CharityPodz charity toy vending machines to appear across the UK
Howard Lake | 4 October 2017 | News
The UK’s “first charity toy machines” are to be installed across the UK following a successful pilot programme.
Over 300 CharityPodz vending machines will be placed in shops across the country.
The specially designed machines are designed to enable children to spend their pocket money to purchase a ‘collectable toy’. For every toy purchased, a donation is made to the retailer’s chosen charity. The payment is “credited directly into the charity bank account, cutting out any admin costs for staff to process payments”.
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Payments are made quarterly, although retailers and charities receive monthly reports.
The burden on the retailer is reduced even further because CharityPodz handles all the installation and maintenance of the machines.
The machines are branded with the retailer’s chosen charity’s logo, to act as in-store promotion and to inform the child and her parent which charity will benefit.
Children’s Hospital Charity
The Children’s Hospital Charity has been benefiting from the machines since 2016, and was the first charity to sign up to the concept.
Retail brand Matalan is one of the first retailers to install the CharityPodz machines in its stores and is currently using them to raise money for national charities NSPCC and Alder Hey.
Cardiff Airport and Doncaster Sheffield Airport have also installed machines.
CharityPodz states that a single machine in a high footfall site “can comfortably raise £1,200 per year in donations”.
CharityPodz’ founder Adam Abrams describes the machine as “defining a new category of charity toy vending”. He says it meets many of the CSR targets of major retailers through customer and store level staff fundraising initiatives. The charity machines are an extension of his commercial vending machine business Perform 365.
He added: “Our mission is to share the magic of play to make lives better. The concept offers a new and original channel for charitable giving within retail environments. It’s a sustainable fundraising model which is a step on from the collection box style of raising money.
“Our three-year plan is to establish this new category in CSR fundraising at a worth of over £3m in annual donations to UK charities. We want to be working with the leading national UK charities alongside big retail networks to achieve our targets.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.