Charities receive ‚€1.5m from Vodafone
Howard Lake | 8 March 2006 | News
Mobile phone giant Vodafone has donated over ‚€1.5 million to Irish charities through its corporate charity, the Vodafone Ireland Foundation (VIF). The fund broke the ‚€1.5 million barrier when it funded a boxing club in Dublin last week.
The foundation supports non-profit organisations in this country and works with environmental and conservation groups. The fund, which is the Irish branch of the Vodafone Group Foundation, is the only corporate foundation in the country. It was set up in 2003 as part of the company’s corporate responsibility programme and to date has funded 57 projects with 35 registered charities.
The boxing club received ‚€12,000 to buy new gloves, head gear, training kits, punch bags and a range of different equipment for the gym. The club, which is part of the Basement Project in the flats at Mountwood, has over 180 members of both sexes ranging in age from 4 to 28. Celine Fitzgerald, the chair of Vodafone Ireland Foundation, said the fund was created so the company could commit to supporting the communities in which it operates.
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”It’s part of the company’s social agenda to remove barriers that prevent people from participating fully in society, and was not set up to generate publicity, she said. ”We support a variety of programmes across the country and, most importantly, fund the small projects that wouldn’t normally attract corporate attention because they are community-based.
The foundation hopes to spend about ‚€1 million on projects throughout the country, over the next 18 months.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.