Philanthropy
November 12, 2007 saw the launch of Virgin Unite Canada, a localised arm of Virgin Group's global charitable venture. Virgin Unite, Virgin’s global charity, has the primary objective of creating and supporting programs that foster an immediate, tangible change in the lives of people in need all around the world. The Midnight Magic fundraising gala, hosted by Sir Richard Branson, raised more than $2 million in supplies and donations to help impoverished areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.
There are also red-coloured feature phones for Virgin Mobile, branded as Re*Generation and released by Samsung as an effort to fundraise for Virgin Unite. They are similar in concept to Product Red in that the products are coloured red and a donation is made for every device purchased:
- The Samsung Link Re*Generation was released on May 10, 2010. This CDMA device was sold at the initial cost of $69.99, and for every purchase, $10 was directly donated to Virgin Unite. The phone is now discontinued. While other carriers such as Bell Mobility and Solo Mobile also sold the Samsung Link, the red-coloured model was released exclusively to Virgin Mobile.
- The Samsung Gravity 3 Re*Generation was released on June 10, 2011. An HSPA+ device, its current price is $0 on a three-year contract or SuperTab, $129.99 on a 30-day postpaid plan, or $69.99 on a prepaid plan. Regardless of the price paid for this device, $15 was donated to Virgin Unite. While it is touted as "Limited Edition", other carriers such as SaskTel and Solo Mobile sell the phone in its red colour, but without donating $15 of every purchase to Virgin Unite. Both operators carried the phone after Virgin carried the non-charitable version, but before Virgin carried the Re*Generation model.
Virgin also offers a loyalty program for volunteers, where they can earn points by helping select charities. Points can be redeemed for prizes such as concert tickets. During the months of June and July in 2011, Virgin Unite volunteers in Canada could redeem 500 points for any Canadian concert in Katy Perry's California Dreams Tour excluding Montreal.
Read more about this topic: Virgin Mobile Canada
Famous quotes containing the word philanthropy:
“... the hey-day of a woman’s life is on the shady side of fifty, when the vital forces heretofore expended in other ways are garnered in the brain, when their thoughts and sentiments flow out in broader channels, when philanthropy takes the place of family selfishness, and when from the depths of poverty and suffering the wail of humanity grows as pathetic to their ears as once was the cry of their own children.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“I shall not be forward to think him mistaken in his method who quickest succeeds to liberate the slave. I speak for the slave when I say that I prefer the philanthropy of Captain Brown to that philanthropy which neither shoots me nor liberates me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Almost every man we meet requires some civility,—requires to be humored; he has some fame, some talent, some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, and which spoils all conversation with him. But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity, but me.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)