Open Forum

We are looking for digital ways to collect donations on-site, as a replacement for cash donation boxes. Does anyone know of affordable software, ideally that would integrate with Tessitura or that would allow us to create the donation page or QR code. 

Also curious, have any museums found that cash donation boxes are still a viable option for collecting ad-hoc donations? 

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Amanda Shade Buris
Director, Annual Giving
Carnegie Museums
Pittsburgh PA
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Hi Amanda,

One tool that I can recommend is Kind Kiosk. It is great for in person fundraising and accepts credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or even donor advised funds. You can set the kiosks up to be informational for visitors as well, sell memberships, etc, so it doesn't have to be just donation focused.

As far as integration, it integrates with Tessitura, but I can't speak to how tight that connection is. Typically Tess leaves something to be desired when it comes to connecting other systems. Also, I notice they call it "premium integrations" which leads me to believe there would be some sort of cost or a certain pricing tier needed for access, but that is just speculation on my part.

I don't see it on their integration page yet, but I did hear at AAM last year that they would be integrating with FundraiseUp, which would open the door to even more integrations, like a HubSpot, for example.

Hoping they will be at AAM again this year because I need to go by their booth again and see what is new!

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Karen Senette
Head of Business Development
Digital Reach Online Solutions
Anchorage AK
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I love the idea of cash boxes instilling a culture of giving with the younger generation, @Ann-Eliza Lewis. That's such a good perspective. Not everything we do has a huge direct line to revenue, but we can build that muscle. 

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Dan Moyle
Solutions Consultant
Digital Reach Online Solutions
(he/him/his)
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-03-2026 09:27 AM
From: Ann-Eliza Lewis
Subject: Ways to collect donations on-site

We still use cash donation boxes as well as an online system. We are lucky that our online donation system is bundled in with the campus donation system, and we can put QR codes around the museum.

As far as the cash donation boxes, they don't bring in a lot of cash, but I see a lot of parents having their kids put money in. If nothing else, they are useful for developing a culture of generosity in the next generation so we plan on keeping them for them now. They are also a convenient location for the QR code.

Ann-Eliza Lewis, Ph.D.

Interim Director; Collections Manager

Joseph Moore Museum

Convener, Museum Studies

Earlham College

765-983-1320 / lewisan@earlham.edu

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6bdab91895934b928dfd44ce87709cc1@earlham.edu?anonymous&ep=signature&ismsaljsauthenabled">Book time to meet with me

Hi Amanda, 

We just implemented a few solutions last year to collect onsite donations, including cash boxes, tap to donate devices, and online donations within our free program registration flow. We've seen positive uptake on all, although conversion rates vary. We use TipTap for the tap to donate functionality and Ticketure for donations within our registration flow. We plan to expand our use of the Ticketure functionality in future. We did use QR codes for a trial period while we prepped for the cash boxes and tap to donate devices but found those had a very low conversion rate. Happy to share more of our experience to date over a call with you and any others interested. 

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Samantha Niese
Program Manager
National Gallery of Art
Washington DC
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@Amanda Shade Buris have you looked at the Native Tessitura + payment gateways option? It looks like Tessitura's integrated payments support standard credit cards and other options, and its features can be used with external payment pages and links that you turn into QR codes, though this typically takes more internal web/dev effort. Or Donate2 (from L2 Interactive) is supposed to be a Tessitura‑integrated "cart‑free" donation forms, built on Stripe, with built‑in QR code link generation and options like "cover fees." Gifts are written directly into Tessitura with fund, source, and channel, so they reconcile alongside tickets and memberships. Hope that helps as well! 

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Dan Moyle
Solutions Consultant
Digital Reach Online Solutions
(he/him/his)
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Hello Amanda,

I was attending a recent networking event and learned about OneCause, as another suggestion.  The platform can provide online donation software that will give you a donation page, QR code, etc.

The PA contact is Kyle Hyland kyle.hyland@bonterratech.com. Full disclosure, I have not used the system and work in education and evaluation, but was impressed by its functionality. 
I hope this is helpful!

Laura Kujo

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Laura Kujo
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