With this year’s expansion of its Förderpenny fund-raising initiative, PENNY is sending a clear signal that, despite all the challenges and crises, it is committed to the long-term support of child and youth associations. This year, a total of 112,500 euros will be donated to the three winning organisations at five regional award presentations nationwide (5×10,000 euros, 5×7,500 euros, and 5×5,000 euros).
In total, Förderpenny will donate more than 760,000 euros this year (2021: approximately 250,000 euros). In addition to the money from the five regional award presentations, the sum also includes 650,000 euros voted for by customers. In 2022, more than 3,000 child and youth support organisations (2021: 850) applied for one of the 520 regional Förderpenny awards. Since the start of the Förderpenny initiative, almost three million euros have been donated. The regional award-giving will kick off in Cologne on 25 October.
The current crises and the war in Ukraine rightly dominate public opinion and perception. This places a significant psychological burden on children and adolescents in particular, which is why it is all the more important to support child and youth services. With our new and much more regional concept for Förderpenny, we are doing just that. I am delighted at the record number of applications and customer votes this year and that Förderpenny has attained nationwide recognition,
says Dr Stefan Görgens, COO PENNY.
From the 3,000 applications, an independent panel first selected two winning organisations from each local PENNY region. These were then put to an online customer vote, with the winner receiving 1,500 euros and the runner-up 1,000 euros. From November, the 260 winners will also receive round-up donations and donations from returned bottles from all PENNY stores in their local region for one year. With the Förderpenny round-up mechanism, PENNY customers can conveniently donate to their local organisation simply by approving the suggested donation when paying at the checkout. The amount on their receipt is then automatically rounded up to the nearest full 10 cents.
PENNY initially launched the Förderkorb fund-raising project in Hamburg in 2015. More than 140,000 customers voted for their favourite charity. In 2016, a Förderkorb project was set up in each of the metropolitan regions of Cologne, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig, Mannheim, and Munich. In 2017, more than 1.8 million people voted for their favourite as part of the Förderkorb initiative. In 2018, the PENNY project was extended to the whole of Germany. PENNY is thus also fulfilling its nationwide commitment to being a good neighbour with the Förderkorb project.
