Pennies, a micro-donation tool, has announced that it has now collected over 20 million donations through its digital charity box and has appointed NCVO chair Martyn Lewis as its first ambassador.

The digital charity box, which allows people to make small donations to good causes when paying by card, was launched in 2010 and in the last 12 months has doubled the number of micro-donations it has received to 20 million. As a result over £4.5m has been raised through the tool for over 100 different charities.

Pennies is helping push a trend towards a “cashless society” by creating a “digital ecosystem using new technology to create a more sustainable source of funding for charities”.

Alison Hutchinson, chief executive of the Pennies Foundation, said: “When Pennies launched in 2010, the period of technological change presented a unique opportunity to revolutionise the way donations are made to charity.

“Pennies demonstrates how the right innovation, that offers people an easy way to give, can make a tangible difference for good causes. The recent rapid advances in payments technology, from online shopping through to contactless and mobile payments, have been reflected in the growth of the Pennies movement over the past year with more and more people looking for simple, digital ways to give to charity.”

On his role as the charity’s new ambassador, former journalist and current chair of the NCVO Martyn Lewis said: “I am thrilled to become an ambassador for Pennies. The digital charity box is a modern way to give that puts the power to donate in the hands of every individual, offering a private way to donate without giving any personal details.

“In today’s cashless society a third of Brits never carry money; therefore micro-donations are a powerful new fundraising tool charities and businesses should get behind. This is a wonderful and positive news story.”