A donation device exists to let people give, and that should mean everyone, not only those for whom the standard design happens to work. In the United Kingdom this is not merely good practice. Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations must make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can use their services, and that includes the act of payment. For organisations that also operate in the European Union, the European Accessibility Act sets its own requirements.
What accessibility looks like in practice
Accessible donation technology is rarely about a single feature. It is about a series of sensible choices. The device should be reachable and usable by someone seated as well as standing. The screen should be clear and well-contrasted, with text that is easy to read. The flow should be simple enough to follow without confusion, and the cues should not rely on a single sense alone, so that a donor who cannot easily see or hear one prompt has another to rely on.
Placement is part of the design
Even a well-designed device can be made inaccessible by where it is put. A unit mounted too high, tucked behind an obstacle, or placed where a wheelchair user cannot approach defeats the purpose. Considering height, approach and clear space when you install a device is as much a part of accessibility as the hardware itself.
Why accessible design raises more
There is a happy alignment here between duty and fundraising. A device that is easy for everyone to use captures more gifts, because it turns away fewer donors. Every person who approaches with the intention to give and finds they cannot is a gift lost, as well as a person let down. Designing for the widest range of donors is therefore not a cost grudgingly borne. It is a way to raise more while doing right by your supporters.
The tap itself is an accessibility gain
It is worth remembering that contactless giving is, in itself, more accessible than the methods it replaces. A tap asks nothing of the donor beyond holding a card or phone near the reader for a moment. There is no PIN to recall and key in, no need for the fine motor control that inserting a card and pressing small buttons demands, and no signature to produce. For an older donor, someone with limited dexterity or anyone who finds a busy chip-and-PIN sequence stressful, that simplicity is the difference between giving easily and giving up. The same plainness should carry through the words on the screen. Short wording free of jargon, naming the cause and the amount in everyday language, serves a donor with a cognitive disability and, in truth, serves everyone else just as well.
Build it in, do not bolt it on
Accessibility works best when it is considered from the start rather than added later. Hardware built with a usable form, a clear screen and a straightforward interaction gives you a sound foundation, and the donation flow that runs on it, provided by Give A Little on our devices, should keep that simplicity through to the final tap. The aim throughout is a single, clear path that any donor can follow.
Want devices designed to work for everyone? Compare the range on our comparison chart or read about the software behind every unit on the Give A Little page.