Pennies, the electronic charity box, is an innovation in the charitable sector that harnesses retail payments technology to make it easy, affordable and secure for consumers to give pennies to charity as they shop and pay by card. If half of the UK's card-holders gave 8 pence a week in this way an additional £89 million a year could be raised every year.
The Pennies Foundation has joined forces with Smart Technology Solutions (STS) and YESpay International (YESpay) to extend the Pennies proposition to retailers served by YESpay that operate both in-store and on-line. This collaboration will make it simple for these retailers to switch the Pennies capability on.
The Pennies Foundation, a UK registered charity, has been working since 2009 to create Pennies, the electronic charity box. This new channel is designed to raise additional funds for UK registered charities. It gives shoppers the choice of donating their electronic change in private at the touch of a button when they shop in-store or online. The Pennies Foundation then adds these small individual donations together and distributes the full content of the electronic charity box to designated UK charities.
This simple idea has been turned into reality and will be developed further thanks to the support of a range of companies including a number of key technology partners. These include STS and YESpay, who have been instrumental in the development of a technical solution that will allow shoppers to donate their pennies both easily and securely.
Working together, YESpay and STS are developing a bespoke solution for launch in January 2011 that will make it as simple as 1, 2, 3 for YESpay retailers to implement Pennies. All it will take is for retailers to: switch on the Pennies application; choose the charity to benefit from the majority of the funds collected through their outlets and then to tell their customers using the Pennies marketing collateral.
STS is using their payments expertise to design and develop a software application that provides a simple and easy process to donate money when paying by card. The 'Pennies solution' uses the Chip and PIN technology already available at the point of sale.
YESpay is in the process of incorporating the 'Pennies solution' into their overall payments software supplied to partners and merchants. The additional functionality will enable retailers to implement Pennies both in store and on line when processing debit and credit card transactions. YESpay will promote Pennies to its wider partner community to extend the range of retailers that are 'Pennies enabled'.
Steve Turner, CEO of STS said: "STS is extremely proud to be part of the Pennies initiative. We believe that social responsibility should be a key area for businesses and supporting responsible charities is a great way of doing this. We are a technology company and it has been very satisfying to apply our technical skills in pioneering a solution with The Pennies Foundation that can benefit multiple charities".
Chandra Patni, CEO of YESpay International commented: "It is a pleasure to be able to assist The Pennies Foundation in the development of the electronic charity box. It is a great way to engage consumers in making donations of as little as a few pennies that will nonetheless make a big difference for those in need. We are very excited to be part of this proposition as a key technology partner and we are committed to support the Pennies Foundation in its efforts for a successful launch".
Alison Hutchinson, CEO of The Pennies Foundation, said: "Pennies is all about making giving to charity easy, affordable and secure for the public and raising new funds for multiple charities. Technology partners like YESpay and STS have worked at the very core of the proposition development. We are grateful for their commitment and focus on making Pennies happen. Thanks to their payments software expertise, we can now offer shoppers the ability to donate their electronic change to charity at the single touch of a button, whether on the Chip and PIN machine in-store or the mouse on-line. We have already gone live on-line and are working with a number of other retailers interested in launching Pennies. From January the solution from YESpay and STS will make this simple for many retailers".
For more information on The Pennies Foundation please visit the Pennies website at www.pennies.org.uk.