How leftover pennies from your pint can change lives

Rounding up your bill to the nearest pound at your local Fuller’s pub can help to make a difference to the lives of children with life-limiting conditions and athletes with intellectual disabilities.

For the past couple of years, we have been rolling out a digital charity box called Pennies in some of our Managed pubs. Since implementation in October 2016, our generous customers have raised over £200,000 for our partner charities Special Olympics GB and Shooting Star Children’s Hospices – proving that small donations go a long way.

Following this great outcome, in July 2019 we introduced Pennies in all our Managed pubs – making it easier than ever to donate to charity.

Here’s everything you need to know about Pennies.

What is Pennies?

Pennies is an electronic charity box where customers are offered the choice to round up their bill to the nearest pound when paying with chip and pin. The amount rounded up goes to charity.

Jonathon Swaine, Managing Director of Fuller’s, said:

“Pennies is the digital upgrade of the traditional charity box, designed to fit with our increasingly cashless lifestyles. It gives people the opportunity to give a few pence to charity when paying by card with the press of a button.”

How does Pennies work?

When paying for your bill at a Fuller's Managed pub, a donation prompt will appear on the card machine once you have inserted your card. This prompt will only appear if chip and pin is being used and if the value is above £20. Contactless cards, Apple and Android Pay transactions will not prompt for a donation.

Then, you will be offered two options – press the green enter button to donate, or press cancel if you don’t wish to donate. The card transaction will then proceed as normal.

Donating through Pennies is a private decision, and completely anonymous.

How much will be added to the bill?

The bill will be rounded up to the nearest pound, so donations will be anywhere between 1p and 99p, which will be displayed on the screen when making payment.

Where will the donated money go?

When donating through Pennies in a Fuller's Managed pub, 45% of the money will go to Shooting Star Children's Hospices, 45% will go to Special Olympics GB, and 10% will go to Pennies. As Pennies is also a registered charity, this means that 100% of the money raised will go to charity.

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices is a children’s hospice charity caring for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families. Special Olympics GB is a provider of year-round, all ability, sports programmes in Great Britain and supports more than 7,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.

For more information on these charities, visit Shooting Star Children’s Hospices or Special Olympics GB.

To find out more about Pennies visit: Pennies.org.uk.

Find a Fuller’s Managed pub near you.

Related Articles:

• Fuller’s Reveals Special Olympics GB as New Charity Partner
• Fuller’s Ski Challenge Raises 36K for Special Olympics GB
• Special Olympics GB Excels at 2019 World Games
• The Fuller’s & Shooting Star Chase Cycle Challenge Returns