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Tengo help the NHS to raise funds through Gift Aid

Find out how Tengo’s software is helping NHS charities in the UK – written by Tim Diggle, Head of Charity, Leicester Hospitals Charity, and Alison Reynolds, Volunteer Service Co-ordinator, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

Till in use at Glenfield Hospital shop
Till in use at Glenfield Hospital shop

We had a charity shop at one of our hospitals for 25 years that used the very basic system of writing each item sold into a book and working out the totals and change in your head. This shop was run solely by volunteers and was doing very well but the system left people open to making mistakes and there was no gift aid being claimed in the shop. In 2017 we recruited a charity shop manager, rebranded the shop we had, opened a second shop and decided to implement retail gift aid into both shops.

We met with several companies but Tengo Software was the only one that offered a full EPoS system that was at an affordable price for a charity. We ran comparisons of all of the systems we looked at and none of the more expensive systems could offer any more than we were going to get from Tengo.

The process from order to implementation was very straight forward and communication was great throughout. We had conversations with Tengo about the items we sold in the shops so that the day the Epos system was installed our till screen was ready to go. It had been completely customised just for us and Tengo had even designed the buttons in our charity colours because we had explained that our volunteers struggled to identify with the new branding.

The install day was very straight forward and much easier and smoother than we had anticipated, we had a number of our paid staff trained so that they could train volunteers and everyone took to the system very quickly. Most of our volunteers only work one day a week so we spent the next couple of weeks working closely with each volunteer explaining how the system worked and how they could help us maximise on gift aid sales. With most volunteers only seeing the system a couple times they felt confident to be in the shop alone and serve customers, take in donations that could be gift aided and cash up at the end of the day.

The support we have had from Tengo has been great!

Tim Diggle, Head of Charity, Leicester Hospitals Charity (NHS)

We had a lot of resistance to the new EPoS system before it was installed but we have now had feedback from our volunteers telling us that they actually enjoy using the tills and it has made their lives easier.

Along with the EPoS system in the shops we are using tengoCloud CRM which allows us to look at shop sales, as well as other useful information, from anywhere, at any time. This has been extremely helpful because we have been able to see when shop volunteers have made a mistake, been able to look at what sells well in each shop and also see if there are particularly busy or quiet periods each day or each week. It is a really easy system to use and you can find and export the information you want within a couple of minutes.

Leicester General Hospital charity shop
Leicester General Hospital charity shop

The Tengo EPoS system has enabled us to claim gift aid in our shops for the first time which has been very successful. Initially our volunteers were concerned about the additional step when receiving donations but they have taken to it well. In the office we use tengoCloud CRM to manage all gift aid donations. Through the cloud we can submit gift aid claims at the touch of a button and Tengo ensure that our gift aid claims are compliant as they are a HMRC approved supplier. The tengoCloud can also offer an automated system to send out the annual letters you need to send to your gift aid donors. We use the tengoCloud to manage the data we hold on the donors who have agreed to gift aid their donation. We can edit information if they inform us of changes to their circumstances and we can also export the data to create a mailing list for marketing purposes.

The Tengo EPoS system and CRM also enable us to ensure we are GDPR compliant. The EPoS system has a customisable GDPR questions page that pops up after anyone has agreed to be a gift aid donor. This data can then be managed on the Epos system or within the CRM so that you can amend an individual’s preferences if they change their mind at any time. The support we have had from Tengo has been great; their new support portal seems very easy to use although we must confess that we haven’t used it because we have not had an issue that requires input from Tengo.

We are delighted with the Tengo EPoS, Cloud and CRM systems. They have made our shops easier to manage, increased revenue, allowed us to capture the data of a new group of supporters and made life easier for our wonderful volunteers.