Community Action Features

While people involved with charity fundraising will always unearth innovative ways to raise money for good causes such as this, many still struggle to find a few extra pounds to donate.

So St Joseph’s, in Stoke on Trent, joined in with an inventive and eco-friendly way to raise cash for charity – without ever having to reach for the wallet!

Recycling mobiles

Foneclub is a UK scheme that enables schools to collect and trade-in old mobile phones for cash, offering them a way to donate to charitable causes that won’t break the bank. 

St Joseph’s organised a ‘Mobiles for Mufti Day’, resulting in the biggest single-day collection of mobile phones by any school in Britain - and raised over £2,130!   This followed the collection of 852 old mobile phones from its pupils in exchange for ditching their school uniform for a day. 

The money will be jointly donated to the LaSallian charities in the UK, as well as going towards St Joseph’s College’s own Sierra Leone education project.

Foneclub

The Foneclub scheme (www.foneclub.org.uk) pays £2.50 for every mobile phone that it receives – regardless of age or condition – towards one of its charity partners or a cause of the organiser’s choice.

Recycled handsets are sent for reuse in developing countries, where getting a fixed landline can be expensive. Second hand mobiles offer an affordable and sustainable means of communication for businesses and families.