Friday, 2 March 2018 - RSPCA Queensland, Alicorn Ventures and PayPal Australia have today announced the roll-out of a world first digital donations platform aiming to increase digital giving for the rehoming, rehabilitation and rescuing of animals throughout the state. 

The new device, Tap Tins, created by Alicorn Ventures in partnership with PayPal as a solution to introduce a frictionless donation platform for the RSPCA, today launched in Brisbane and will see Queenslanders be the first to donate to the RSPCA via tap-and-go payments. 

The announcement comes as new research from PayPal revealed more than half of Australians believe charities don’t make it easy to give one-off digital donations because payment methods are too traditional and have not kept up with technology. The research also found that a quarter of Australians would be more inclined to make larger donations if they could simply tap-and-go with their credit card. 

The device, rolling out in RSPCA headquarters from today, integrates a customisable Android device and PayPal Here credit card reader into a standalone unit that accepts donations of pre-determined amount options via credit or debit card. Removing the barriers to traditional cash donations, the Tap Tins and PayPal device aims to increase donations for the charity by meeting the changing payment landscape in Australia. 

RSPCA CEO Mark Townend said: “We’ve seen donations from the old-fashioned cash box steadily decline over the last five years to almost half of what it used to be.” 

“But we believe the level of generosity in the community hasn’t waned.By introducing this easy electronic donation option with PayPal and TapTins, we hope to see donations increase up to tenfold.” 

PayPal’s Director of Mid-Market and Small Business Segments Brian McDonnell said: “We know from PayPal research that there’s a huge demand by consumers for charities to make digital payments faster and more convenient.” 

“By removing the barriers to donations, and digitizing the giving environment in Australia, we know that Australian’s will be more inclined to give to the charities they care about. 

Alicorn Ventures Co-Founders Jordan Grives and Dominic Holland said: “We were thrilled to be engaged by RSPCA Queensland to design and build a solution to waning public cash donations. We are excited to be launching out of Brisbane, this world first and scalable contactless-donation platform, Tap Tins, which will not just help save Puppies in Queensland, but will be made available to all reputable not-for-profits raising tens-of-millions for charities across the country.” 

The RSPCA is rolling out 900 PayPal Here devices in the first month, with a further 500-1000 per month throughout 2018. 

Tap Tins will be available at a number of leading retail chains throughout Australia, who are committed to corporate social responsibility.