Britons urged to give to charity via ATMs

The government is looking for ways to enable Britons to make donations to charities when using cash points -- one of its ideas to build a "Big Society", an official document showed on Wednesday.

The Giving Green Paper, which outlines the government's initial proposals to encourage individuals to donate time and money for social causes at a time of deep budget cuts, asks banks and ATM providers how Britain can imitate a system of giving already adopted by Colombia and elsewhere.

"All we are doing is opening up possibilities here," said minister for the cabinet office Francis Maude, who published the document.

"It could be done in lots of ways," he told Sky news.

"There could be a general fund for supporting a range of charities.

"What I think is happening in some countries is they have a limited list of charities there and you make your choice at the cash machine."

The Conservatives' Big Society idea, aimed at encouraging local communities to help run amenities like libraries and post offices, has been attacked by critics who say the government is just trying to run such services on the cheap.

The latest proposals also suggest thinking of ways to prompt Britons to give money when filling in tax returns or applying for a driving licence or passport, and spreading a new technology that allows customers to round up the pounds and donate small amounts whenever they pay with a card.

The government asks whether it should set social norms for individual donations and volunteering, for example encouraging people to give away 1 percent or as much as 10 percent of their income.

Proposals for acknowledging donations include thank-you letters from government ministers, a national day to celebrate donors and a televised weekly thank-you to national lottery winners who have given money.

"Behavioural science tells us that individuals are heavily influenced by other people's behaviour," the paper said. "By making what people actually give more visible to others ... we can create a peer effect that leads to giving spreading and growing."

The government hopes such ideas will spur more charitable payments by more people in Britain, where it said only 8 percent of the population contribute almost half of total donations.

It also aims to increase volunteering.

"Hospitals, schools, prisons, courts, libraries, police services, and cadet forces have long made use of volunteers, and we think more public bodies should develop ways for people to give time to their services," the paper said.

"This is not about providing public services on the cheap. There are significant benefits for those who give their time -- in terms of building skills, making new friends and connections, and even for their health."