Leading independent pharmacy chain Well Pharmacy has partnered with Pennies, the award-winning micro-donation charity, and Trust Retail, part of the Trust Payments Group, to help encourage charitable donations when paying in cashless ways – as Well officially launches micro-donations in-store this Random Acts of Kindness Day (17th February).
The move comes in a boost to colleague and corporate fundraising in aid of Mind. Customers are now being offered the chance to donate 9p on top of their purchase when making a payment by card or digital wallet. These funds, which will be processed by Trust Payments in conjunction with Pennies, will help support the mental health charity Mind to run services including the Mind Infoline, legal line, and online community, Side by Side.
The Well partnership with Mind was launched in May last year as part of Well Pharmacy’s Culture Code commitment, and selected stores have been encouraging customers to donate since December. So far, over 50,000 donations have been received.
The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the nation’s mental health, and the current cost of living crisis is adding further toll. More people than ever are experiencing a mental health problem and need support from Mind.
To mark the official launch, Well will be supported by Pennies and Trust Retail who will match the totals donated by customers using cashless payments on Random Acts of Kindness Day.
Seb Hobbs, CEO, Well Pharmacy, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer this new way of donating, which is a simple approach and can make all the difference to such a vital charity.
“With one in four of us experiencing a mental health problem every year, we know how important it is to keep raising money for Mind. We are very proud of our charity partnership and working with Pennies will play an important part in that partnership.”
Alison Hutchinson CBE, CEO Pennies, said: “We are excited to welcome Well Pharmacy to the micro-donation movement, and we know their customers generosity will make a big difference to Mind, a charity working tirelessly to ensure everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets support and respect.
“Micro-donations through Pennies have been accelerating over the last two years with record numbers of retailers starting to offer their customers the choice to give back in an easy and affordable way. Despite the increase in everyday costs such as rises in energy, food and fuel costs, the UK public continues to demonstrate its generosity – and preference – for giving ‘small and often’ and when they choose. Micro-donations matter as lifeblood for the UK charity sector, now more than ever.”
Daniel Holden, Group CEO, Trust Payments, said: “At Trust Payments, we strive to build a better, more sustainable tomorrow by helping businesses drive social and environmental change. This partnership with Pennies and Well is a great step forwards in helping to make it seamless for customers to play their part with frictionless donations to the worthwhile causes that Mind supports. We look forward to helping Well reach its fundraising targets and expanding this technology across our Trust Retail portfolio.”
Pennies has estimated that micro-donations present an ambitious but achievable opportunity to inject an annual £1bn into the UK charity sector – if every UK card holder gave just 35p a week.
In total, the fintech charity has enabled over 158 million micro-donations, raising over £39million in vital additional income for charities in the UK, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland.
