YESpay International and Itim software bring electronic charity box to the high street

New software developed by YESpay International and Itim has been instrumental in the launch of Pennies, the electronic charity box, onto the high street for the first time. Through 57-store children’s toy shop chain, The Entertainer, consumers now have the choice to round up their card purchases to the nearest pound and make a micro-donation to charity as they pay. All the money raised goes to charity.

To date Pennies has been available online with Domino’s Pizza and Travelodge, as well as in Zizzi restaurants. Since the first retailer launch in November 2010, 577,000 consumer donations have been made through Pennies, raising £136,000 for a total of 18 UK charities. The majority of the individual donations made have been 10p or less, demonstrating how pennies add up to pounds.

YESpay has incorporated the ‘Pennies solution’ into its payments software which is supplied to partners and merchants. Itim has integrated the YESpay application with the Itim point of sale and back office software. This additional functionality has enabled The Entertainer to implement Pennies simply and quickly in its stores. It will also make Pennies implementation simple for other YESpay and Itim merchants, allowing them to easily and cost-effectively participate in a growing micro-donation movement which is proving popular with UK consumers and starting to make a difference for charities too.

The majority of the money raised by The Entertainer will be shared equally between four children’s hospitals, Alder Hey Imagine Appeal, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal which fundraises for Bristol Children’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. The remainder will be divided between ten other UK charities covering a range of causes including the elderly, cancer support and arts & education.

The Entertainer is the largest independent retailer of toys in the UK, with 30 years’ experience. The Entertainer is involved with many charities big and small and stores are encouraged to get involved with their local community.

The key features of Pennies are:

• It’s affordable – micro-donations of pennies not pounds.

• It’s a choice to give - no commitment, no personal details required.

• It’s simple and quick to do - a one-touch process to donate.

• It’s a private, no hassle decision – the question is asked discreetly on the Chip & Pin machine.

Commenting on the partnership with Pennies, Chandra Patni, CEO of YESpay International, commented: “It is a pleasure to bring Pennies, the electronic charity box, to The Entertainer’s 57-store high street chain. We are very excited to be part of the micro-donation movement as a key technology partner of Pennies and look forward to helping them expand the electronic charity box to more YESpay partners and merchants.”

Neil Crawshaw, Commercial Manager of Itim, said: “Following the initial success with The Entertainer, we will be strongly urging all our store customers to follow suit and implement this simple way of raising donations for both worthwhile causes and local communities."

Gary Grant, Managing Director of The Entertainer, said: “Pennies fits well with our culture of giving and supporting those less advantaged than ourselves. Our trial in four stores raised over £150 in its launch week, annualised this could raise around £100,000! That's just outstanding and we are grateful and amazed by the acceptance and generosity of our customers.”

Alison Hutchinson, CEO of The Pennies Foundation added: “We’re excited at the pace of Pennies development. It is fantastic to launch our first in-store high street experience within the fun and friendly environment of The Entertainer’s toy shops. Last year £26 billion* more was spent using debit cards than using notes and coins. The death of cash is not around the corner, but card use is now massive and rising. Pennies makes it possible to give a little to charity by card in the same way that we’ve traditionally dropped coins into a collecting tin.”

* Payments Council press release June 2011 (“Debit cards on top with continued spending surge” – date relates to 2010).