The Perfect Partnership

Get Connected and The Carphone Warehouse win the Third Sector Excellence Award for their corporate partnership.

Emma Insley, Director of Get Connected, and Alana O'Sullivan, Corporate Fundraising Manager at The Carphone Warehouse, accept the Third Sector Award for Corporate Partnership.

Young people's helpline Get Connected celebrated last night after its partnership with The Carphone Warehouse was recognised for a second time by the charity sector. Previously awarded Corporate Partnership of the Year at the UK Charity Awards in 2003, Get Connected and the mobile market leader continue to demonstrate the benefits of working together.

Celebrations were already under way as the partnership reached its fifth birthday this month. Charles Dunstone, founder and CEO of The Carphone Warehouse, became Chairman of Get Connected in 2001 when Get Connected moved from confined premises in King’s Cross to offices in The Carphone Warehouse’s own Contact Centre.

Since then, The Carphone Warehouse has provided Get Connected with all the hardware and software needed to run its office and ever-expanding helpline service.

“We’ve helped over 60,000 young people since The Carphone Warehouse committed this extensive support to the helpline,” says Get Connected’s Director Emma Insley. “We benefit not only from energetic employee fundraising, but from responsive in kind support that allows us to develop the service in line with young people’s needs.”

Employees at The Carphone Warehouse invest their own time and expertise in Get Connected by volunteering on the helpline, as well as by providing their professional time and advice in areas such as IT and marketing.

Andrew Harrison, Trustee of Get Connected and UK Chief Executive, The Carphone Warehouse comments, “We are extremely proud of the unique relationship that The Carphone Warehouse has established with Get Connected over the last five years. Such a vital service deserves and must have our support. Only with our support can it survive and grow, enabling it to make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable young people.”

Third Sector Excellence judges praised the ‘depth and scope of the relationship’ and noted The Carphone Warehouse’s ‘proactive approach’.

Highly Commended in the Corporate Partnership category were Breakthrough Breast Cancer (for their partnership with Marks & Spencer) and Eating Disorders Association (with Dove).