Third party deposits into charity account

Parkhall

I help to run a school based local charity. Pupils run events to raise money for the charity. Then they bring the money into school and the school deposits the money into the charity bank account. Most of the money is cash and this creates a significant security problem. I would like to devise ways in which pupils (or their parents) could deposit the cash directly into the charity bank account.

• One way would of course be that the parent could deposit into their personal account and then transfer online to the charity account. However not all parents have online banking.

• Another method would be for them to take the cash to a branch of the charity's bank. I am aware that some banks have banned third party deposits. Does anyone know if this ban would apply to a charity business account ? Another problem is that the charity's bank may not have a branch which is local to the pupil.

Can anyone think of another way for pupils or parents to get cash into our account ? Thanks.

Yellow_mango

There are plenty of online charity donation sites. Justgiving is the one that springs to mind. I'm sure there are others.

Stuart_W

Do you really need to accept cash? Are parents and pupils bringing cash in because that's what they are choosing to do, or is it because there aren't other options set up? Generally, parents prefer cashless these days but school PTAs sometimes operate as if it's still the 80s, wanting cash for everything.
Use a charity donation service for donations - just giving, giveasyoulive donate and Charities Aid Foundation are just 3 examples that I have used with my son's nursery whilst the treasurer. No sign up fees or fixed charges for small charities these days, just small % transaction fees.
If it is more money for fundraising events or purchases rather than donations, have a look at rocket fund. https://www.rocketfund.org/

If you really need to accept cash and don't actually want to handle it, good luck. I tried to explore this but it's really hard for a small scale charity to do this as anti-money laundering rules seem to make multiple cash deposits from lots of different people tricky. Services like Allpay, offering cash pay in at post offices and paypoint shops are not available for small-scale charities. You might have to encourage folk to pay the cash in to their own accounts and use one of the online services to pay it in.

Parkhall

Thanks for the advice everybody. Unfortunately the main types of fundraising which pupils use are stand alone, pay at the door events. So it's mainly cash. 

Parkhall

Do the anti money laundering rules apply to cheques ? Can you deposit a cheque in to a third party account ?

colsten

Parkhall said:

Thanks for the advice everybody. Unfortunately the main types of fundraising which pupils use are stand alone, pay at the door events. So it's mainly cash. 

Who are the donors - adults or kids?

jonesMUFCforever

lots of schools around here use G4S to deposit all credits to school accounts - there will of course be a cost.

Dr_Crypto

You could look at getting some kind of card payment for the events, even on the door. Plenty of small businesses are using card readers linked to mobile phones. Might be easier than mucking about with cash unless the sums involved are very small.

colsten

Dr_Crypto said:

You could look at getting some kind of card payment for the events, even on the door. Plenty of small businesses are using card readers linked to mobile phones. Might be easier than mucking about with cash unless the sums involved are very small.

I would definitely agree with that suggestion if the donors are adults; it wouldn't work if they are kids as most kids won't have a card.

Parkhall

Thanks again everybody. Unfortunately card payments at events is not feasible because the events are dispersed in various locations and they includes things like raffles within the event. I guess we are just stuck with the cash problem. Does anyone know if deposit of cheques to a third party account is banned ?

Stuart_W

A pre-printed paying in slip is often required for a cheque deposit direct into charity accounts. 
If you're thinking that folk pay the money in to their own account and write a cheque, surely folk could pay the money in and bank transfer it? Easier for all concerned surely.