Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal goes contactless with Creditcall and Payter

Gromit Unleashed 2, The Grand Appeal’s charity arts trail, given fundraising boost with contactless ‘tap and go’ donation points at Wallace, Gromit and Feathers McGraw sculptures around Bristol, UK

Bristol, UK – 19 June, 2018 –Creditcall, an omni-channel payment gateway and EMV solutions provider, with support of Payter, the contactless payment terminal manufacturer, has given a major fundraising boost to Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity, by making it the first arts trail in the world to ‘go contactless’, via the free installation of an unattended contactless donation infrastructure, together with a new online donations portal and a charity of the year fundraising partnership.

From 2 July until 2 September 2018, 17 out of 67 sculptures, which collectively form the ‘Gromit Unleashed 2’ arts trail running throughout Bristol and surrounding area, will be equipped with unattended contactless acceptance terminals enabling visitors to donate quickly and conveniently to The Grand Appeal by choosing from three fixed-value contactless options of £2, £5, or £10.^[1]

As one of four official arts trail ‘Trailblazer’ partners, including University of Bristol, Renishaw and Rolls-Royce, Creditcall, with Payter’s support, has created the bespoke donation points and completed all the technical back-end integration, testing and certification processes required to enable the trail to support EMV contactless ‘tap and donate’ payment acceptance from credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay (formerly known as Android Pay).

“Payment acceptance underpins every fundraising appeal, and contactless is fast becoming the public’s preferred payment method." – Ingrid Anusic, Senior Vice President of Marketing of Creditcall/NMI

“This is a fantastic local initiative that raises millions for a vital public institution,” comments Ingrid Anusic, Senior Vice President of Marketing of Creditcall/NMI. “Payment acceptance underpins every fundraising appeal, and contactless is fast becoming the public’s preferred payment method. The secure deployment of a combined card and mobile contactless infrastructure, however, requires the knowledge and technical expertise of a specialist like Creditcall. We’re very proud to be involved – our international leadership in this space can help us make a uniquely valuable contribution to a cause very close to our hearts, right on our doorstep.”

Creditcall has already installed additional donation terminals on site in Bristol Children’s Hospital, The Grand Appeal’s fundraising office and its Gromit Unleashed flagship store at The Mall at Cribbs Causeway. All donations are then routed through Creditcall’s payments gateway for instant processing. Creditcall’s CSO and CIO, Jeremy Gumbley has also privately sponsored a Feathers McGraw sculpture as part of his ongoing support of The Grand Appeal.

“We’re really excited to see the difference that contactless donations can make to our fundraising. Contactless technology is increasingly becoming the simplest and most convenient way to give and including ‘tap to donate’ in our charity arts trail adds a unique dimension to our fundraising event.” - Nicola Masters, Director of The Grand Appeal

“We’re hugely grateful to Creditcall for its amazing support in helping to transform the donation experience for our supporters,” adds Nicola Masters, Director of The Grand Appeal. “We’re really excited to see the difference that contactless donations can make to our fundraising. Contactless technology is increasingly becoming the simplest and most convenient way to give and including ‘tap to donate’ in our charity arts trail adds a unique dimension to our fundraising event.”

“Payter’s fixed-value donation terminals will make a real difference to the charity’s fundraising efforts. The contactless user-experience is second to none and the fact that the terminals are situated on the trail, next to the sculptures means that donation becomes a key part of the whole arts trail experience." Remco Willemse, MD, Payter

Remco Willemse, MD, Payter, added: “Payter’s fixed-value donation terminals will make a real difference to the charity’s fundraising efforts. The contactless user-experience is second to none and the fact that the terminals are situated on the trail, next to the sculptures means that donation becomes a key part of the whole arts trail experience. We’re thrilled to partner with Creditcall on this project and support this very worthy cause.”

In similar implementations of contactless donation terminals in the Netherlands, Payter has witnessed average donations increase 150%, from £1.31 with cash to £3.28.^[2] Average total donations per station / box have also risen from £57 (cash only) to £124,^[3] with the top performing terminals netting £701.50 to £789^[4] in just three or four hours.

With new figures highlighting the increase in contactless payments, contactless cards and payments are now routinely described as the continent’s ‘new normal’ way to pay across Europe, ^[5] and have introduced a quicker and simpler way for people to support charitable causes. Figures from UK Finance,^[6] published yesterday, identified that almost two thirds (63 per cent) of people in the UK now regularly use contactless. In total, across both debit and credit cards, the number of contactless payments in the UK increased by 97% during 2017 to 5.6 billion. By the end of 2017 there were nearly 119 million contactless cards in circulation, with 78 per cent of debit cards and 62 per cent of credit cards in the UK having contactless functionality.

In February 2018, Creditcall was acquired by US based payments enablement technology provider, NMI. The acquisition brings together NMI’s nearly two decades of ecommerce and mcommerce expertise with Creditcall’s industry leading support for EMV chip card, swipe and contactless enabled payment devices. It also creates the payment industry’s most versatile omni-channel payment gateway platform across North America and Europe.

-Ends-

About Creditcall

Creditcall, an omni-channel Payment Gateway and EMV Kernel provider, develops the most trusted and secure payment software that reliably drives transactions across multiple channels and verticals. Whether mobile, online, in-store, or self-service within retail, hospitality, parking, vending, transportation, or charities, Creditcall’s software is relied on and used by software developers worldwide for its ease of integration.

Creditcall has recently been acquired by US company NMI, and has offices at the heart of Bristol, New York, Salt Lake City and Chicago. For more details, please visit www.creditcall.com.

About Payter

Payter is a fast-growing Dutch company and expert in the global field of cashless payments and contactless NFC technology specialized in solutions for unattended environments. Payter offers an unique payment platform, combining payments, with private loop cards, loyalty and telemetry. The Payter terminals are available in different form factors providing a flexible solution for all unattended environments.

Payter is continuously innovating to provide products and services that allow organizations to benefit from this evolution and their core business. Working with the card scheme’s Payter was to first company to provide a cashless donation solution.

These new possibilities will reshape the way merchants or charities connects to the customer, and manage their terminal park. For more information, visit http://www.payter.nl/en/

About Gromit Unleashed 2

Led by Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity The Grand Appeal, Gromit Unleashed 2 will see Nick Park's Academy Award®-winning character Gromit return to Bristol in 2018 for his second starring role in the award-winning charity's sculpture trails. But this time he's not alone; the loveable pooch will be joined by his pal Wallace and arch nemesis Feathers McGraw!

Gromit Unleashed 2, in partnership with Aardman, is bringing together the best and brightest of Bristol’s diverse creative and tech industries. With the help of its pioneering ‘Trailblazers’ Creditcall, Renishaw, Rolls-Royce and the University of Bristol, Gromit Unleashed 2 will showcase both Bristol’s rich engineering heritage and the city’s reputation as an internationally renowned creative and technological hub.

The Grand Appeal supports Bristol Children’s Hospital by funding pioneering, life-saving equipment and research, including ventilators, a cardiac hybrid theatre and an inter-operative MRI scanner, so that patients have access to the best possible healthcare and life-saving equipment. We provide free accommodation to families of critically ill patients from the Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive Care Units in our Cots for Tots House and Paul’s House, as well as providing a free Family Support service to parents and siblings. We ensure the hospital is a vibrant and child friendly place to help distract young patients through our music therapy, art and play programmes and much more.

Bristol Children’s Hospital covers the largest catchment area of any children’s hospital in England, treating more than 100,000 children each year, and serves as the paediatric intensive care centre for the whole South West region. The hospital is an international, national and regional specialist centre of excellence for a range of services including neurosurgery, burns, epilepsy, cardiac, leukemia and bone marrow transplants. For more information, visit www.grandappeal.org.uk

For further media information, please contact

Kathryn Rutherford at iseepr on kathryn@iseepr.co.uk or + 44 (0) 113 350 1922

^[1] $2.70, $6.70, $13.40 / €2.30, €5.70, €11.40

^[2] $1.76 with cash to $4.41 / €1.50 with cash to €3.75

^[3] $76 (cash only) to $166.30 / €65 (cash only) to €141.50

^[4] $940 to $1,057.50 / €800 to €900

^[5]http://www.paymentscardsandmobile.com/payment-cards-in-europe-an-update-from-the-european-payment-card-yearbooks/

^[6]https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/convenience-of-debit-card-payments-puts-cash-in-second-place/

Fill out the form below and we will get in touch with you shortly