‘Contactless donation points’ mooted as funding source
0Councils should create “contactless donation points” in towns and city centres to take advantage of the public’s willingness to pay more to fund services, according to a new report. A report by think tank Localis said that a poll it commissioned from YouGov found that a majority of people would be willing to pay extra money to support six specific service areas.
These areas were helping older people to live independently for longer; support for local homeless people; improving disability access; repairing potholes; reducing loneliness and reducing anti-social behaviour.
The report said: “With ownership of large parts of town and city centres, and control of land use, there is a positive role that local authorities can take in making it easier for people to be philanthropic via contactless technologies.”
Localis said that donation points could be introduced on street lamps as part of the contracts for their replacement.
It added: “Working with central government, franchises for motorway service stations could stipulate new donation points must be built as part of its operation.”
The report also said councils could make more use of crowdfunding platforms and transfer more assets to community organisations raising money through community share issuance initiatives.
