Is Your Charity Collecting Offline Donations?

In the age of tap-to-give and QR code generosity, it’s easy to assume that all donations take place online. But what happens when there’s no internet connection? When WiFi drops out or mobile data lags? This is where offline donations come in, playing a critical yet frequently overlooked role in modern fundraising.

Dona donation terminals are engineered with Offline Mode to ensure all income is captured even without an internet or mobile data connection, make fundraising reliable, effortless, efficient, and accessible, no matter your environment.

What Are Offline Donations?

Offline donations refer to contributions made without an active internet connection at the point of transaction. This doesn’t mean cash or cheques (though those are traditional forms of offline giving). Just like on an aeroplane, when a payment is taken and processed when the plane touches down, offline donations are digitally recorded donations processed without real-time connectivity—often via contactless payment devices that store data locally and sync once the internet is restored.

If you’re looking to get started with digital fundraising, it’s essential that you choose a donation terminal provider that can handle offline donations so that when supporters tap their card or phone to donate, the device will still queue the transaction securely, submitting it to the payment processor when the connection is reestablished.

With Dona donation terminals, payments can be stored for up to a week. Providing a secure and consistent internet connection is restored within that time, donations will be captured securely.

Offline Donation Statistics 

In July 2025, we shared some Dona fundraising statistics that prove how important it is for charities to ensure their digital fundraising terminals are able to capture offline donations.

Data recorded from September 2024 to July 2025 on the Dona v3 DCP donation machines:

• Average number of donations processed offline: 11%
• Between September 2024 to July 2025 over £465,000 has been captured across the Dona platform using our offline mode. This is money that UK charities would otherwise have missed out on.
• The highest amount raised by any one charity during this time using offline mode is £10,444.92 – 19.76% of their total income of £52,936.54 during this period. 
• Over 60 charities captured between 40% – 100% of their donations in Offline Mode.