Pennies teams up with Zizzi for first ‘in-store’ launch

Micro-donations to charity continue to gain momentum as Pennies, the electronic charity box, teams up with its third retailer in two months restaurant chain, Zizzi.  This is the first time the electronic charity box has been made available ‘in-store’, as to date Pennies has gone live online with Domino’s Pizza and will go live online with Travelodge in January 2011.

Zizzi, a nationwide restaurant chain with over 100 restaurants across the country, is first trialing Pennies at its newest venue, London’s Central St Giles Plaza (WC2H). Customers visiting this restaurant, designed by famous Italian architect Renzo Piano, who pay for their meal by card, have the choice to top up their bill by 20p.  Every one of the extra pennies given will go to charity.  Zizzi intends to extend the availability of Pennies to all its restaurants during 2011.

Of the money raised, 75% will go to Zizzi’s nominated charity, The Prince’s Trust, who last year gave financial and practical support to over 40,000 young people to promote the development of key skills, confidence and motivation to help them move into work, education or training.   The remaining 25% will be divided equally between ten UK people related charities*.

The key features of Pennies are:

• A quick one-touch process to donate.
• Donation of pennies not pounds.
• A private, no hassle decision.
• A choice to give, not a commitment.

Commenting on Zizzi’s partnership with Pennies,

Helen Jones, Managing Director of Zizzi, said: “We are delighted to be working with Pennies and raising more money for our charity partner, The Prince’s Trust. 20p is a small amount to give, but it will make a huge difference to disadvantaged youth if all our customers contribute, we really hope they’ll choose to get involved and donate a few extra pennies.”

Martina Milburn, CEO of The Prince’s Trust said: “The Prince’s Trust is proud to be working with The Pennies Foundation on this innovative idea, which has the potential to change the way that people donate to charity on a regular basis. Small change can blossom into significant funds and we hope the public will be as excited by this idea as we are.”

Alison Hutchison, CEO of The Pennies Foundation, creator of Pennies, added: “We’re so excited at the pace of Pennies development. It is fantastic to launch our first in-store experience within the friendly environment of Zizzi’s restaurants. Their Central Saint Giles restaurant is a beautiful venue and we hope that Zizzi’s customers enjoying a meal there will choose to top-up to help improve a young life.”