1 March 2018
How Barclaycard Helped the National Funding Scheme Adapt to Modern Consumer Payment Habits
A case study exploring how the National Funding Scheme partnered with Barclaycard to develop contactless giving technology that enables charities to capture donations from cashless supporters.
As cash usage in the UK continues its long decline, the National Funding Scheme needed a banking and payment technology partner who could help bring contactless giving to the charitable sector.
The Challenge
The challenge was twofold. First, building a contactless payment experience tailored to charitable giving - where a fixed donation amount, simple branding, and frictionless interaction are more important than the checkout flows designed for retail. Second, enabling charities to receive contactless funds without requiring each organisation to establish its own merchant acquiring relationship with a bank.
For smaller charities in particular, setting up card acceptance independently involves significant paperwork, fees, and waiting times - barriers that would prevent widespread adoption.
The Partnership
Barclaycard provided the payment technology infrastructure and banking partnership that allowed the National Funding Scheme to offer a ready-to-use contactless giving service. Charities receive their tap+DONATE™ device and can begin accepting contactless donations immediately - with no need to establish independent banking arrangements.
This model - a charity acting as a payment aggregator for other charities - was innovative and required careful regulatory and commercial structuring. The partnership with Barclaycard made it possible.
The Impact
The result is a contactless giving service that is accessible to any registered charity, regardless of size. From urban city farms to cathedrals, from festival stages to hospital corridors, tap+DONATE™ has enabled organisations across the sector to capture the generosity of supporters who carry no cash.
The full details of this partnership and its impact are documented in the National Funding Scheme Barclaycard case study, which covers the technical implementation, commercial model, and outcomes achieved since launch.
For more information about contactless giving with DONATE™, contact hello@nationalfundingscheme.org.