An independent, British family grant-maker, Pears Foundation uses £15 – 20 million of private money every year and invests it in good causes. The Foundation has generously supported Pennies core funding from its earliest days, helping to develop micro-giving as a source of sustainable, efficient funding for UK charities; harnessing the public’s generosity and facilitating a new form of grassroots philanthropy.
Alison Hutchinson CBE, Chief Executive of Pennies said; “We offer our sincere thanks to Pears Foundation for their generous ongoing support of Pennies. We are growing the micro-donation movement to benefit many UK charities by encouraging new givers and new giving.
“It is therefore vital for us to secure core funding and are hugely appreciative of the sustained financial support from grants such as this. Quite simply, Pears Foundation, and other kind donors, allow us to continue to encourage even more people to donate their small change for a big purpose.”
Trevor Pears CMG, Executive Chair of Pears Foundation, added “We are very pleased to be able to extend our support to Pennies, who are at the forefront of driving customer micro-giving – and have raised over £7 million for the charity sector since launch. We look forward to its continued growth and are excited to be part of their journey to make feel-good giving as ubiquitous an opportunity as possible.”
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For more information, please contact Rob Dyson, Head of Marketing and Communications at Pennies.
Pennies is the digital equivalent of the traditional charity collection box. We enable consumers to round-up their bill at participating partners – to make their pennies count for charity.
Pennies estimates that if the UK’s card holders donated 30p once a month over £150m would be raised for charity every year.
Pennies is enabled in a number of well-known brands including Domino’s Pizza, Zizzi restaurants, Topps Tiles, The Entertainer, The Fragrance Shop and Screwfix; as well as a growing number of smaller merchants.
Pennies’ micro-donations are anonymous – so data-free – quick, and a choice every time. The retailer chooses the charity that its customers can support. No data is collected, and there is no follow up; it really is about dropping a few pence in a charity box – but via a debit or credit card.
Press ‘YES’ on the Chip & PIN machine in-store, or click the ‘Donate’ button online. The request is always for a few pennies (1p-99p) – either by rounding up or topping up.
TrainPal customers can now make a voluntary charity donation when booking train tickets, thanks to a new partnership with fintech charity Pennies. The initiative supports Railway 200’s ‘Trips Change Lives’ campaign, helping raise funds for charities as part of the UK’s railway bicentenary celebrations.
The Pennies Awards 2026 are open for nominations, recognising the merchants, partners, charities and individuals helping to turn small donations into big impact across the UK.
Pennies is proud to have won the Retail Systems Awards 2026 – Community and Social Impact in Retail award, recognising our partnership with B&Q and Verifone. Together, we embedded effortless giving into the checkout experience, raising £1 million in under five months to support Shelter and the B&Q Foundation.
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