SumUp and ceramics: helping children heal
We’ve partnered with the Lene Thun Foundation Onlus to make charitable donations easier.
The Lene Thun Foundation Onlus is an Italian organisation that creates permanent 'recreational therapy' services through ceramic modelling. It runs permanent workshops in 30 Italian pediatric hospitals, staffed by 600 volunteers throughout the country, and has helped 9,000 children to date.
"Ceramic therapy is a creative therapy that complements the medical ones the hospital offers, allowing children to relax and benefit more from their treatments. In particular, it helps children deal with trauma through the creative process," explains Manuela Metra, volunteer and art therapist with the Foundation.
Each workshop costs about €35,000 annually to run, and is offered free of charge to patients, either in person or digitally.
The Foundation reached out to SumUp looking for a partner that could make the donation process easier, and we were very happy to help. Thanks to our partnership, you can make a donation that will be directed to their laboratories easily, with a variety of payment methods.
Anyone looking to donate can go to one of the 225 branches of THUN, a handmade ceramics brand active for over 70 years, throughout Italy. It is possible to donate via credit card, debit card, or contactless payment, using a SumUp card reader. These cashless donations are completely transparent and traceable. When you donate, you get a receipt and can see the progress of every laboratory’s fundraising efforts on the Lene Thun Foundation Onlus website.
"Our Foundation has always been based on the concept of micro-donations, which let us consistently and competently run our projects year after year. Every penny counts, so we’re always trying to make collecting these payments simpler, faster, and more cost-effective," explains Paola Adamo, the Foundation’s Charity General Manager.
With SumUp, they’ve found a long-term solution.
Donating to the Foundation via our card readers isn’t just more convenient for consumers, but also for stores collecting donations. In Italy, we’ve removed the fees merchants would usually be charged when they accept a payment using one of our readers. This means all of your donation goes straight to the laboratory.
The ease of payment SumUp provides has made it possible, as Manuela Metra says, “for the lab to keep running and for us to keep our promise to make children smile while they’re in hospital”.
SumUppers Laura Caprino and Lia Tonut were so inspired by this partnership, they traveled to Milan to spend a day training with Manuela to learn about ceramic therapy, before heading to the ceramic lab at the National Cancer Institute of Milan to spend half a day volunteering with the children themselves.
