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Domino’s customers have shown that they are all heart by rounding up the price of their orders, a cool one million times, and donating their ‘spare change’ to charity.  Domino’s Pizza joined forces with The Pennies Foundation, the creators of the micro-donation scheme Pennies, the electronic charity box, in November 2010 and since then customers have raised over £230,000 for UK charities.

Domino’s customers are all heart as they share their pennies

Domino’s nominated charity, Special Olympics Great Britain, benefits from 75% of the money raised in Great Britain, while the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice receives 75% of the money raised in Northern Ireland.  The remaining 25% is shared amongst other UK charities, including Shelter, Together for Short Lives and NSPCC.

Pennies, the electronic charity box, is designed to make giving to charity easy, quick and affordable.  With one touch of a button shoppers can choose to round up their payment to the nearest pound when they pay by debit card, credit card or electronically. To date the most common amount donated by Domino’s customers has been 1p, demonstrating how quickly those pennies add up.

Lance Batchelor, CEO of Domino’s Pizza said: “We are delighted that the Pennies scheme has been so well received by our customers.  It is fantastic news to hear that we have received one million donations and that so many charities will benefit from our customers’ generosity.  In these times of economic hardship it is heart warming to know that people are still happy to share what they have.  We are very proud and grateful to our customers.”

Karen Wallin, CEO for Special Olympics Great Britain said: “We are thrilled with the contribution we have been given.  So far, we have received £175,000 and our heartfelt thanks go to everyone who has donated.  The money will go towards many local and national projects and assist our athletes in their own personal development.  Pennies is such a brilliant idea – it makes it so simple for people to make a donation.”

Alison Hutchinson, CEO for The Pennies Foundation said:  “We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of Domino’s customers, a million thank-yous to all those who have donated. These pennies from Domino’s customers really do add up, providing much needed funds for charity and ultimately making a huge difference to people’s lives.”

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:
Domino’s Pizza UK & IRL plc is the leading player in the fast-growing pizza delivery market and holds the exclusive master franchise to own, operate and franchise Domino’s Pizza stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The first UK store opened in Luton in 1985 and the first Irish store opened in 1991. In April 2011, the Group acquired a majority stake in the exclusive master franchise to own, operate and franchise Domino’s Pizza stores in Germany.

As at 25 December 2011, there were 726 stores in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Germany. Of these, 575 stores are in England, 48 are in Scotland, 28 are in Wales, 19 are in Northern Ireland, one is on the Isle of Man, one is a mobile unit, 48 are in the Republic of Ireland and six are in Germany.

Founded in 1960, Domino’s Pizza is one of the world’s leading pizza delivery brands. Through its primarily franchised system, Domino’s Pizza operates a global network of more than 9,350 Domino’s Pizza stores in 70 international markets. Domino’s Pizza has a singular focus – the home delivery of pizza, freshly made to order with high quality ingredients.

Customers in the UK can order online at www.dominos.co.uk and customers in the Republic of Ireland can order online at www.dominos.ie. In addition, mobile customers can order by downloading Domino’s free iPhone, iPad and Android apps.

For more information, please contact:
The Domino’s Pizza Press Office
Domino’s Pizza Group Ltd
Tel: 01908 580732
E: pr@dominos.co.uk

Ref: DPGL/AL/594

Special Olympics Great Britain: Transforming Lives through Sport:
Special Olympics Great Britain is the country’s largest provider of year-round sports training and competition for adults and children with learning disabilities, regardless of their ability. The charity encourages every individual to become more self-confident, while improving their fitness, health and wellbeing by taking part, training and competing in 23 Olympic-type sports. Our athletes discover new abilities and talents. And for many, they have, for the first time, not only teammates, but mates.

Special Olympics Great Britain was established in 1978 and has nearly 8,000 athletes in 135 groups in England, Scotland and Wales run by a dedicated army of over 2800 volunteers that act in a wide variety of roles from sport coaches to fundraisers.

Special Olympics Great Britain and Paralympics are two separate organisations.  Special Olympics Great Britain is recognised as the third member of the Olympic family, but it is not just a sporting event, it is for all people with learning disabilities between the ages of 6 to 80 with an IQ of 75 or less.   Paralympics provides elite-only level competition for multi-disabled groups including elite athletes with learning disabilities.

For more information about Special Olympics Great Britain please visit: www.specialolympicsgb.org.uk or call 0207 247 8891.

About Pennies:
The Pennies Foundation, a registered charity, has created Pennies, the electronic charity box. We’re all familiar with the idea of dropping our change into the charity box sitting on the shop counter. The electronic charity box is exactly the same idea but it works instead when we pay by card or electronically. That means that it works just as well for online or high-street shopping.

Pennies makes giving to charity easy and affordable for all: customers can simply press ‘YES’ on the Chip and PIN machine in-store, or click the ‘Donate’ button online.  The request is for micro-donations – literally a few pennies (1p-99p) – either by rounding up or topping up. The Pennies Foundation then ensures that all the donations are received by the charities named on the virtual tin.

The retailer chooses the charity or charities to benefit from the majority of the amount collected with the remainder split equally between other UK charities which cover a range of causes like cancer, children, homelessness and the elderly.

It’s quick: one small step in the payment process, it’s the consumers’ choice and it’s private too.  There’s no pressure or commitment to give and every penny goes to charity.

Micro-donations are powerful. There are 43 million card holders in the UK today, and around 1 million card transactions an hour. If the UK’s card holders donated a penny a day, well over £150m would be raised for charity every year.

Pennies launched with its first retailer, Domino’s Pizza in November 2010.  Since then a number of major retailers have also adopted Pennies including Travelodge, Zizzi and The Entertainer.  A significant number of new retailers will be launching in 2012.

The key features of Pennies are:
It’s affordable – micro-donations of pennies not pounds.
It’s a choice to give – no commitment and no personal details are required.
It’s simple and quick to do – a one-touch process to donate.
It’s a private, no hassle decision –technology is used to discreetly give consumers an opportunity to opt in.