The Vodafone Group Foundation and its network of local foundations today reported that it invested £36.6m in charitable projects over the past financial year. In the first online annual review of its activities, published today at www.vodafonefoundation.org the Foundation has set out the extent of the activity that it undertakes across the world through its network of 23 foundations.
The Foundation invested £18.5m in Vodafone’s 23 local foundations and their chosen charities; £1m to projects in disaster relief and preparedness; £4m to fund new sport and music programmes; and £0.5m to its small grants programme. The report itself is available online and features several videos that illustrate the work of the Foundation across the world as well as further contributions from those involved in the projects which it supports.
Lord MacLaurin, Chairman, Vodafone Group Foundation said. “Since becoming registered as a charity in 2002, The Vodafone Group Foundation has granted over £130 million to invest in far-reaching social projects in all continents of the world. Our funding, granted by Vodafone Group Plc, helps to save lives in times of disaster and provides sustainable ways for the vulnerable and deprived to lead fuller lives.
“It’s important to Vodafone that the company makes a difference both globally and in the local communities where it operates. Our mission is ambitious: to be the world’s most innovative and successful corporate foundation”.
Andrew Dunnett, Director, The Vodafone Group Foundation added, “We enjoy close relationships with Vodafone’s local foundations and with the many partner charities we fund directly. Our aim is to help them put their innovative proposals into action and achieve sustainable results. As a foundations network, we take pride not only in supporting some of the world’s largest NGOs, but also in working with smaller or start-up charities where individuals have seen a need and want to make a difference”.
The Vodafone Group Foundation funds projects across four major areas. First, local funding allows its foundations across the world to independently select causes that benefit local communities in relevant, timely and innovative ways. Second, the Foundation supports disaster relief and preparedness through global partners including the United Nations Foundation and Oxfam, as well as providing support on a reactive basis, including significant recent donations to the relief campaigns following the Burmese typhoon disaster and the major earthquake in China.
Third, the Foundation is funding a flagship programme, backed by Foundation ambassadors Sir Matthew Pinsent and Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, which will support projects that use sport and music to improve the lives of deprived, at-risk and vulnerable young people worldwide. Fourth, the Foundation has launched World of Difference, an innovative scheme that sponsors passionate and suitably skilled people to work for a year with a charity project of their choice.
During the period covered by the report the Foundation has extended its relationship with the United Nations Foundation partnership, the World Food programme, developing its information and communications technology (ICT) capability. The Foundation has forged relationships with three new partners in Red Dust Role Models, Special Olympics and UNICEF and it has introduced a small grants programme that, amongst other projects has supported the work of Kick4Life, the charity that uses football as a tool to fight poverty and disease in one of the world’s poorest countries.
The full report is available online at http://review.vodafonefoundation.org as are the Foundation’s fully audited financial statements for the year 2007/8.
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About The Vodafone Group Foundation
The Vodafone Group Foundation has invested over £130 million in projects since its creation in 2002 concentrating on disaster relief, helping disadvantaged children via sport and music initiatives and specific projects across Vodafone's 23 local Foundations worldwide.