, and often a lead. It is a different job from a tin on a table.
• Bank transfer — accurate when someone sits down later. Easy to forget after the moment has passed, and a number on a notice is slow to trust.

Tap-to-pay on a physical terminal is another kind of contactless. TheTin is not an NFC terminal. See Contactless donations.

TheTin is a cashless collection tin: a named page and a permanent QR for churches and charities (and for anyone collecting occasionally). Money goes to the recipient’s Stripe account. TheTin never holds it. The fee is 1c–99c NZD per payment; Stripe’s processing fee is separate.

Church Sundays: Churches. Charity appeals: Charities. Printing the code: Church QR codes.