DublinTown and Visa charity campaign raises €21k

The DublinTown Visa Tap to Give for Good Campaign raised €21,000 for charity over the Christmas period and into the New Year.

Last December you might have noticed a double decker bus floating around the city every weekend that was decked to the nines in Christmas decor. And if you did, if you donated at the bus or at a terminal in 20 businesses across the city over that period, you helped to raise much needed funds for three very deserving charities – Focus Ireland, Little Blue Heroes and ISPCC.

The money raised from the DublinTown Visa ‘Tap to Give for Good’ festive charity partnership was handed over last week to Focus Ireland, the ISPCC and Little Blue Heroes who act in service of our city’s most vulnerable and sick children and families. Each charity received €7,000 – an equal amount of the money raised from the campaign.

The ‘Tap to Give for Good’ festive charity partnership made it easy for Dublin City visitors to give to deserving children and family charities during the festive season and into the new year.

Donations were made through contactless donation devices powered by Visa and hosted in participating businesses, and at the DublinTown Visa ‘Tap to Give for Good’ Christmas Bus. In addition, 1,000 toys were given to Focus Ireland to distribute to children without a home. The toys were purchased using €7,500 in funds donated by Starbucks.

The ‘Tap to Give for Good’ campaign saw twenty businesses host a contactless donation device in store, allowing shoppers to instantly donate amounts of  €3, €5, €10 or €20 to charity, simply by tapping their card or mobile device at the point of sale.

Another aspect of the campaign was the ‘Tap to Give for Good’ Christmas Bus which was out on the streets of the city every weekend in December. The bus featured a snow-covered alpine forest where visitors could capture and print a unique seasonal photo, as well as a wrapping station where visitors could wrap the toys to be donated to children without a home.

From the success of this campaign, DublinTown and Visa are making the ‘Tap to Give for Good’ charity partnership a yearlong fundraiser that will help another three charities. Contactless donation devices will be in 20 businesses across the city throughout the year, and all money raised will be distributed equally to the chosen charity beneficiaries at the end of the year.

Commenting on the campaign, CEO of DublinTown Richard Guiney said, “DublinTown is delighted to have been involved in this initiative. Not only was Dublin City Centre’s business community, and its customers, able to assist three very worthy charitable organisations, but we have demonstrated the willingness of both the business community and the public to embrace contactless technology as the future for payments.

Following the success of the campaign, DublinTown and our members are committed to host the charitable contactless payment terminals all year round, bringing the benefits to these worthy causes and cementing Dublin’s reputation as a generous, forward looking city of which we can all be proud.”

Philip Konopik, Country Manager, Ireland at Visa added, “We were delighted to partner with DublinTown to make it easier and more convenient for Irish consumers to donate to deserving charities over the festive season. Contactless payments are more popular than ever before in Ireland, and with the support of participating merchants and retailers across the capital, we tapped into the consumer preference for digital payments and made a positive contribution to the Tap to Give for Good campaign. Our charity partners will benefit greatly from this donation, and we would like to thank shoppers for their generosity over the Christmas period.”

Thanks to everyone who donated and to the DublinTown businesses who participated in the tap to give for good campaign by hosting a device including:

• Asia Market
• Boar’s Head
• Café en Seine
• Ilac SC
• Jervis SC
• Lemon & Duke
• NoLIta
• Sams Barbers Dame Lane
• Starbucks Chatham Street
• Starbucks College Green
• Starbucks Dawson Street
• Starbucks Drury Street
• Starbucks Henry Street
• Starbucks O’Connell Bridge
• Starbucks O’Connell Street
• Starbucks Stephen Green
• Starbucks Westmoreland Street
• Stephens Green SC
• Supervalu Talbot Street
• The Bankers