Penny On Project

Location: UK
Start Date: April 2006
Expected Completion Date: 2015

Project Concept

Detailed Project Description

Penny-On is a contemporary response to global issues of inequality, poverty and lack of opportunity. It simply asks people to put a ‘penny on’ when they undertake the regular shopping ritual of the prosperous, enfranchised consumer.

In essence, it is a fundraising mechanism which has the potential of involving millions of consumers in terms of both giving and involvement.

Penny-On is also an organisation registered as a charitable trust which has been founded to establish the Penny-On mechanism.

Penny-On is a brand which will carry the message that sparing a penny-per-basket of purchases in wealthy economies can build a fund that can invest in the untapped entrepreneurial efforts of those in societies and communities without an enterprise and funding infrastructure.

Having run on a voluntary basis for the last three years, Penny-On has reached the point where it is seeking a sponsor to adopt the idea – possibly for its own corporate social responsibility ideals – and help Penny-On get established.

Research into the potential for using media and real stories from projects suggests we need to show what is possible in the extreme. Our travels took us to the Sahara desert where we found 170,000 refugees with a powerful story and a very real need for a solution that solved their food needs. On return we made initial contact with The Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) and have since then been actively promoting PRI’s work across social forums and at public meetings. The long goal sees the Saharawi becoming a pilot project for Penny On and PRI to show what can be done in these extreme conditions. From this a Permaculture design course could be expanded into one that’s run on a peer to peer basis for refugees from other countries, with the Saharawi women and children using the technology to feed themselves and teach others how to replicate their success.

Project Duration & Schedule

We have the agreement of the Saharawi Women leaders to empower all the Saharawi women and children through this project.

The focus is a Permaculture project to create the sustainable growth of their own food. They call it a "Dig for Solidarity".

Following a conversation with Senator Frank Ruddy the former head of the UN mission in the region, it became clear that our proposals for the food program are vital.

By focusing upon the creation of sustainable food, accredited training and nutrition for the women and children we can potentially divert the attention towards something of great emotive and social value.

Frank Ruddy described this as a Peace Building Project that as well as involving private investment, could/should be funded also in part by the security services who have a vested interest in keeping the peace in the region.

The Phase 1a objectives are:

• Meet local project leaders and partners
• Survey available sites in camps near Tindouf and in re-claimed territory at Tifariti
• Evaluate and scope available/required resources
• Design and plan a phased action program

Here's the overall phasing:

• Phase 1a Technical Survey, Scope, Plan (5 days)
• Phase 1b Implement training for small scale home kitchen production + monitor (3 months)
• Phase 2 Evaluate, Adjust + Implement training for home garden model (3 months)
• Phase 3 Evaluate, Adjust + Implement training for community garden model (6 months)

Project Needs

The Phase 1a costs are:

5 days Specialist Consultancy	£6,400
Resource Contingency	£1,500
8 x International Flights	£12,000
Seeds and Technical Resources	£5,000
Total	£24,900	($48,686.97 USD)

Additional Information

Sustainability and fairness

If Penny-On is to be a viable fundraising mechanism, funds must be used in a way that would sustain their effect. Aid programmes essentially provide short-term solutions to saving lives and meeting revenue shortfalls and, it can be argued, make those receiving aid even more dependent. Aid rarely promotes enterprise.

Penny-On funds should be like investment, providing capital that finances and drives innovation, job and wealth creation at a micro-economic level. Consequently, an evaluation mechanism was required that could be applied to funding applications so that funds were allocated where social and economic value could be created in a sustainable way.

Penny-On engaged IT Consultant Martin Tate who had already developed an evaluation model for large, complex IT projects.

He adapted it and wrote a schema in Microsoft Excel so that the principles and criteria could be illustrated. It also serves as the basis to brief a programming team and host the evaluation mechanism online. The system has been named BASS – Balanced Assessment Scoring System.

More than a financial solution

Penny-On is more than a donating and fund allocation mechanism: it can also encompass engagement, awareness and knowledge sharing. The act of putting a ‘penny on’ is more than just about transferring financial resources: it can also be a positive statement of personal involvement for sponsors, retail partners and consumers alike.

That involvement can, eventually, be extended to tracking a donor’s pennies and even result in people getting physically involved, on the ground, with local projects. Donor fatigue can be transcended through involvement, or put simply, more direct connection between giver and user.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and cause-related marketing are not new and Penny-On can be seen as a powerful partner for any business wanting to leverage the positive PR.

Penny-On with an allied advertising programme will provide additional and complementary marketing associations for participating businesses, highlighting partnerships through online and offline communications.
Whilst CSR is an established tool for FTSE businesses, in the UK the vast majority of enterprises have yet to engage in CSR programmes. Penny-On represents a ready-made entry into CSR to those new to the concept and a non-competing 'me too' to those already participating in CSR.