The Electronic Collecting Tin - raising £££s to help 1:1 work in Communities

[Laura Hyde]

Would an extra £80m in donations every year make a difference to UK charities working in local communities to improve people’s lives?

The Pennies Foundation is launching a new concept in 2010 that will get the UK public to 'give while they shop' to help raise millions for organisations working 1:1 in local communities, and help support the lives of people in communities around the UK.

But they need your help. In particular;

- How can The Pennies Foundation win the hearts (and pennies!) of the British public?
- How can they best work with communities working 1:1 in their communities to make sure the money raised is best spent?

At Chain Reaction, Hilary McVitty will be holding a workshop with participants at the event to share ideas on how to scale this project up - but please do leave your comments / suggestions here in the meantime.

[Rebecca Thorn]

The Pennies Foundation idea, as I've only really glanced at tbh, is that when someone is purchasing with a credit/debit card e.g. Christmas cards at Clintons and it costs £8.85, they have the option to 'round up' to e.g. £9 with the 5p going to Pennies Foundation who distribute in some regulated fair way to community charities within the UK. (please correct me if I'm wrong).

So there's a marketting question there, and the answer to that is always, Keep It Simple e.g. 'Round it up for Charity'. Neither the teenager behind the counter at Clintons Nor the busy PA buying her boss's Christmas cards has the capacity for remembering the name Pennies Foundation nor its strategy on equitable distribution of funds. They only need to buy in to the concept and not be put off by the inevitable Tabloid expose about the fact that SHOCK Pennies Foundation will have overheads and employees!

I'm sure some clever person at Beautiful World could come up with a great way of marketing this ;)

But that's not really the interesting point here, what's more interesting is to talk about where is the Great British Public is psychologically with their own wealth, security, giving heart and need for convenience.

To put it in short: Do British people still believe the saying: 'If you count the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves'?

If you can find the regions/consumers/age-groups who believe that old addage then you'll know if (and where) Pennies Foundation will win hearts.

Anyone think similar or am I just talking a load of rubbish?!!

[Lennina Ofori]

I think this is a great concept. The British Public have to be won over by the fact that the disadvantaged and deprived in their own communities will benefit from such a scheme, which allows for a 'happier,more peaceful,productive' and often regenarated community. Additionally, maybe communities could have a vote in order to decide which groups should get money as they know whattheir community needs. However, not everyone has a charitable nature. A few pennies are just that- a few pennies and I'm sure if every one allowed themselves to be generous and give an extra 5p each time time they purchased something at Clinton's for example, there would be a great amount raised for community groups. The facts are its fundraising like this that is needed for communities as bids, tenders can be stringent, very time consuming and often futile.
I really hope that this takes off as it is definitely needed!