Charities have been offered the chance to apply for free SIM cards with 20GB of data, texts and calls for six months, through an initiative launched by the mobile phone network Vodafone in an attempt to tackle digital exclusion.
Any charity that would benefit from free connectivity can apply for six months of free connectivity to improve their digital capability or to help the people it supports to get online.
Charities can request multiple SIMs, and those with numerous digital exclusion projects can submit repeat applications, the company has said.
Helen Lamprell, general counsel and external affairs director at Vodafone UK, said: “We hope that by giving free connectivity to charities across the UK, we can enable them to better support their local communities, particularly those that are digitally excluded. We want to support projects big and small.”
Zoe Amar, the founder and director of Zoe Amar Digital and co-author of the Charity Digital Skills Report, welcomed the initiative.
“The pandemic shone a spotlight on the devastating consequences of not being able to access vital information and support services digitally and I hope charities will look into taking part in this scheme,” she said.