It’s a bit of an understatement to say that a lot happened in 2018 - both around the world and closer to home. And as the year draws to a close, it’s time for us to reflect on the past twelve months - and start to make plans for the future.
You - our donors and supporters - are the cornerstone of our work. Without you, none of this is possible, and so we’d like to take this opportunity to show you just a few of the things that you’ve helped us achieve this year.
Our Facebook online community has grown to an incredible 82,000 members - no mean feat for a group with such humble beginnings!
Thanks to your generosity, the number of top-ups we’ve provided since we began has risen to a whopping 44,600.
In 2018 alone, we have topped up almost 14,000 phones - that’s over 1,000 each month!
You fantastic lot have donated an astounding £780,000 to date, and of that amount, £200,000 has been donated and fundraised this year!
We now have over 400 regular monthly donors, who help us ensure the most vulnerable people on our lists are always accounted for (you can join them by clicking here).
And it’s not all about the numbers (although we’re thrilled and thankful for the above!). You have also been shouting about our work across other social platforms (*waves at our growing Instagram and Twitter family*), buying our bags, and just generally spreading the word about us far and wide.
As ever, we are in awe of your unwavering support - we really do mean it when we say that we couldn’t do any of this without you. So we would like to say thank you: thank you to everyone who has donated and fundraised for our cause; thank you for every post you have liked, shared or commented on; and thank you simply for being here with us and standing with refugees.
Looking forward to 2019
There is still so much more to be done, but we know that with your help we can make 2019 our best year yet. We’ve got some exciting plans to expand our fundraising and social media presence and have got a shiny new database in the works that will help us to streamline our processes and get help to those who need it faster. We’ll be working with our vendors to expand the list of networks and locations we can reach, and we hope to continue to grow our Facebook group and help refugees to share their stories and experiences with a wider audience.
And lastly…. will we finally hit the £1,000,000 donation mark? Our founder Jape has declared he’ll take a well-deserved holiday once we hit this milestone. Will the boss finally be able to turn off his computer and settle into the sofa with a cuppa to catch up on three years’ worth of bad television? Only time will tell!
With love and gratitude
The Phone Credit for Refugees team
Ps. We’ve now got a mailing list that you can join to keep up-to-date on our work - click here to subscribe!