St Michael’s Hubberholme
Ben Widdows
CEO
St Michael’s is a small Norman church in a Yorkshire Dales hamlet. The door is opened each morning by a timer. There are no staff or volunteers, and no one is there to encourage visitors to donate. And yet, fundraising at St Michaels is on the up. Since installing a GWD Donation Station Pro in 2024, they have raised over £7,000 on top of existing cash giving.
This case study is part of a series looking at smaller Church of England churches where contactless giving is working. Smaller churches often assume that contactless giving is just for the larger churches, but we have many examples of success, no matter how big the church.
£4,000
raised on average per annum
45%
of donations are Gift Aided
64%
of donors cover transactions
About the church
St Michael’s is a small worshipping community and is part of the Parish of Upper Wharfedale & Littondale. They meet most Sundays, but a lot of the giving comes from visitors, which is why their Donation Station is so important. The church is always unmanned, opened by a daily timer, so visitors come and go without interacting with the church.
Although the church is small, they have done a good job of attracting visitors and used their position on a walking route to draw people in and invite them to give. The church was used as a filming location for All Creatures Great & Small and has interpretation panels about the production. JB Priestley’s ashes are buried in the churchyard and there are also several Mouseman carvings to find, which give visitors something to look for when they explore.
Contactless giving
The GWD Donation Station Pro has been in place since October 2024. Part of its success is that it’s clearly signposted and positioned where visitors naturally encounter it. Nick Davies, treasurer for the benefice, says signposting is something that needs really careful consideration within the church.
The church makes good use of the added value features available with the Pro: Gift Aid capture and Parish Giving Scheme integration, were important factors in the decision to move to a GWD device.
But the bonus of donors being able to remember Gift Aid details for next time and allowing donors to cover the transaction fees have all served to boost income. The Gift Aid conversion of 45% is particularly pleasing and the fact that PGS reclaim this for them automatically makes sure a reclaim is never missed.
The results
Since installation, the church has raised over £7,000 in contactless donations. The big win for the church is that this giving was on top of existing cash giving, it’s not replaced the existing donations. Nick is keen to share the success and regularly advocates for this with other treasurers who are considering the investment.
Their hesitation tends to comes from concern that the process is too complicated, or doubt that a small church will raise enough to justify the cost. Nick’s experience at Hubberholme and the other churches in the benefice is that the Donation Station Pro has delivered.
“Having installed a Donation Station we get much more income now than we ever did with just cash. Cash takings haven’t really reduced, but the overall income has grown through contactless.”
– Nick Davies, Treasurer, Upper Wharfedale & Littondale
Why does it work?
One of the keys to success at St Michael’s was the consideration given at initial setup: who is actually walking through this door, and what would make them give? At Hubberholme, the answer was walkers and tourists, people with time to pause and a genuine interest in what they were looking at. The device is visible and available at the moment people are willing to give. The answer to these questions is different for every church, but the question is always important.
Finding the formula for your church
Who are your potential donors? Your church may not be like St Michael’s Hubberholme and attract regular walkers, but there will be other opportunities: regular congregants, mid-week visitors, wedding guests, or people attending community events. The size of the church is less important than understanding who those people are and what conditions make it easy for them to give.
The fear that a small church cannot generate enough volume to justify the cost of a Donation Station is understandable, but with the right setup, return on investment is guaranteed. The question is not ‘do we have enough donors?’ It is ‘have we made it as easy as possible for the donors we do have?’
Who are GWD?
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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.
