Pennies Deliver Corporate Donations to UK Charities
20 March 2013 at 9:01 am
A unique scheme to increase donations to UK charities has made awards to corporates who have embraced the program and raised money for Not for Profits.
The program, organised by UK company Pennies from Heaven (PFH), lets employees choose to donate the pennies from their net monthly salaries to collectively raise pounds, which are then donated to the charity(ies) of their employers choice. For example, if an employee earns £850.34 net pay, 34p will be given to charity.
Corporates taking part in the program have been ranked on their employees take-up rate of the program, with B Braun Medical Limited, Bank of England and Barclays Bank ranking the highest.
According to PFH, despite a challenging macroeconomic environment and the pressures this can put on charitable donations, the scheme has raised over £2.1million for over 192 UK charities since its establishment in 1999 and is seeing year on year growth in donations (56% increase 2009-2012).
The ‘penny system’ has a take up rate three times that of payroll giving in the UK, the organisation says, and quotes a 70% increase in participants taking part in the scheme.
The organisation awarded bronze medals to employers with more than 10% of staff participating in the scheme, silver to those with over 15% and gold to those with more than 20%.
“Despite concerns in the media that charitable giving will suffer in a tougher economic climate, we are
particularly pleased to see that this year, 23% more employers have won a Gold Award, where more than 20% of staff are taking part in the scheme,” Pennies from Heaven Director Kate Frost said.
“These Awards are testament to the success of the PFH scheme in encouraging employers to collectively give a lot, by each giving a little. We continue to work with new companies, introducing Pennies from Heaven as an innovative way to improve their charitable involvement in the workplace beyond traditional payroll giving schemes.
