Essex snatches silver at the Heist Awards

The University of Essex has picked up a Silver Award for the Donate Your Pennies scheme at the Heist Awards for education marketing.

Donate Your Pennies was nominated for the ‘Best Alumni, Development or Fundraising initiative’ and was the highest placed fundraising project on the night.

Donate Your Pennies is an easy way for our staff to get involved in fundraising, with their monthly pay being rounded down to the nearest pound, and the remaining pennies going towards our scholarship initiatives, which supports talented students from across the world to study at Essex.

Nearly 1,000 staff are currently signed up to donate their pennies, contributing a combined £419 a month towards student scholarships. Since it launched in July 2016, the scheme has raised a total of £9,327.73.

The judges of the award described Donate Your Pennies as a “…courageous campaign in a challenging climate”. They went on to say “this simple yet effective initiative from the University of Essex exceeded set up costs and now provides a base for sustainable fundraising”.

The award ceremony was held at The Principal Hotel in Manchester and hosted by the journalist and television presenter Steph McGovern.

James Martin, our Senior Philanthropy Officer who received the award said: “I’m really pleased with the success of Donate Your Pennies. It’s fantastic to see the impact on our students, and for staff to make it happen by coming together in this way. It goes to show that just a few pennies each a month can make a real difference.”