B&Q Partners with Micro-Donation Charity Pennies

Today, B&Q announced its partnership with leading UK charity Pennies, making it easier than ever for customers to donate to B&Q’s charity partners, everyday.

The collaboration will give B&Q a brand-new way of fundraising, with the potential to raise over £1.7 million annually through optional donations made by customers paying digitally at in-store check-outs across the UK and Ireland. As small donations build, the partnership can help make significant improvements in the communities we live in.

All proceeds will support both the B&Q Foundation and Shelter – as well as its charity partners, Shelter Scotland, Shelter Cymru, and Housing Rights. Building on B&Q’s belief that everyone deserves a safe place to feel at home, donations made through Pennies could help someone facing homelessness or go towards improving community spaces.

The partnership is a significant development in B&Q’s longstanding commitment to supporting its charity partners – and this year marks a special milestone as the B&Q Foundation celebrates its 5th year. Since 2017, B&Q has raised over £5 million for Shelter, and last year alone, the B&Q Foundation awarded £1.9 million in grants to 195 charities, helping 105,521 people benefit from safer spaces.

Tom Hampson, Director of Marketing at B&Q said: “By partnering with Pennies, we aim to make it as simple as possible for our customers to donate what they can to causes they care about. This initiative builds on the outstanding, long-term fundraising efforts of our dedicated colleagues and customers for both Shelter and the B&Q Foundation. We firmly believe that everyone deserves a safe place to call home and we’re excited to partner with Pennies to help raise even more funds for those who need it most.”

Alison Hutchinson CBE, CEO at Pennies said: “Pennies is proud to be partnering with B&Q to support the brilliant missions of the B&Q Foundation and Shelter. Micro-donations add up quickly – just a few minutes of donations from customers could mean a safe space for someone facing homelessness, or better facilities for vital spaces in our local communities. We look forward to customers responding positively and making a huge impact with their digital pennies.”

About B&Q:

B&Q is the UK’s leading home improvement and garden living retailer with over 300 stores throughout the UK and Ireland, offering great prices, with over 1.5m products available to order at diy.com for home delivery or click and collect.    

For trade professionals, B&Q TradePoint offers exclusive membership to those in trades such as electricians, plasterers, fitters, plumbers, roofers, decorators, joiners, tilers, builders, landscapers and facilities and maintenance professionals. TradePoint members have exclusive access to dedicated TradePoint counters at around 200 B&Q stores as well as to Tradepoint.co.uk.

B&Q launched the UK’s first home improvement marketplace in March 2022, adding additional choice for consumers. The marketplace offers a unique, integrated experience with in-store returns for many products and Click + Collect options being explored.     

Their team of more than 21,000 colleagues of all ages are respected nationwide for providing great home improvement help to customers. They’re the beating heart of B&Q and their iconic orange aprons are worn with pride.      

Every year, more than 20 million people improve their homes and make life better with B&Q, and every year the company achieves ever-higher standards for sustainable operations and sourcing, and supports our local communities, including funding B&Q Foundation grants and Shelter’s DIY Skills Advisors. For more information on our community initiatives visit https://www.diy.com/corporate/community

B&Q is part of Kingfisher plc, the international home improvement company, operating over 1,900 stores in 8 countries across Europe.    

About Pennies:

Pennies is the trusted leader in micro-donations. They have worked with more than 150 brands since 2010 to enable more than 268million donations, raising £65 million for 1,070+ charities.

In an increasingly cashless society, where people still prefer to give little and often, Pennies is ensuring the public still has ways to donate the small amounts that are so vital for charities.  

Pennies partners with merchants and payments providers to enable micro-donation opportunities at checkout, helping create huge impact for charities in need. Micro-donations give customers paying by card or digitally a quick, affordable and data-free way to add a small donation to their purchase – in-store, online and in-app. 

Pennies’ vision is one day, wherever and whenever people pay by card or digitally, they’ll be given the opportunity to donate a few pence to charity. Making giving simple, every day. Because micro-donations matter.

For more information about Pennies please visit: https://pennies.org.uk