Vodafone Foundation 3,000 miles from raising ￡1 million for Planet charities

Vodafone Foundation is nearing the culmination of its Your Planet campaign and will have raised ￡1 million for environmental charities, if two employee teams reach their fundraising targets for the World’s Toughest Row across the Atlantic.

The Foundation launched the Your Planet fund on Earth Day in 2021 in a bid to raise ￡1 million and help restore the health of the world we live, love and breathe. All money raised will support charities using conservation technology to protect our planet.

Since then, Vodafone employees have already raised nearly ￡600,000 for environmental charities, including matching funds from the Foundation. Charitable activities have included a cycle ride across the Alps and a four day trek through Uganda’s Rwenzori mountains. Charities that have benefitted include the Tusk Trust and The Ocean Cleanup.? ??

The last of Vodafone Foundation’s epic challenges is the most extreme. Two teams of Vodafone employees are planning to row across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua. The 3,000 mile (4,800 km) journey will involve sleep deprivation, salt sores, and physical extremes inflicted by the race. The teams who will start on December 12 2023 expect to be at sea, facing waves that can reach up to 20 feet high, for up to four months. They are hoping to raise ￡280,000 for the Your Planet campaign, including matched funding from Vodafone Foundation. ?

Team Wavebreakers – Bobbie Mellor, Katherine Antrobus and Hatty Carder - are raising money for two charities:

• WWF’s Climate Crisis Fund: which runs programmes to defend wild places, restore forests, and keep our oceans healthy; and?
• UNHCR’s Climate Crisis work: which provides humanitarian relief to refugees displaced by the climate crisis today.

Team Blue Tusk – ?David Tiplady, Chris Wood and Aaron Kneebone – ?are also raising money for two environmental charities:

• Tusk Trust: which advances conservation across Africa; and
• Blue Marine Foundation: a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health by addressing overfishing.

Lisa Felton, Director of Vodafone Foundation, said: “We are incredibly proud and in awe of all of the Vodafone employees who have undertaken epic challenges as part of the Your Planet campaign. It underlines the strength of feeling that Vodafone employees have about the urgency of tackling the climate crisis. The World’s Toughest Row will be the hardest challenge yet and I hope all the brilliant rowers can get lots of support to meet their fundraising targets. I know they have worked so hard to prepare for this challenge, are sacrificing a lot and are supporting charities doing important work.”

Follow the teams with daily updates on social channels:

• WaveBreakers Instagram
• Blue Tusk Instagram
• Vodafone Foundation Instagram
• Live tracking of the boats