How these charities were chosen
Retailer nominated charities:
Each participating retailer will nominate the charity or charities that will receive the majority of the money collected into the electronic charity box in their outlets. Many retailers involve their staff and customers in making that choice and most will support the same charity for at least a year.
Pennies nominated charities:
The remaining money in the electronic charity box will be distributed to a range of charities, nominated by The Pennies Foundation trustee board, which over time will cover the following areas:
- Children
- Young People
- The Elderly
- The Disabled
- Homelessness
- Health and Hospices
- Medical Research
- Arts and Education
- Environment
- Sport
As the donors that give their change to Pennies are likely to come from all over the UK, it is important that the charities that will benefit collectively serve the whole of the UK. So even though we will choose charities of different sizes, we are looking for an element of national coverage.
Our Trustee Board has appointed a Grants Committee which is responsible for making recommendations to them about the charities to be supported. The Grants Committee takes external input both from our funders and also from independent experts in the charity sector. The final decision rests with the Trustee Board. We will review these charities from time to time.
We never forget that the pennies that are given come from the UK public, so we are exploring ways of taking the views of the donating public into account for the future.
General criteria for retailer and Pennies nominated charities:
All of the charities that are supported through Pennies will be registered with one or more of the three charity regulators in the UK. These are the Charities Commission, England & Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and once it is fully operational the Charities Commission for Northern Ireland. All nominated charities must also be active and solvent.
We do not believe that it is our role to provide charities with grants that are of a size to distort their purpose. For this reason the maximum total grant that will be given in any 12-month period will generally not exceed 10% of the charity’s average gross income for the last three years.
Charities whose purpose is the promotion of a specific religious or political view will not be eligible for nomination.
