Like many other industries, the nonprofit fundraising sector has been forced to change strategies to increase revenues and make it easier for donors to give money.

The New York Times reports that the Salvation Army recently began allowing people to swipe credit cards, rather than throwing cash into the highly recognizable red kettles. The charity, which raises approximately $2 billion each year, says that it's added the transactional option based on the fact that fewer people were carrying cash on them.

"A lot of people just don't carry cash anymore," Major George Hood, the organization's national community relations and development secretary, said in an interview with the newspaper. "We're basically trying to make sure we're keeping up with our donors and embrace the new technologies they're embracing."

One of the charity's major initiatives in the days ahead is to hand out meals to those in need for Thanksgiving. In Omaha, Nebraska, The Associated Press reports that more than 300 people volunteered to give 1,400 Omaha Housing Authority residents a warm traditional meal.