M Shed
What’s the story?
From installing the very first Donation Station in 2019 to launching a donation-powered trainset at their M Shed site, Bristol Museums are a great example of what long-term fundraising success can look like.
This is not just a story about using contactless donations to replace cash income; it is a story about sustained income growth, a fruitful partnership and a charity willing to think creatively about the future of fundraising.
Located on the harbourside, Bristol M Shed showcases the city’s history through its unique exhibits. Their extensive collection is made up of photos, documents, personal testimonies and objects that represent over 2,000 years of history, from pre-historic to modern day. As part of the Bristol Culture group, the museum is free of charge and relies on visitor donations to keep their doors open.
Key learnings:
Your chosen provider is just as important as your solution.
The more devices, the more donations you receive.
Cash still has it's place, it is not obsolete!
Unique and interactive donor journeys encourage engagement.
Positive and memorable interactions lead to lasting support.
A partnership that lasts
We have worked with Bristol Museums since the very beginning of our contactless journey, when they installed the first ever Donation Station in 2019. Seven years on, they are still working with us and we have loved seeing a long-term partnership develop that supports their fundraising.
Although they started with just one device, Bristol Museums have gradually expanded their use of contactless and keep seeing return on investment as they deploy across their different sites. Some units paid for themselves within 3 months of deployment. We are thrilled to be part of such effective fundraising.
Bristol Museums are a great example of how donation income can grow over time when organisations invest in the right number of devices and deploy them in the right locations.
As a trusted supplier we have enjoyed supporting these efforts through expert technical support and guidance, and a strong focus on their fundraising ambitions.
Developing a donation powered train
After seeing consistent income from their GWD devices, Daniel Wide (Fundraising Officer at Bristol Museums) reached out to our team to propose a train-related fundraising project, naturally we were keen! The tech team at GWD have years of experience developing bespoke solutions and we love to “get involved”, so we got stuck into the project to see what could be created.
We’ve previously spoken about ‘experiential giving’, a strategy that sees charities use interactive elements within the giving journey to encourage supporter engagement.
M Shed had an existing Experiential Giving installation that had previously been very successful. There was a coin-operated trigger for their train set so that when a donation was made, the trainset would go round, however it only accepted 20p pieces and they are not very common.
Daniel asked if we could link this up to a Donation Station, as a way for people to donate contactlessly, and we succeeded. Working closely with Jack from the museum tech team we hooked the Donation Station up to an Arduino device and created the logic to run the train experience. Now donors have options!
Choo-choo-choose a donation
Visitors to M Shed can now select a donation amount on our wall-mounted Donation Station Pro and the train gets going. In its first week the new installation surpassed previous fundraising and created a fun point of interest for museum visitors.
By using our Pro device, they also added Gift Aid, email sign-ups, transaction fee coverage and so much more. A great experience for donors and a valuable additional income.
The experience is both enticing and visually engaging for donors, making the giving journey memorable and enjoyable. Family friendly venues like M Shed are the perfect environment to test interactive exhibits and to get people involved.
Positive interactions like this help to build long-lasting and meaningful supporter relationships while the public element also encourages bystanders to get involved and donate themselves. The fear of missing out plays a role here too!
For museums, heritage sites and other visitor attractions, the M Shed project shows what is possible when fundraising is treated as part of the experience. If you are looking to modernise an existing cash-based experience or explore a more interactive approach to giving, we’d love to hear from you.
Who are GWD?
We help socially-minded organisations transition to digital systems, building stronger relationships through impactful products and services.
Our experience goes back two decades, with a foundation building and providing critical digital services and products for the financial services and retail industries.
With a long-proven ability to handle challenging projects and a team of trusted experts, we work hard to solve problems and deliver change that helps others.
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