Debenhams Group has today announced a new partnership with Pennies, one of the UK’s leading charities, which will give customers the option to make charitable donations when they shop.
From today, Debenhams Group customers will be able to make optional donations at checkout – simply by rounding up their total spend to the nearest pound for charity – a process known as micro-donating.
Debenhams Group has initially pledged for its customer donations to go towards the incredible work of the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Today’s announcement builds on Debenhams Group’s longstanding partnership with the BHF. Since 2017, the Group has supported the BHF through sample donations to their retail stores from all the Debenhams Group brands, including Pretty Little Thing, boohoo and MAN.
To date, the items donated have supported the charity to maintain an impressive 95% reuse and recycling rate. The sale of those items has enabled the British Heart Foundation to raise over £3.7 million pounds to help fund vital research into heart and circulatory diseases. There are 7.6 million people living with heart and circulatory conditions in the UK and the BHF funds over half of non-commercial cardiovascular research in the UK.
The concept of giving ‘little and often’ is particularly popular amongst Gen Z and young Millennials, with over two-thirds (70%) of this demographic aware of Pennies and regularly contributing via micro-donations. To date, Pennies has facilitated 251 million contributions, raising over £61 million for more than 1,000 causes.
The partnership comes at a significant moment for Debenhams Group, which last week announced a rebrand and that it would be rolling out its highly successful, highly profitable marketplace model across its other brands: Karen Millen, PrettyLittleThing, MAN and boohoo.
Going forwards, these brands will be powered by Debenhams’ technology, enabling them to add thousands of partner brands to their sites and making it even easier for customers to shop the brands they love and creates greater opportunity for donations via Pennies.
The partnership also forms part of the Group’s renewed commitment to ESG and will be a key pillar in its upcoming ESG plan set to be published later this year.
Dan Finley, chief executive officer of Debenhams Group, said: “I’m delighted to be partnering with Pennies and empowering customers to make a tangible difference when they shop with us. This partnership is representative of the community spirit that sits at the very heart of Debenhams Group and is an important part of our new Group ESG commitments.
“We have a proud history supporting the vital work of the British Heart Foundation and look forward to extending this support to even more charities in the future through our Pennies partnership.”
Alison Hutchinson CBE, chief executive officer of Pennies, said: “Our collaboration with Debenhams Group is a significant milestone in Pennies’ mission to make giving easier and more accessible for everyone. Debenhams Group is an impressive company with a broad customer base, and we’re excited by the prospect of reaching so many people with micro-donations and raising funds initially for the British Heart Foundation through this partnership.”
Teresa Hicks, director of corporate partnerships at the British Heart Foundation, said: “From what began as a local business supporting its local charity shop through clothing donations, it’s fantastic to see how our partnership with Debenhams Group has grown. With 7.6 million people living with heart and circulatory conditions in the UK, our work has never been more needed. We are thrilled to be working with Pennies to receive donations to help fund our vital research into one of the UK’s biggest killers and want to thank Debenhams Group customers for their generosity.”
