Ring-a-ding zip — Red Kettles go cashless

Local Salvation Army donation program takes credit cards for the first time

By Kevin Harden

Pamplin Media Group, Nov 20, 2009, Updated Nov 24, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

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“In Dallas, they were seeing average donations of about $14 for the cashless machines, compared to the traditional Red Kettle where they were seeing only $1 or $2 donations,” Joswick said. “It’s a lot higher.”

After last year’s experiment, Salvation Army organizations in about 200 cities across the nation began using some form of cashless debit/credit card donation system, she said. Most of those are in the West. Other cities like Chicago, Detroit, Manhattan and Phoenix also are using the systems this holiday season, Joswick said.

Going electronic for donations is nothing new to the national charitable organization. The Salvation Army Web site, www.salvationarmyusa.org, has had an online Red Kettle donation program for several years. This year, however, the program lets people set up individual online kettles to compete for donations.

A handful of Salvation Army officers and volunteers training on the machines this week in Northeast Portland were anxious to put the cashless donation plan to work.

“We can put up signs saying that we now take Visa and Mastercard. That will be very cool,” said P. Constance Grecco, community relations director for the Salvation Army’s Portland Metro Department.

Hard to lift all those coins

The brick-sized Elavon Verifone card-swipe machines, which look like TV remote controls on steroids, are on loan from U S Bank in Portland, which also is not charging a fee for their use. The machines only take Visa or Mastercard credit and debit cards (Visa and Mastercard did not waive their card transaction fee for the charitable donations).

Salvation Army Lt. Ray Dihle checks out a credit card swipe machine that will be used this holiday season by Red Kettle volunteers to take cashless donations. Four of the machines will be used in the Portland area. JONATHAN HOUSE/PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP

People can swipe their debit/credit card on the side of the machine, a volunteer enters the last four digits of the card’s number and out rolls a two-part receipt. Donors must sign one of the receipts, just like any debit/credit transaction, and then they push the signed receipt into the waiting red kettle.

“I’m one of those guys who never carry cash, like a lot of people these days,” Sullivan said. “This is perfect for that.”

Electronic information about the cards is sent immediately to the bank and the machines don’t store any data, making them worthless to potential identity thieves.

Volunteers will use the machines for six to eight hours a day, the lifespan of their battery charge. Volunteers who handle the donations also are checked out by the Salvation Army to make sure the credit/debit card information is safe.

Many of the people training on the devices have been part of the Red Kettle operation for more than a decade. Besides Sullivan, volunteer and paid part-time Salvation Army employee Bryan Loucks has been a bell ringer and Red Kettle volunteer manager for 18 years. Lt. Ray Dihle has manned a kettle for about six years. Three years ago in California, Dihle was counting the change in one of his kettles when he unfolded a donated check for $7,777.77.

Depending on who’s ringing the bells, Red Kettle donations can include a lot of dollar bills or a pile of change. If Boy Scout troops are volunteering, their young friends usually fill the kettles with coins, said Maj. Jim Sloan, another longtime veteran of the Red Kettle program.

“Sometimes it will be so filled with change that it’s hard to lift,” Sloan said. “I’ve had kids come up to kettles with bottles of coins and want to donate that. It takes quite awhile to dump all that in a kettle.”

kevinharden@portlandtribune.com

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