An independent panel of charity luminaries led by Sir Stuart Etherington has converged to choose which charities will appear as options for cashpoint donating at 4,000 ATMs nationwide from next month.
Four representatives from across the voluntary sector have been appointed to select the charities in a government initiative being spearheaded by independent ATM operator Bank Machine. A total of 30 charities will be selected from over 550 registrations of interest.
NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart will chair the Bank Machine ATM giving charity selection panel, alongside vice chair Stephen Dunmore, currently chair of the BBC appeals advisory committee. Cathy Pharoah, professor of charity funding at Cass Business School and Gerald Oppenheim, chair of the trustee board at the Camden Society and former Big Lottery Fund policy chief, complete the group.
ATM network Link, of which Bank Machine is a member, announced an agreement with the major high-street banks to enable donations to charity at cashpoint machines last year.
National focus
The UK has been divided into five regions, and the panel will select six different charities to be listed from each (two from England and one each from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), with the emphasis being on organisations whose work directly impacts their region.
"To me, accepting the chairmanship of this important panel drawn from experts from across the charitable sector was vital in moving forward a key innovation for fundraising in the UK,” said Sir Stuart.
“Our role is to ensure that a fair and robust process is put in place to select the charities. Particularly in a recession, it is more important than ever that charities are supported by original approaches to fundraising, and I sincerely hope that concepts such as ATM Giving become successful."
Ron Delnevo, Bank Machine’s managing director, confirmed that the company would be launching ATM giving in July. “There could be millions of pounds of donations to be received through ATM giving and it is crucial the UK public has a good choice of charities to which to donate," he said.
L-R: Melanie Knight, director of communications and resources at Bank Machine; Stephen Dunmore; Cathy Pharoah; Gerald Oppenheim; Sir Stuart Etherington.
