Pennies,
the digital charity box
Giving small change a big purpose
What is Pennies?
Pennies is the digital
upgrade of the
traditional charity box,
0
£9,000,00
designed to fit with our
raised for over increasingly cashless
200 charities lifestyles.
Over
so far...
It gives people the
opportunity to donate a
few pence to charity when
paying by card with the single press of a
button or click of a mouse.
Everywhere Pennies has been introduced
people have donated, whether
in retail, hospitality or the
service sector.
... from
The option to give
appears automatically in
the payment process, on
the Chip & PIN machine
in-store or just before
payment online or via a
smart device.
more than
38 million
donations.
Who is using Pennies?
If every
card holder
donated 30p a
month, it would
raise £175M
a year for
charity.
Several payment
technology providers
already offer
Pennies, making
it easy for many
retailers to enable,
whether online,
in-store or as part
of an app.
Pennies is being used with great results
in bars, restaurants, hotels and the travel
industry with the likes of Domino’s Pizza, Zizzi,
Travelodge, Monarch, David Lloyd Leisure, Virgin
Holidays, Drake & Morgan and ASK Italian.
Charities that have benefited so far include
Age UK, CLIC Sargent, Home-Start UK, Together
for Short Lives and Walking With The Wounded.
“I think Pennies is such a brilliant way to give to charity. It’s really easy for customers, it fits right in with the retail
operations cycle, which is one of the big challenges... and it gives people the chance to do the right thing.”
Sir Ian Cheshire
Why use Pennies?
Collecting for charity with Pennies helps boost retailers’ charity fundraising and
reinforces their association with good causes. Retailers choose the charity or charities to
support and decide on the donation amount (1-99p).
It’s easy to join in and maintain
Set-up can be simple. Once live it keeps
working, all-day everyday, unless otherwise
directed.
It’s flexible
Retailers can choose either ‘round up’ or a
fixed ‘top up’ donation amount.
It’s cost effective
Significant sums can be raised for the
retailer’s chosen charity, whether local
or national, without the overheads and
security issues attached to traditional
charity boxes.
It doesn’t affect tips
Everywhere it is introduced, customers
donate, with take up as high as 80% in
certain retailers.
The donation request always appears after
gratuity on the card machine so Pennies
won’t affect tips. It can also be set to a
specific amount so customers can still
round up their bill when adding service.
It’s inclusive
Minimal staff involvement
It’s popular
Because it’s only ever pennies, any customer
can afford to join in if they wish and as it’s
private, there’s no pressure to donate.
Pennies is technology driven, working
quietly in the background with no need for
staff involvement.
Success stories
Online: Travelodge
Travelodge introduced Pennies in January 2011, allowing customers to
donate to charity by adding a few extra pennies to their bill when booking
a hotel room online. In that time they have supported three different
charities, including current charity partner, Macmillan Cancer Support.
With thousands of donations made every week, Travelodge have seen 1,400,000
donations made through Pennies on their website to date, adding up to well over
£600,000 for charity.
In restaurants: Zizzi Ristorante
Zizzi began supporting Cancer Research UK’s ‘Stand Up To Cancer’
campaign via Pennies in May 2014, having raised £200,000 in less than
3 years for previous charity partner The Prince’s Trust. Pennies has
worked seemlessly alongside Zizzi’s other corporate partnership activity,
including staff fundraising challenges and social media campaigns.
Approximately one in four Zizzi customers choose to add an extra 25p when
paying by card at the end of a meal, and have made over 3 million individual
donations through Pennies to date.
Get involved
To find out how you can boost your CSR in a simple way without
slowing down your sales, contact us:
email [email protected] | call 020 7600 9286
visit pennies.org.uk | follow @pennies_orguk
Pennies is registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales (charity no. 1122489).