The Pennies journey, from concept to high street
Why not collect “electronic” small change for charity when paying by card? When we mention what we do, lots of people comment “It’s such a simple idea; surely it’s something that’s already happening?” Well, it wasn’t until November 2010.
This was the simple conclusion reached by one of our former trustees, Dr David Dent – it was his light bulb moment. It was then a happy accident which saw David come together with two of our existing trustees, Peter Nugent and Julian Taylor, who had also been working on “rounding up” ideas, and so began the journey which has brought us to the launch of Pennies.
The work to move the simple and compelling idea from concept to reality began in earnest in 2009, with the appointment of a Chief Executive, Alison Hutchinson, who built a team to make it happen.
The Pennies team is made up of professionals from a number of sectors, including technology, communications, legal, finance and retailing. The team is also supported and augmented by many others who freely provide their time and expertise. They also draw on a range of individuals, organisations, foundations, and charities, all of whom have provided their invaluable knowledge and expertise across the voluntary sector.
Bringing Pennies to the consumer also called for many other partners to come on board, particularly retailers, charities and technology providers.
We’ve all been united by one view that through Pennies we can make giving micro-donations easy. We’ve opened up a new way of raising funds for charities who have a direct and positive impact within our society. This has never been needed more than it is today.
On November 1st 2010 we went live with our first retailer, Domino’s Pizza, which gave us immediate national reach via their online ordering service, with pizzas collected or delivered from over 600 outlets up and down the UK.
Since then, we have gone live with nine other national retailers, and many smaller merchants, and are continuing to work with many more who will follow in the coming months.
