Majestic has partnered with fintech charity Pennies to enable its customers to quickly and conveniently donate to charity when paying by card for their wines, beers and spirits.

Customers shopping in any of the specialist wine retailer’s stores across England, Scotland, Wales and Jersey can now round-up their purchases to the nearest pound at the till, with the money raised going to the Majestic Charitable Foundation, which was formed earlier this year to help Majestic support causes close to its colleagues’ hearts.

The Foundation has initially partnered with three national charities: The Brain Tumour Charity, Campaign Against Living Miserably and Child Bereavement UK – all of which were nominated by colleagues.

It will also support Jersey Cancer Relief using donations from customers in its Jersey store, which opened in April.  

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As the Majestic Charitable Foundation grows, it will also increase its support for smaller, local charities within the 212 communities that the wine retailer’s stores serve across the UK and the Channel Islands.   

After raising almost £1,000 through 10 stores during a short trial period earlier this year, the retailer has ambitions for the partnership with Pennies to generate a six-figure sum for the Majestic Charitable Foundation every year.

Pennies, which has surpassed 200 million micro-donations across all of its partners, has estimated that micro-donations present an “ambitious but achievable” opportunity to inject an annual £1bn into the UK charity sector, based on every UK card holder giving just 35p a week.

Majestic chief financial officer and trustee of the Majestic Charitable Foundation Alex Jablonowski said: “We wanted to make it quick and easy for our customers to contribute to our fundraising efforts, and Pennies have helped us deliver a simple solution to ‘micro-donate’ at the point of payment.

“Christmas is a really important time of year for charities around the country and many of them rely heavily on the goodwill of shoppers over the next few weeks. We know our customers will welcome the opportunity to round-up their shopping bills for incredibly worthy causes during the festive season, and contribute to what will be a life-changing impact for the people we support through the Majestic Charitable Foundation.”

Earlier this month, Majestic Wine unveiled plans to open more stores including a new wine emporium in Plymouth, taking a space within retailer The Range’s head office.