Accelerating Social Change: Highlights from Pennies Autumn Celebration 2024

On Tuesday 15th October 2024, we held the Pennies Autumn Celebration Event, supported by Worldpay, bringing together partners and supporters to acknowledge the incredible impact of micro-donations.

This year’s theme was “Accelerating Social Change: The Role of Micro-Donations” and highlighted how our partners and supporters are uniting to drive social change, with micro-donations playing a crucial role in creating impact.

Rewatch Pennies Autumn Celebration in full below, or via our YouTube channel here – or read on to discover the highlights from an amazing night.

Celebrating the Impact of Micro-Donations

Following an introduction by presenter Sally Bundock, Alison Hutchinson CBE, CEO at Pennies, announced that Pennies are projected to reach 250 million donations by year-end, up from 200 million just 10 months ago.

“It might surprise you, but the preferred way of giving is still dropping coins in a charity box—and yet we live this cashless life… The vision we started with at Pennies was to take the favourite behaviour, recognise that we were shopping differently, and make sure we move that behaviour onto new ways of paying and new channels.

To see that this [micro-donations] didn’t even exist when we started, to now be the third most preferred way of giving, it gives us a lot of heart for what we can do in terms of driving more donations.”

Alison Hutchinson CBE, CEO at Pennies

She thanked everyone for their support and highlighted that Pennies have now supported over 1,000 charities, showcasing the transformative power of micro-donations in providing vital support to charities big and small, national and local.

The event was filled with inspiring moments, including stories of how micro-donations are driving real change for charities such as Great Ormond Street Hospital, Marie Curie, Poundland Foundation, Make-A-Wish and more.

You can find all of our “The Power of Pennies” charity impact videos on our YouTube channel here.

Panel Discussion – Innovation for Social Impact: Tech for Good in Business and the Community

Four industry leaders–from retail, hospitality and charity–joined Sally Bundock to discuss how they use emerging tech to create difference and community impact in their businesses.

Our panel were:

• Régis Schultz, CEO, JD Sports plc
• Tim Doubleday, Chief Financial Officer, Burger King
• Clair Preston-Beer, COO, Greene King
• Nick Merriman, Chief Executive, English Heritage

They spoke about current trends across purpose and ESG and explored how they balance these with the key challenges facing national and global brands in 2024.

“When challenges come along, it makes you more determined… this commitment to giving something back and making sure communities know we’re a force for a good is something we’re focused on and the sector is focused on. Raising money, and showing customers and our team members that we’re giving back, is a really important thing to do.”

Clair Preston-Beer, COO at Greene King

Hear more from the panellists by watching the full panel discussion on YouTube here.

Honouring Excellence and Innovation at Pennies Awards 2024

The Pennies Awards 2024, supported by Verifone, also served as an opportunity to recognise outstanding contributions to micro-donations.

Alison Hutchinson CBE delivered this year’s set of special recognition awards, as nominated by a judging panel of leaders from retail, hospitality, and payments technology sectors.

Pennies Awards recognised individuals and partners who are going over and above to accelerate the micro-donation movement and unlock the opportunity for customer giving, supporting the vital work of hundreds of UK charities.

Read the full story of the awards and discover the full list of winners here.

Thank You for Making Micro-Donations Matter

Pennies would like to say a huge thank you to both Worldpay and Verifone for their support for this year’s event and awards. And we also extend a massive thank you to our guests, supporters, partners and everyone who helped make the evening so special.

Thank you for joining us in celebrating this remarkable evening, either in-person or virtually, and we look forward to another year of progress, partnership, and purpose.

Together, we are making a difference, one penny at a time!

Watch Pennies Autumn Celebration Online

If you missed the event of the autumn, we have you covered – you can watch the whole event below, or on our YouTube channel here.

Start Your Pennies Journey

Contact us today and become part of the Pennies family, where every micro-donation adds up to make a positive difference for charities across the UK and beyond. Let’s work together to make every penny count!