Pennies passes GBP £90 million in UK micro-donations

Pennies has raised £90 million in customer micro-donations in the UK, collected through more than 360 million donations.

The milestone was marked at Pennies' annual Autumn Celebration Event in London, where the organisation also announced the winners of its 2026 awards programme. More than 150 leaders from retail, hospitality, payments and technology attended.

Pennies works with merchants and payment providers to give shoppers the option of adding a small donation when paying by card or digitally. The model is designed to collect low-value gifts at scale, in stores and through online and in-app checkouts.

It has now raised money for more than 1,150 charities across the UK and works with more than 200 brands, as cash use continues to decline and donation habits shift towards digital payments.

Awards announced

Among the businesses recognised at the event was Currys, which won the Merchant Impact Award. The retailer made micro-donations part of a wider technology investment, introducing round-up prompts on about 4,000 Stripe terminals across 296 stores in three months and adding the option online.

Pennies said that rollout has helped customers raise £1 million for the Digital Poverty Alliance. The award reflects the growing role of checkout donations in mainstream retail systems, rather than standalone charity appeals.

Astound Digital won the Technology Impact Award for its work with London Gatwick. The project made the airport the first in the UK to add micro-donations to its online car parking checkout, generating about £100,000 from 71,000 donations for Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex.

Musgrave Northern Ireland received the Merchant Breakthrough Award after expanding a six-store trial to 72 stores. More than one million micro-donations across that network have raised over £200,000 for Action Cancer.

A new category, the Power of Partnership Award, went to Retail Technology Show. Pennies said the show has been its Gold Charity Partner for a decade and has helped expose the micro-donation model to around 14,000 senior retail leaders each year.

The Outstanding Achievement Award went to Toolstation and the British Heart Foundation. In the first eight months of their five-year partnership, more than 522,000 micro-donations were raised, raising over £200,000, while more than 3,300 colleagues learned CPR.

Worldpay received the Judges' Award in recognition of a 15-year relationship with Pennies. That partnership has now passed 100 million micro-donations, raising more than £25.8 million for charities in the UK and Ireland.

Sector pressure

The event also included a panel discussion on consumer confidence, customer experience and social purpose at checkout. Senior executives from SSP, Matalan and Holland & Barrett took part.

"We've been struck by the Pennies community. All of that sharing of best practice has been extremely helpful for us in getting off to a fast start," said Kari Daniels, Chief Executive Officer, SSP UK, Ireland and Netherlands.

"Make sure the charities connect to your colleagues. Your colleagues are your biggest asset - they're the ones who drive this in stores and online," said Verity Warnecke,  Head of Sustainability & Charity, Matalan.

"Customers want it too. They expect retailers to be doing something for the community - supporting something more than just their own business," said Steve Worboys, Chief Operating Officer, Holland & Barrett.

Pennies' figures suggest the pace of giving through micro-donations has increased in recent years. It took 13 years to raise the first £50 million, with a further £40 million raised over the past three years.

That growth comes as charities face pressure on traditional fundraising channels and households remain cautious about discretionary spending. For retailers and payment providers, the model offers a way to collect small contributions without asking consumers for larger one-off gifts.

Alison Hutchinson, Chief Executive Officer, Pennies, said the acceleration showed how customer behaviour is changing at the point of payment. "We've now passed £90 million raised from 360 million consumer clicks. It took us 13 years to raise the first £50 million, and in the last three years we've raised another £40 million. That is what momentum looks like," she said.

Hutchinson said the wider charity sector needed to adjust to new patterns in how people choose to give.

"Fundraising for the charity sector is tough, and for charities the tide is going out. But generosity hasn't stopped - it's just changed. People can't afford to give what they used to, and they don't have the time they once had, so we need to do things differently," she said.