Pennies from Heaven raises its 250 millionth penny for charity
Howard Lake | 9 October 2013 | News
Pennies from Heaven, the workplace microdonation scheme, has now raised 250 million pennies for charity since it began in 1999.
Once employees have signed up to the system, it works by rounding down the monthly salary and taking the remaining pennies as a charitable donation. If someone earned £850.23 a month, they would receive £850 and 23p would be donated to their selected charity. No-one will ever donate more than 99p each month.
All donations are eligible for Gift Aid.
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Pennies from Heaven reports that donations via its service rose by 9% during 2011/12 and are up by 12% in the first six months of 2013.
Warwickshire County Council’s staff have demonstrated how much pennies can amount to in larger organisations. Its staff donated £32,000 for charity using the scheme in the year to March 2013.
Charity staff as well as donors can use the scheme. For example, Mencap receives £1,000 each month from the rounded down pennies of its staff.
Managing Director Anthony Law commented that Pennies from Heaven is proving particularly popular with people who work part-time or flexible hours and who can’t commit to a regular monthly payroll giving donation.
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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.