SOFII's Choice(s)

Special characteristics: The fund committee decided to run appeals targeted to particular sections of the community.

The penny-a-week fund was [intended] to collect 1 [cent] a week from workers, which was deducted from their wages. The fund raised £17,663,225 (£1.79 billion today) — all in pennies. Its success was credited to the idea of collecting a small amount of money from a large number of people. The amount did not make a significant difference to the donor's weekly budget, but the pennies added up to raise more than one third of the entire Duke of Gloucester's appeal. This was the precursor to payroll giving as we know it today. Each year, £106 million is donated through payroll giving in the U.K. currently, a mere 35 percent of what the penny-a-week fund collected annually during the war years.