As part of a commitment to help businesses and communities thrive, Tyl by NatWest has pledged to donate a portion of its revenue to social enterprise initiative, Change Please.
The donation, which marks the payment provider’s first local community award, will support Change Please in its ambition to end homelessness and follows a recommendation from Tyl merchant, Charlotte’s Cloud, located in Chelsea.
Change Please operates a series of coffee shops across the UK, with all profits – along with sales of its Fairtrade coffee beans – redirected back into the organisation to fuel its mission of supporting people experiencing homelessness.
Through a tailored barista training programme, Change Please also provides individuals with a path to secure, permanent employment at coffee shops such as Charlotte’s Cloud.
Recognising their extraordinary efforts to support vulnerable people in the nearby area, Tyl customer, Charlotte’s Cloud has nominated Change Please for the local community award, which will see Tyl donate a total of £5,000 to the charity. The nomination comes as the sister organisation of Change Please, Old Spike Roastery is the coffee sold at Charlotte’s Cloud.
The announcement forms part of Tyl’s partnership with Pennies, the UK’s leading fintech charity working to protect and grow micro-donations, which has already seen Tyl raise upwards of £150,000 for charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support, The Prince’s Trust and Hospice UK.
Tyl’s partnership with Pennies has also won the Breakthrough Award at the Pennies Annual Event 2021. The award recognises a key partnership that has moved Pennies into a new market or channel or technology. This integration has allowed Pennies to deliver a valuable proposition for SMEs, for the first time, allowing them to direct micro-donations in support of key local causes.
The joint venture sees Tyl grant a percentage of its profits to the fund, which is then distributed among worthy causes across the length and breadth of the UK, allowing merchants to direct funding to charities, organisations and initiatives that are making a difference within their local community.
Laurence Higgens, Director of Impact and Fundraising at Change Please, said, “Donations are vital in allowing us to continue the work we do and have become even more important in recent months due in part to the challenges of the pandemic.
“We are immensely grateful to both Tyl by NatWest and Charlotte’s Cloud for recognising the work we do and supporting us in our mission to end homelessness.”
Robert Dokler, co-founder at Charlotte’s Cloud, said, “Community is at the heart of our business, and we are always looking for ways to support the charities and organisations who are fighting to make positive, lasting change.
“We have a longstanding relationship with Change Please and have always been in awe of the help they provide to those most in need. Through Tyl by NatWest’s local community award, our customers can take pride in the knowledge that every time they come in to visit us, they are directly helping to end homelessness.”
Mike Elliff, CEO at Tyl, said, “Empowering small businesses to support the causes that matter most to them and their local community is a core aspect of our purpose at Tyl.
“Being able to provide this funding to Change Please is an example of the added value that the fintech and payments sectors can bring to society. We hope to continue to play a key role in helping to protect income for charitable causes as the country rebuilds for the future.”
Tyl by NatWest is a new, innovative payments service designed in partnership with UK SMEs to make it easier for small business customers across the country to receive payments in-store, online and over the phone. Tyl offers next-day settlement for users, helping businesses to manage cash flow during covid-19 and beyond.
