ATM giving rollout has been ‘piecemeal’, says Bank Machine

22 Nov 2012 News

Predictions that enabling giving at ATM terminals would unleash a flood of easy philanthropy have proved optimistic, as the managing director of an ATM operator admitted that the rollout of ATM giving has been “higgledy piggledy”.

Predictions that enabling giving at ATM terminals would unleash a flood of easy philanthropy have proved optimistic, as the managing director of an ATM operator admitted that the rollout of ATM giving has been “higgledy piggledy”.

Allowing card users to make a donation when using ATM services was an idea mooted in the Cabinet Office’s in 2011, andas the system has been rolled out. But the implementation of this system, according to Bank Machine MD Ron Delnevo, has left a lot to be desired.

Only about 8,000 or 9,000 of the country’s ATMs are able to facilitate donations and some cards, such as Lloyds bank cards, are not enabled to give. Figures from Link, which connects every ATM in the UK, are closer to the 12,000 machine-mark – still significantly less than the 65,000 odd machines in use in the country.

“It’s a great thing to talk about,” said Delnevo. “But the way we’ve launched it has been higgledy piggledy.”

Speaking at the Cass Business School on Tuesday evening, Delnevo said that while not all cards are activated to make ATM gifts, and not all ATMs are able to process donations anyway, there is no point in promoting the scheme to the public.

“There is huge potential for this channel to make this work for charity, but it’s going to take a huge effort,” he said. He said that if people could be persuaded to make a £5 donation just one in every ten times they use an ATM, that could unleash around £1.5bn for charities.

Graham Mott, head of development and external relations at Link Scheme, agreed that the initial rollout has not taken the country by storm. “It’s certainly not been a big bang,” he told civilsociety.co.uk.

Mott said the nature of the ATM network - that both card issues and banks need to enable giving - has worked to slow down the process of widespread roll out. In perfect world everything would go live simultaneously, he said, “But we’ll get there in the end”.

Last month from more than 500 applicants to benefit from Bank Machine’s ATM giving scheme, but Delnevo said that even this system posed problems. Many donors want to give to a specific charity, or prefer local and small as opposed to national and large. Delnevo asked for charities’ help in refining the system, and proposed a possible “ATM charity pot” through which various charities would receive a proportion of donations made.

He also called for the financial services sector to get involved in improving the system and its roll out. “The financial services sector has a lot to give and, you might argue, a lot to make up for,” he said.