Credit Card Processing tested at Kettles by Salvation Army

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Fascinating news in this mornings Observer - Charlotte's Salvation Army is testing credit card acceptance - Visa, MasterCard and American Express - at a number of red kettles this Christmas season throughout the city.

Jim Price - the agency's director, points out that folks appear to be carrying less cash than in years past (pretty observant) and other payment options seem to be called for. 

Apparently - the idea has been tested in a Salvation Army chapter in Dallas/Fort Worth and guess what? Credit card donors gave an average of $14 at the Kettle, compared to the average $2 given by cash donors.

What's interesting about this picture?

• It is textbook credit card processing benefits - i.e. using credit cards can increase the amount of your average ticket or sale or in this case donation.
• Using credit cards makes tracking sales easier.
• The salvation army is a smart merchant, combining what we know about trends in credit card use and cash on hand.
• Mobile or wireless credit card processing is easy!

The Salvation Army is not rated by Charities Navigator because of the agency's religious mission and thus a lack of reporting requirements -but sure has been around doing good works for a long time. 

Charlotte's Salvation Army Chapter is working to serve more families than ever before, like all of our charitable organizations this year.  Check out the agencies mission and give'em a call if you have the faith in their missions and outreach.

We can certainly say this about the organization - their implementation of a program to accept cashless transactions or credit card payments-donations is smart, cost effective and likely to increase cash flow.

I like that in my charities.