There’s more to the Salvation Army’s displays this year than just their traditional red kettle. At most locations across the state, displays and volunteers will be prompting people to donate using Text2give or QR codes with their smartphones.
The QR code, when scanned by a smartphone, takes users to the Salvation Army’s Paypal website. Donors can then give to the Salvation Army using a credit card.
Captain Grady Brown, divisional secretary of the intermountain division of the Salvation Army says both methods have helped boost donations along the east coast in recent years, and hopefully they’ll have the same impact in Western states this years.
“People are carrying less cash with them and there’s a greater dependence on using credit cards and now using their phones actually to pay for things so it moved us into the current generation of ways that people pay for things. So it was a nice way to pick up donations.”
Text2give and QR codes ask for more than spare change prompting users to make a $10 donation.
The Salvation Army hopes to raise more than $2 million in Colorado this holiday season. Most red kettles were set up on Thanksgiving Day across Colorado and will remain until Dec. 24.
Brown says donations have been down slightly so far this year. But since Thanksgiving Day came earlier in the calendar, there's time to make it up with a few extra days in this holiday giving season.
