No cash is no longer an excuse!

I completely missed this at Christmas.

Collecting buckets for carol singers with contactless card readers built into them to enable those without any cash to make a donation.

I'm pretty sure it was a PR stunt to promote contactless payment for Barclays, but the technology is here so it won't be long before we see a lot more of it.

Check out this short video which shows just how easy giving in this way could be.



I love contactless payments, I use them several times a week in Pret and Eat to buy my lunch or breakfast.

The same technology is available in some smartphones, my BlackBerry has NFC (Near Field Communication) functionality.  I've already seen NFC poster sites in Kings Cross, sadly the content was poor, but that will change as more people get used to the idea of using their phone in this way.

It will take a while to catch on. But it will and the the potential for fundraisers is huge.