Salvation Army tests mobile payment option in four cities

This holiday season, Salvation Army’s bell ringers will accept mobile credit-card payments. Salvation Army teamed up with Square, a mobile payment startup, to test a mobile payment option at 10 locations each in Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco.

Donors can swipe a credit card through Square’s postage-stamp-size card reader, which is connected to a volunteer bell ringer's Salvation Army-issued smartphone. The donation will be sent to the nonprofit organization via a Salvation Army mobile application.

Salvation Army started to shift to digital payment options a few years ago, because the organization noticed that fewer younger consumers carry loose change.