Cashless donation system set to help local charities

As New Zealand continues down the path of becoming a cashless society, charities are finding it harder and harder to fill their collection buckets.

But that could soon change, thanks to new technology available in some shops, that means people can make donations with cards instead of coins. 

This is great news for charities like Surf Life Saving NZ, which relies on donations to stay afloat, but have seen cash donations halve in some areas.  

"The indications coming out of Australia for these same type of programmes is that they are absolutely smashing their figures," senior executive Matt Warren told Newshub.

While contactless payments for charities have been possible at one-off events, this marks the first time that year-round systems have been installed in New Zealand. The KFC on Auckland's Fort St was one of the first to have the "tap to donate" system installed. 

Damien Halloran, national sales director for Quest, the system's designers, told Newshub that it's already seen real change, since launching in Australia last year. 

"One charity I can think about saw a 300 percent increase in their donations revenues."

Quest says this is just the beginning and it's already had a lot of interest from other charities in New Zealand. 

Newshub.