Vodafone UK might be best known for its mobile and broadband services but, over the decades, the company has also sought to champion various good causes by partnering with the third sector.
Following its creation in 1984, Vodafone has worked with its charity partners on everything from supporting domestic abuse victims to ending food poverty.
Much of this began with the establishment of the Vodafone Foundation in 1991. Created with a simple mission in mind – ‘to invest in the communities in which Vodafone operates’ – its ambition now stands at improving 300 million lives by 2025*.
With almost too many examples to list, here are a few that you may not have been aware of:
Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF)
TSF provides emergency communications to areas affected by natural disasters, supporting communities during some of their darkest days.
Vodafone first partnered with the disaster relief agency in 1998 and, in the years since, has helped deliver wireless communications to countries including Japan, Nepal, Vanuatu and the Philippines.
Alongside technical expertise, the partnership has centred on a range of innovative mobile equipment, including the development of a portable mobile GSM network that relief workers can use for free local calls.
Dubbed the Instant Network Mini, the 11kg ‘network in a backpack’ can be set up in just 10 minutes and is compact enough to be taken as hand luggage on a commercial flight.
Though the partnership has now come to an end, Foundation continues to support emergency-stricken areas through its Instant Network Emergency Response teams, as they did across a number of Polish towns devastated by flooding in late 2024.
“In my darkest hours the connectivity was my anchor”
This is how Vodafone’s free everyone.connected SIMs can be a lifeline to people otherwise struggling to access everyday essentials.
JustTextGiving
Launched in May 2011, JustTextGiving was a partnership between Vodafone UK, Vodafone Foundation and JustGiving – the world’s leading online fundraising platform.
At a time when people were starting to carry less cash, the free service allowed anyone to make a donation through their mobile phone, simply by texting in the personalised code set up by the charity or fundraiser, alongside a donation amount.
In doing so, JustTextGiving saw almost 250,000 people set up their own unique text codes too boost fundraising efforts. In turn, helping raise more than £40 million for thousands of UK charities.
Though eventually overtaken by newer trends and technologies, closing down in March 2019, the service was viewed as groundbreaking at the time and paved the way for the donation systems we are so familiar with today.
The Trussell Trust: Telling the stories behind the statistics
As a partner to the Trussell Trust since 2021, Vodafone attended the charity’s ‘Pathways for Change’ event to hear how the anti-poverty charity’s work goes so much further than just the facts and figures.
Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews
It’s not just people that Vodafone’s charitable partnerships have supported over the last 40 years, however. A partnership with the University of St Andrews in 2015 saw telecoms technology get the seal of approval from various marine mammals off coastlines around the world.
Marine smart tags equipped with the latest machine-to-machine (M2M) technology were attached to a range of rapidly declining species, including some UK-based Harbour seals.
As a result, SMRU was able to collect data that could eventually help contribute to new safeguarding practices in marine conservation.
More recently, Vodafone’s Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been used to collect real-time data on everything from Atlantic salmon to oak trees.
Vodafone and Extreme E use IoT to help protect Atlantic salmon from the effects of rising water temperatures and changing rainfall patterns
As part of its partnership with Extreme E, the electric off-road racing series, Vodafone is using the Internet of Things to help protect salmon in a Scottish river.
Current partnerships
Today, Vodafone UK continues to keep charity partnerships at the forefront of its work. Through its everyone.connected campaign, for example, Vodafone has helped more than 3 million people and businesses cross the digital divide.
Much of this has been achieved with the help of charity partners, such as Trussell, Good Things Foundation, Sported and LooseHeadz. Together, the organisations help donate skills, connectivity and tech, as well as affordable, accessible services, to those who need it most.
Under this same banner, Vodafone also works with the NSPCC on improving online safety for children and young people, while The Great British Tech Appeal helps put donated tech in the hands of peope who need it most, thanks to charity partners Barnado’s and Good Things Foundation.
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* Vodafone Foundation tracks one measure of impact, ‘Lives Improved’, for all programmes run by Vodafone Foundation and affiliated local Vodafone, Vodacom and Safaricom Foundations. This data is collected in conjunction with detailed monitoring and evaluation of individual programmes. The Lives Improved methodology was developed in collaboration with KPMG. Find out more on the Vodafone Foundation website.
