Hi Lorraine 

Hope all is well with you.  I miss Winchester Friends, and you and Andy - but, all is going well up north.

We do both cash collections and give Friends the details so they can give to the charities directly - the details go out in the weekly notices email.  Like you, we have no idea, and no way of knowing, what amounts have been paid directly by Friends.

The weekly cash collections are for the local Meeting, BYM, and the cause/charity which changes each month.  The various collections are recorded on a spreadsheet each week by the Deputy Warden and banked monthly, along with the small amounts we get donated towards post Meeting refreshments and a few room hire cheques (we dont accept cash for room hire anymore).  I suspect the time it takes to record the collections on the spreedsheet, send that to the Treasurer, record in Quickbooks, then take to the bank along with the few cheques, costs more in staff time than makes it financially viable (it's a Building Society, and I've never been in there for less than ½ an hour on the odd occasions I've gone myself).

Our Finance Committee is still working towards getting a card reader (thank you to all the Friends here who contributed to my question about card readers), and I'm still hoping this might be the way forward for us.  We need to find a way to simplify how Friends give, and recognise that many don't carry cash which has meant our collections have decreased (that's my understanding anyway), and we have no way to know how much Friends are giving to the causes we are supporting.  

Occasionally the Meeting as a body give donations to charities, so not acting as agents.  That's a very easy process either as a BACS payment, or if that's not possible, by using one of the Meeting's debit cards.

As an aside, I'd be interested to know which card reader Winchester decided on in the end, and how it's working out for you.

All the best

Tasha