Amount has been raised for children’s charities through cashless donations.
Customers at The Entertainer toy shops across the UK have hit an incredible milestone of £3 million raised for children’s charities across the country – simply by rounding up their purchases to the nearest pound using Pennies, the digital charity box.
The Entertainer first added Pennies – which is the digital upgrade of the traditional charity collection tin – to its tills in its high street stores in June 2011, with the help of payments partner Worldpay.
Since then, shoppers have rounded up their purchases more than 6.7 million times, raising £3 million for a number of children’s charities, including nine of the country’s leading children’s hospitals.
Customer generosity has grown even greater since the introduction of a contactless option to donate in-store in 2018, which almost doubled the amount raised for charity each week. And in the six days of trading before Christmas 2018, The Entertainer raised a record £74,000 in consumer donations through Pennies.
Charities benefiting from the donations include Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, Alder Hey Children’s Charity, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity’s The Grand Appeal.
“We are so grateful to our customers for their generosity through Pennies at the till,” said Gary Grant, founder and executive chairman of The Entertainer. “The pennies donated have accumulated to a phenomenal amount of money since we introduced Pennies back in 2011 and have made a tremendous amount of difference to children’s charities all over the country. We cannot thank our customers enough for the impact their pennies have made.”
Alison Hutchinson CBE, chief executive of Pennies, added: “The Entertainer’s customers should feel fantastic about what they are achieving.
“For example, every day, 619 children go to Great Ormond Street from right across the UK. Donations there are helping to fund ground-breaking research, advanced medical equipment, support services for children and their families, and the rebuilding and refurbishment of wards and medical facilities at the hospital. It may feel like pennies, but together they add up to extraordinary impact.”
