Investigating Cashless Trend Impact on Small Charities' Fundraising

This dissertation investigates the growing cashless trend and its impact on small charities' fundraising activities. The research examines the shift from traditional cash donations to digital platforms, analyzing the challenges and opportunities this presents. It explores the factors influencing the adoption of cashless systems, including technological access, security concerns, and donor preferences. The study further investigates the strategies charities employ to target specific demographics, such as middle-aged women and young people, and the role of technology in these efforts. It also delves into the initiatives undertaken by banks and governments to support the cashless transition, and analyzes the implications for the future of charitable giving. The research utilizes a mixed-methods approach, including literature review, survey data analysis, and case studies to provide a comprehensive understanding of the cashless trend's influence on the charity sector. The findings offer insights into the benefits and obstacles of embracing digital fundraising, and provide recommendations for small charities seeking to adapt to the evolving landscape of financial transactions. The dissertation also highlights the importance of data security and privacy in the context of cashless donations, and explores the ethical considerations associated with digital fundraising practices.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Investigate the Cashless Trend and its Impact on Small Charities for Raising Money
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
The aim of the research is to investigate the cashless trend and its impact on small charities for
raising money. The survey also highlighted that only 19% of the donations are made using the
online platform while 53% of the donations are done by cash that imposes severe challenges.
Cashless trend in charity fundraising also imposes challenges such as hacking and loss of
personal information. But still cashless trend is grabbing attention because of the benefits it has
to offer and cannot be denied. This research will help to understand about the cashless trend
more effectively that will in turn help in analyzing the benefits and challenges it has for the
charities supporting this trend.
Positivism philosophy, descriptive research design and probability sampling technique has been
used that allowed 50 employees out of all the employees of charities to share their views about
the reason cashless trend is getting more recognition compared to manual fund rising. From the
data analysis, it can be inferred that cashless trend is indeed a blessings for the charities and fund
raising activities. This is because people feel more secured in donating money with the belief that
the fund is going to the right places and will be used rightfully. Moreover, with cashless trend,
the money of the individuals is safe and serves the right purpose without being misplaced.
However, the challenges that come with it cannot be ignored and needs to be worked on.

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Table of Contents
Chap 1: Introduction........................................................................................................................7
1.0 Overview...........................................................................................................................7
1.1 Problem statement.................................................................................................................7
1.2 Research aim..........................................................................................................................8
1.3 Research objectives...............................................................................................................8
1.4 Research questions.................................................................................................................8
1.5 Research rationale..................................................................................................................9
1.6 Conceptual framework and primary research methods.......................................................10
1.7 Summary of the overall structure........................................................................................11
Chapter 2: Literature review..........................................................................................................12
2.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................12
2.1 Cashless trend......................................................................................................................12
2.2 Factors influencing the emerging needs of cashless trends.................................................13
2.3 Challenges faced in raising money manually for charities..................................................13
2.4 Benefits of adopting cashless trends for charities................................................................14
2.5 Obstacles of adopting cashless trend for charities...............................................................15
2.6 Impact of cashless society on charitable donations.............................................................15
2.7 Initiatives undertaken by organizations to support cashless trends for charities.................16

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2.7.1 Governments.................................................................................................................16
2.7.2 Banks............................................................................................................................16
2.7.3 Credits and debit cards..................................................................................................17
2.7.4 Charities........................................................................................................................17
2.8 Summary..............................................................................................................................17
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................19
3.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................19
3.1 Research philosophy............................................................................................................19
3.2 Research design...................................................................................................................20
3.3 Sampling..............................................................................................................................21
3.4 Ethics...................................................................................................................................22
3.5 Limitations...........................................................................................................................23
3.6 Summary..............................................................................................................................23
Chapter 4: Data analysis................................................................................................................24
4.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................24
4.1 Findings...............................................................................................................................24
4.2 Summary..............................................................................................................................35
Chapter 5: Discussions..................................................................................................................36
5.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................36
5.1 Findings and interpretations................................................................................................36

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5.2 Summary..............................................................................................................................38
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................39
6.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................39
6.1 Linking with objectives.......................................................................................................39
6.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................41
6.3 Future scope of the study.....................................................................................................41
References......................................................................................................................................43
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................48
Survey questions........................................................................................................................48

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual framework...................................................................................................10
Figure 2: Gender specification.......................................................................................................24
Figure 3: Age group.......................................................................................................................25
Figure 4: Association with charities..............................................................................................26
Figure 5: Part time or full time employment with charities...........................................................26
Figure 6: Awareness about cashless trend in charities..................................................................27
Figure 7: Increased donations with cashless trend........................................................................28
Figure 8: Effectiveness of cashless................................................................................................28
Figure 9: Authenticity of bank accounts........................................................................................29
Figure 10: Increased demand of cashless trend.............................................................................29
Figure 11: Issues with manual fund collection..............................................................................30
Figure 12: Challenges of raising funds manually..........................................................................31
Figure 13: Benefits of cashless trend.............................................................................................31
Figure 14: Types of benefits of going cashless.............................................................................32
Figure 15: Challenges of adopting cashless by charities...............................................................32
Figure 16: Methods of overcoming cashless challenges...............................................................33
Figure 17: Initiatives taken by organizations.................................................................................34
Figure 18: List of organizations taking initiatives.........................................................................34

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Chap 1: Introduction
1.0 Overview
A cashless trend or society in fundraising might sound something like science science fiction
but the world is heading in that way in a fast pace. Numerous powerful forces are present for
making the cashless trend in fundraising for charities a success such as financial enterprise and
governments (Olive 2015). However, on the contrary, it is difficult to reach there because of
potential challenges such as exposing of personal information, hacking and additional fee charge
(Clifford and Mohan 2016). The cashless trend in fundraising for charities is said to be donations
made by the individuals using electronic media such as credit and debit cards instead of handing
over cash directly. Digital fundraising or cashless trend is proposing and creating new ways for
charities to raise money because charities need money for working and fulfilling the ultimate
purpose of serving good to the society (Crow, Mathmann and Greer 2019).
1.1 Problem statement
Though the trend is rising and grabbing attention, following and adopting the cashless
trend is not possible for all the charities while raising money. This is because not all charities
have access to technology. According to Charities Aid Foundation’s 2019 Charity Landscape
Survey, only 29% of the charities have effective leverage technology. The survey also
highlighted that only 19% of the donations are made using the online platform while 53% of the
donations are done by cash that imposes severe challenges (Medium 2019). Apart from
technological issue, cashless trend in charity fundraising also imposes challenges such as
hacking and loss of personal information. But still cashless trend is grabbing attention because of
the benefits it has to offer and cannot be denied.

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1.2 Research aim
The aim of the research is to investigate the cashless trend and its impact on small
charities for raising money.
1.3 Research objectives
The objectives of the research are:
 To understand the concept of cashless trend
 To critically analyzing the factors influencing the cashless trend
 To investigate the challenges of raising money manually
 To study the benefits and obstacles of cashless society for the charities
 To shed light on the technologies and strategies charities prefer for targeting middle aged
women and young people
1.4 Research questions
The questions of the research are:
 What do you mean by cashless trend?
 What are the factors influencing the cashless trend?
 What are the challenges of raising money manually?
 What are the benefits and obstacles of cashless society for the charities?
 What are the technologies and strategies charities prefer for targeting middle aged women
and young people?
1.5 Research rationale
Undertaking this research is significant because this will help in gathering in-depth
understanding and better in-sight about the latest trend that is gripping the fund raising technique

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for charities. This research will help to understand about the cashless trend more effectively that
will in turn help in analyzing the benefits and challenges it has for the charities supporting this
trend. Charities have encountered issues while collection of funds that have hampered the
ultimate purpose of the charity (Ravi 2017).
The funds get misplaced and fail to serve the ultimate purpose thereby, affecting the
reputation of the charitable trust that they are misusing the money. This research will help in
evaluating the different factors that facilitates cashless trend and critically analyze them for
effective use of the funds raised. Additionally, this research also sheds light on the advanced
technologies and strategies that charities are undertaking so that the target audiences, middle
aged women and young people are influenced positively (Albashrawi 2016).

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Cashless trend for fund raising
Easier currency exchange
Increased security of funds
Decreased illegal cash-based activity
Increased public spending
More efficient processing of transactions
Minimizes the scope of cash thefts
1.6 Conceptual framework and primary research methods
Figure 1: Conceptual framework
(Source: Created by the Author)
For undertaking the research, positivism philosophy, deductive approach, descriptive
design and survey research strategy has been used. Hence, probability sampling technique has
been used for selecting 50 participants having adequate knowledge and information about
cashless trend in fundraising. As a result, primary data collection process and quantitative data
analysis has been used. The primary data collected from the participants are further analyzed by
interpreting the percentages of the opinion followed by supporting the numerical values obtained

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with past researches. The primary data is analyzed using pie charts or bar graphs accordingly for
achieving the aim of the ongoing research ultimately.
1.7 Summary of the overall structure
The overall dissertation comprises of six major chapters namely introduction, literature
review, research methodology, research and findings, conclusion and recommendations. Each of
the chapters plays an important role and hence needs to be developed chronologically. The first
chapter consists of background information followed by problem statement, aim and objectives
with questions followed by rationalizing the selection of research topic. This chapter is followed
by the literature review chapter that is developed with the purpose of reviewing the past studies
and investigations in the same field. Research methodology is the next chapter that sheds light
about the existing methodological tools and justified for being selected. This chapter is followed
by the research and the findings chapter where the collected data is analyzed and interpreted by
referring to past researches. This is followed by the conclusions and recommendations chapter
that summarizes the overall findings that is followed by relevant technologies for overcoming the
identified problems as well as for improving the existing strategies.