Charities in the South West will now be able to benefit from a new scheme aiming to get them connected for free.

Vodafone has today launched charities.connected, a new initiative giving any charity in the UK the opportunity to apply for free connectivity to help the individuals and families it supports get online and improve its own digital capability.

Th scheme is part of Vodafone’s recently announced commitment to tackle digital exclusion and connect one million people by the end of 2022.

According to Vodafone, smaller charities have struggled to offer their services digitally and in many cases, have paused activity or stopped operations altogether.

Others have faced a lack of digital skills and technical knowledge - both within the charities themselves and in the communities they serve.

Vodafone says its charities.connected initiative has been created to support any registered charity that would benefit from free connectivity, either to help the individuals and families it supports to get online or improve its own digital capability.

The connectivity, in the form of SIM cards offering 20GB data plus free calls and texts every month for six-months, will work in any SIM enabled device (a phone, tablet, laptop or Mifi dongle).

Multiple SIMs can be requested and repeat applications can be made if the organisation has a range of digital exclusion projects underway.

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Helen Lamprell, General Counsel and External Affairs Director at Vodafone UK, said: "At Vodafone, we’ve put tackling digital exclusion at the heart of our business with our pledge to connect one million people by the end of 2022.

"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 - please help us share this offer so we can reach as many charities as possible."

Helen Milner OBE, CEO, Good Things Foundation said: "We’ve seen first-hand the challenges that charities of all sizes have faced during the pandemic, with managing cash flow, staffing and the move to online services.

"Many simply haven’t had the digital infrastructure in place to deliver their services effectively.

"Vodafone has done some fantastic work over the last year to help digitally excluded people get online and we think this next initiative – offering free connectivity to charities – will have a huge impact on these organisations and the communities they support."

Registered charities can apply for the free connectivity, in the form of SIM cards with 20GB data, plus free calls and texts every month for six-months, here: vodafone.co.uk/mobile/everyone-connected/charities-connected.