Pennies has celebrated its 15th anniversary at its annual Autumn Celebration Event in London, recognising the individuals and business partners advancing the micro‑donation movement. The event was attended by more than 150 leaders from the retail, hospitality, payments and technology sectors.
Over its lifespan, Pennies has enabled more than 300 million micro‑donations, delivering over £75 million to more than 1,100 UK charities.
At the 6th annual Pennies Awards, organisations and individuals were honoured for their work in integrating, scaling and championing micro‑donations across the customer experience. Award winners for 2025 included:
- Merchant Impact Award: Iceland Foods – recognised for rapid rollout across 1,000 stores, strong conversion rates and high store engagement.
- Technology Impact Award: Acrelec UK – awarded for deploying Pennies in a new sector via an innovative kiosk solution, generating a ten‑fold increase in donations.
- Partnership Breakthrough Award: B&Q – commended for a gold‑standard launch that accelerated donation growth at scale.
- Outstanding Achievement Award: Verifone – honoured for pioneering Pennies’ first Android solution and a long‑standing partnership supporting major retailer deployments.
- Unsung Hero Awards: Recognised individuals including Andrew Williamson (Gatwick), Atena Cozens (Screwfix), Martyn Kendrick‑Bott (Verifone) and Rhiannon Etheridge, Emma Wells & Heather Hartley (Worldpay’s Marketing Team) for their behind‑the‑scenes efforts to advance the micro‑donation movement.
The event also featured a panel discussion, moderated by presenter Sally Bundock, with senior leaders including Sarah Barron (Chief Marketing Officer, Domino’s), Paddy Earnshaw (Retail, Property & Technology Director, B&Q) and Sophie Rycroft (Group ESG, Sourcing & Quality Director, Debenhams Group). The conversation explored consumer confidence, brand differentiation and how businesses can deliver broader social purpose.
Sarah Barron commented:
“The reality is that the Pennies’ mission is still as live in Domino’s today as it was back then 15 years ago. It enables us to do the things that really matter to us. It enables us to support the charities that mean a huge amount [to us], like Teenage Cancer Trust.”
Paddy Earnshaw added:
“[Pennies] is the most ubiquitous and accessible way to make a difference to people in the UK and for us that makes a very, very compelling story for 25,000 colleagues. That would be the big difference for Pennies for me.”
Sophie Rycroft said:
“We didn’t realise the impact [Pennies] would have socially across our shareholders, our senior leadership team, our staff. They’re so proud to talk about it as colleagues, and that’s amazing because we’re ticking every box – we’re doing an amazing thing for these charities.”
During the event, Pennies also shared early findings from its latest UK‑wide consumer survey, carried out by Sapio Research, with the full report due in December 2025. Alison Hutchinson CBE, CEO of Pennies, said:
“When we conducted our research just last month, it said, still, the most preferred way to give is little and often, and believe it or not, the top preferred way of giving is still dropping coins in a charity box. The problem is no one can do it. Rounding up at checkout, doing digital micro‑donations, for the second year is now the third preferred way of giving, so we hope that that movement of behaviour from cash to digital is well on its way. … As we celebrate 15 years and £75 million, I looked forward and thought: what would the next 15 years look like? What if together we could help it grow by 10 % every year? [In] 15 years’ time, 2040, together we’d raise half a billion pounds’ worth of money for the UK charity sector. I’d just like to invite you to join my dream and see if it would be possible. Like everything at Pennies, it’s a choice – it’s your choice if you want to join this movement. I just hope the answer is ‘yes’.”
