Hi Tasha,
Here at Winchester (remember us? 🥲) we are weighing up the options. Some people seem to be concerned about raising enough additional income to cover the initial outlay and the ongoing charges, for a proper donations device/software. I think it is probably inadvisable for small Meetings, and a good choice for the largest Meetings. It's us in-betweeners who need to make our best estimate. I personally am convinced that our local Meeting would benefit significantly, mainly by way of individual donations, from attenders and visitors.
We are currently studying the differences between a simple payment device (like market traders use) and two donations devices - DONA and CollecTin. The simple payment device has the big drawback (among others) of needing someone to operate  it / speak with donor, and would miss out on Gift Aid. A proper self-service donation device is what you see in a lot of churches etc, and is a much better solution, I think.  Oxford Meeting House is using DONA.
I'd be interested to hear how the discussions go in Lancaster.
Friendliest wishes,
Lorraine

Andrew and Lorraine O'Hanlon
Warden-Managers
Friends' Meeting House
16 Colebrook Street
Winchester  SO23 9LH
01962 864184


On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 at 10:19, Lancaster Quakers <lancasterquakers@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Friends

I know that this subject has come up in the past, but I wondered whether the discussions had moved on and whether anyone has actually gone ahead to use a card payment system.  Friends in Lancaster are considering the benefits vs costs, but at the moment the discussion is only about donations.  I know that a lot of our building users would really welcome the option of paying by card.  Although I doubt having a card reader would increase our income from room hire, it would definitely be a positive change in terms of the users' experience.

I'd particularly welcome comments from Friends and Meetings who are using a card payment system already, but any other observations or comments would also be really helpful.  I have a Finance Committee meeting tonight (Tuesday 26th) (my first one since arriving here six months ago!), and have just been told ten minutes ago that this is an item we will be considering. I'm sure this is just the beginning of the conversations here, so any comments would be welcome, whenever you have the chance.

All the best

Tasha

Natasha Heny
Warden
Lancaster Quaker Meeting House

(My days off are Friday and Saturdays, and I work flexible hours between 08:45-19:30 Sunday to Thursday.)
_______________________________________________
wardenship mailing list -- wardenship@lists.quaker.eu.org
To unsubscribe send an email to wardenship-leave@lists.quaker.eu.org