The Institute of Fundraising and Rapidata have launched a programme to protect the status of cheques but also to help charities prepare for a cheque-free future.

Following a successful campaign against Payments Council plans to phase out cheques by the end of the decade, the Institute has joined the donation processing bureau to look at how to secure the future of cheques, but also to chart the use of the increasingly less-popular payment method.

While the Payments Council has put on ice plans to let cheques die out, Louise Richards, Institute director of policy and campaigns said that the sector needed to remain vigilant about the status of cheques and how the sector might deal with their decline. The programme will also encourage charities to reduce their reliance on cheques as a payment type, and will research consumer and charity trends in cheque usage.

“We have been assured cheques will continue for as long as there is a need for them but there is also a sense of uncertainty as to what is to come and so we cannot afford to rest on our laurels,” she said.

The ‘Cheques: Where now?’ programme will be led by a cross-sector panel, which met for the first time on 31 January and which includes the Payments Council itself. The panel will investigate the importance of cheque donations to charities, the future of cheques and look into possible alternatives to the payment mechanism for charities to rely on in the future.

While Rapidata managing director Scott Gray notes that the number of cheques used a day in 2009 (3.5 million) was a sharp drop from the number used daily in 1990 (11 million), some charities are still dependent on the mechanism.

The Institute’s Richards said: “Our research shows that many charities are heavily reliant on cheques in their fundraising, with some stating 75 – 90 per cent of their total income is received in this way.”