Leeds Cathedral
Ben Widdows
CEO
Leeds Cathedral is a busy city-centre place of worship. Like most cathedrals, its congregation is constantly changing: alongside a core worshipping community, it welcomes a steady flow of visitors, students, and worshippers passing through the city.
The transitory nature of their worshipping community means their approach to in-person giving is particularly important.
The cathedral installed a GWD Donation Station Pro back in 2019, making them one of our longest-standing customers. Seven years on, the device is still in daily use. I spoke with Anna Larkin from the Diocese of Leeds Finance Team about how contactless giving has performed, and what the future holds for giving at the cathedral.
35%
of donations are Gift Aided
7 years
of reliable service
Giving at a cathedral
In Anna’s view, giving by standing order is still the gold standard and the diocese as a whole encourages this where it can, but at the cathedral, with many people attending occasionally or while visiting the city, in-person far outweighs regular giving. Many people choose to donate as they arrive, so the giving experience at the door matters enormously.
Contactless has become a significant part of the cathedral’s giving, and the results have exceeded expectations. Anna was candid that the success of contactless fundraising has been a genuine surprise.
“We’ve been surprised by just how successful contactless giving has been for us.”
– Anna Larkin, Diocese of Leeds Finance Team
Seven years of service
The Donation Station Pro was purchased in 2019, and it has simply kept working. The device causes no issues, the hardware has proved very reliable, and the housing remains in good condition despite seven years in a high-footfall public setting. On the occasions support has been needed, the GWD team have been responsive.
For any organisation weighing up the cost of contactless, longevity is a key part of the return-on-investment calculation. A device that lasts for seven years (and counting) spreads its cost over a very long working life.
Infinitely upgradable
One of the advantages of the Donation Station is that the model Leeds cathedral bought in 2019 had fewer features than today. GWD continually releases new features, making sure to address past and current customer challenges. These updates are made available to all customers at no extra cost through their existing service fees, maximising device longevity.
The cathedral can now take full advantage of these improvements, such as the way the solution now has the option to update the causes via our portal, giving them the flexibility to align the giving options with seasons, appeals, and events without any input from GWD. They also now have access to features such as the new Automatic Gift Aid Reclaim, removing the administrative burden of the reclaim process and boosting the overall income.
What's next: contactless on the plate
A possible next step for the cathedral is extending contactless to the offertory itself. The team are looking at potential solutions such as the GWD Donation Station Lite as a way of bringing contactless giving to the plate, so that congregants who no longer carry cash can participate fully in the offering at Mass.
Leeds Cathedral’s experience shows what a long-term partnership with GWD looks like: a device that performs reliably year after year, a feature set that keeps growing at no additional cost, and a support team on hand when needed.
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.
