Oklahoma-based Pace Butler Corporation has a fundraising plan that not only helps schools and charities raise money, but is beneficial to the environment as well. Essentially, organizations collect old cell phones send them to Pace Butler who then evaluates the phones and issues a check.

More than 78% of the nearly 70,000 phones they receive each month are functional and capable of being repurposed. As part of their service, they provide secure data destruction and reset the devices back to the factory setting.  Phones that are no longer usable are recycled at an ISO certified destruction facility.

While the success of a fundraising program like this is  clearly dependent on the number and quality of the phones collected, it’s a “win-win” anyway you look at it. The school or charity will earn money on the usable phones they collect and will help ensure the proper disposal of unusable devices. With cell phones being replaced every 21 months the ingredients for a successful fundraiser are certainly available.  For more information visit the fundraising page on their website.