Pennies, the UK’s leading micro-donation charity, hosted its annual Autumn Celebration Event in London, recognising the individuals and partners driving progress across the micro-donation movement.
Held in central London and attended by over 150 leaders from retail, hospitality, payments and technology, the event celebrated Pennies’ growing community of partners – and highlighted its collective social impact to date: over 360 million micro-donations raised, delivering more than £90 million for over 1,150 UK charities.
The event was made possible with the support of Stripe, event sponsor, alongside award sponsors Intuit, NashTech, Taggstar, Experian and Worldpay, all of whom play an important role in supporting and championing the growing micro-donation movement.
2026 Pennies Award winners
The 7th annual Pennies Awards honoured both organisations and individuals who have gone above and beyond to integrate, scale and champion micro-donations across their customer experience.
- The Merchant Impact Award was presented to Currys for making Pennies a core part of a major technology investment. It rolled out round-up prompts on around 4,000 Stripe terminals across 296 stores in just three months, took Pennies online, and has helped customers raise £1 million for the Digital Poverty Alliance.
- The Technology Impact Award went to Astound Digital for helping London Gatwick become the first UK airport to build micro-donations into its online car-parking checkout, raising around £100,000 across 71,000 donations for Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex.
- The Merchant Breakthrough Award was won by Musgrave Northern Ireland for growing a six-store trial into a 72-store rollout by winning over independent retailers one conversation at a time. More than one million micro-donations have raised over £200,000 for Action Cancer, already beating its annual target.
- The Power of Partnership Award, a new award for 2026, was won by Retail Technology Show, celebrating ten years of Pennies as the show’s Gold Charity Partner. In that time, it has championed micro-donations to around 14,000 senior retail leaders each year and supported Pennies’ growth from around 60 partners to more than 200.
- The Unsung Hero Awards recognised Zoë Pritchard (Lidl GB), Richard Riley (Greene King), Katie Martin-Fagg and Jess Jones (Currys) and Team Majestic Giffnock led by manager Kathy Hughes – all key people behind the scenes making micro-donations happen.
- The Outstanding Achievement Award was awarded to Toolstation and the British Heart Foundation, recognising a record-breaking first 8 months of their 5-year partnership that made Pennies everybody’s business. More than 522,000 micro-donations raised over £200,000 from January to August 2026, matching Toolstation’s entire 2025 Pennies total, and more than 3,300 colleagues have now learned CPR.
- The Judges’ Award was presented to Worldpay in recognition of a 15-year partnership that has built Pennies into the card payments of many of the UK’s best-known brands. The judges felt Worldpay deserved special recognition with this award, as this year the partnership passed 100 million micro-donations, raising more than £25.8 million for charities in the UK and Ireland.
Panel discussion: from checkout to impact: building social purpose into everyday moments
The event included a live panel discussion hosted by reporter and presenter, Sally Bundock, featuring senior leaders from three major UK brands:
- Kari Daniels – CEO, SSP UK Ireland and Netherlands
- Verity Warnecke – Head of Sustainability & Charity, Matalan
- Steve Worboys – Chief Operating Officer, Holland & Barrett
Together, the panel explored consumer confidence in a challenging economy, how great customer experience sets brands apart, and how embedding purpose at the checkout can turn everyday moments into real community impact.
Kari Daniels commented:
“We’ve been struck the Pennies community. All of that sharing of best practice has been extremely helpful for us to get a fast start.”
Verity Warnecke added:
“Make sure the charities connect to your colleagues. Your colleagues are your biggest asset – they’re the ones who drive this in stores and online.”
Steve Worboys said:
“Customers want it too. They expect retailers to be doing something for the community – supporting something more than just their own business.”
Small Change, Rising Tide: How Micro-Donations Are Meeting the Moment
During the event, Alison Hutchinson CBE, CEO of Pennies, reflected on the growing momentum behind micro-donations and their role in helping charities adapt to changing patterns of giving.
Alison Hutchinson CBE, CEO of Pennies, said: “We’ve now passed £90 million raised from 360 million consumer clicks. It took us 13 years to raise the first £50 million, and in the last three years we’ve raised another £40 million. That is what momentum looks like.”
Reflecting on the challenges facing the charity sector and the need to make giving fit modern lifestyles, she added:
“”Fundraising for the charity sector is tough, and for charities the tide is going out. But generosity hasn’t stopped – it’s just changed. People can’t afford to give what they used to, and they don’t have the time they once had, so we need to do things differently.”
