Your Old Phone = Hope Phone

Erik Hersman
May 18, 2009

A while back I briefly mentioned FrontlineSMS:Medic - an initiative started by post-grad students out of Stanford University who had done some really interesting things in Malawi. They are the type of entrepreneurial digital natives that buck tradition and do something different, something that actually works. Hope Phones - logoThat same team has built a major campaign, Hope Phones, to gather unused and discarded mobile phone handsets and convert them into funds for use in their mobile health campaigns in Malawi and elsewhere in Africa.

"Hope Phones will make use of the nearly 450,000 cell phones discarded every day in the US. HopePhones.org allows donors to print a free shipping label and send their old phone in to The Wireless Source, a global leader in wireless device recycling. The phone’s value allows FrontlineSMS:Medic to purchase usable, recycled cell phones for healthcare workers."

This is a fundraising campaign, one put in place to promote a project that already has a track record of working.

Get involved:

1. Visit www.HopePhones.org and donate your old phones. 2. Spread the word:

Email your friends, family, classmates and coworkers.

Post on Facebook and become a fan of the Hope Phones page.

Tell the world on Twitter - use #HopePhones as a tag so we can thank you.

Let us know if you want the Hope Phones widget for your website or blog.

3. Contact info@hopephones.org if you’d like to help set up a Hope Phones collection center. HopePhones.org