I'm part of a small club that operates model ride behind locomotives, live steam, "diesel"(gas engine) and battery electric, and on the last Sunday of the month over the summer we provide demonstrations of the locomotives where people can catch a ride on one of the trains.
We do not charge for these rides, 100% against the rules in Ontario to do so unless you are a licensed "amusement" operator. Not going there for any # of reasons that start with $ and more $$ than we would ever recoup, plus additional rules of operation that are far to onerous for a small group of hobbyists.
People do make donations to help us out, but with the decline in cash - donations have been dropping off.
We're looking for ways to improve our fundraising.
I started to look into payment apps such as Square, and it seems like its doable for a small group like us, but I'm looking for feedback from anyone that may have used Square for donations.
I am not the most web savvy guy, and I'd rather keep it that way. Is it simple enough to setup, do I need a website? Do I just preprogram a bunch of donation amounts that can be picked from?
The worst of it is that from what I see, it basically needs a manned station, or my phone. I can set it up on my phone, but that means my phone is the only one taking donations and I'm one of the least likely members to be around on those days (I'm mostly a winter hobbyist, summer weekends is lake time)
Ideal would be I could strap a slightly used Ipad / tablet down to a table / info board and let people do their own thing to donate without having to actively collect (members are usually busy doing any number of other things with a limited # of volunteers).
Anybody done something similar and have any tips / advice?
We do not charge for these rides, 100% against the rules in Ontario to do so unless you are a licensed "amusement" operator. Not going there for any # of reasons that start with $ and more $$ than we would ever recoup, plus additional rules of operation that are far to onerous for a small group of hobbyists.
People do make donations to help us out, but with the decline in cash - donations have been dropping off.
We're looking for ways to improve our fundraising.
I started to look into payment apps such as Square, and it seems like its doable for a small group like us, but I'm looking for feedback from anyone that may have used Square for donations.
I am not the most web savvy guy, and I'd rather keep it that way. Is it simple enough to setup, do I need a website? Do I just preprogram a bunch of donation amounts that can be picked from?
The worst of it is that from what I see, it basically needs a manned station, or my phone. I can set it up on my phone, but that means my phone is the only one taking donations and I'm one of the least likely members to be around on those days (I'm mostly a winter hobbyist, summer weekends is lake time)
Ideal would be I could strap a slightly used Ipad / tablet down to a table / info board and let people do their own thing to donate without having to actively collect (members are usually busy doing any number of other things with a limited # of volunteers).
Anybody done something similar and have any tips / advice?
