Say hello to Kerry

Kerry, or kezbear26 as she’s known on our forum, joined giffgaff back in 2015. Kerry’s a big believer in doing her bit to help others. Over the last 4 years she’s done a smashing job of offering help and support to members on the forum - and giving new members a warm welcome. Nice one, Kerry.

Kerry’s a real family girl. When she’s not looking after her little nephew, helping out her mum, or spending quality time with her partner; she’s out walking her dog, Louie. Louie’s been with her since he was 8 weeks old. And this August, he turns 11. Blimey.

Over the last few years, Kerry spent a lot of time caring for her Nan, who had dementia and cancer. Sadly, a year ago, Kerry’s nan passed away. She was one of Kerry’s best friends so now Kerry does everything she can to celebrate her and keep her memory alive.

Rewarding our members

We’re all about mutual giving. After all, that’s literally what ‘giffgaff’ means. We reward our members for giving a helping hand. And we call those rewards Payback. Give help and support on our forum like Kerry, suggest ideas to make giffgaff better, bring your friends and family on board. It’ll all earn you Payback points. And it’s been that way since the beginning.

Our members are always in control, so they get the choice of what they do with their Payback each year. They can take it as cash through PayPal, add it as credit to their giffgaff account, or pass it back to us to donate to charity.

Every 6 months, we add together all the Payback that members have chosen to donate to charity, double it and then payout that amount to two charities.

Over the last 2 years, Kerry has donated almost all of her Payback to charity. What a champion.

Choosing to give back

Kerry felt a connection to some of the charities we’ve donated to and saw the perfect opportunity to honour her Nan’s memory.

She chooses to give back to charities supporting people with similar illnesses to her Nan. But she also loves donating to charities she knows less about. Because of how much her support could mean to another member. Legend.

“I choose to give my Payback to charity as the work they do really means a lot to me and many other members. There are so many people out there suffering like my Nan did, and it’s important to me to support charities that are helping those people, and their families. I want to do my bit.” - Kerry

Kerry loves that she can get Payback, to donate, for helping other members without even leaving home. What seems like a small gesture turns into great donations that support charities around the UK - and people in all sorts of unfortunate situations.

For giffgaff, donations from members like Kerry remind us that there is always something more we can do, to show our support to the wider community.

Supporting the community

Always wanting to do her Nan proud, Kerry says she’ll continue donating her Payback, for as long as she is a giffgaff member. Being a part of our terrific community gives her a chance to help, that she didn’t have before. She knows that she can trust giffgaff to match each donation and make sure the charities receive their’s directly.

To Kerry, run by you means that giffgaff are willing to support members in making a change and helping people beyond the giffgaff community. A little goes a long way, if we all get together. Then, we’re able to make a big impact.

“Me and my Nan were really close; she was one of my best friends. Her illness was really bad towards the end of her life, and it was really hard to watch her get worse. giffgaff is the only company I know that helps its members to give charities the support they need. I don’t like the idea of anyone suffering, so it’s amazing of giffgaff to keep doing this. - Kerry”

Together with our members, over the last 10 years, we’ve been able to give a blinding £700,000 to around 35 charities. High Five.

The members’ choice

Our members have ultimate control over picking the charities we donate to. They nominate, shortlist and then vote on the two winners. Through Payback, together we have donated to all sorts of charities doing great things across the UK.

Cancer research organisations, Alzheimer’s societies and charities supporting the blind. Children’s charities, animal foundations, and worldwide crises appeals. Hospitals and hospices. Together, we’ve been able to give back.

And keeping things fair is important to us. We know different members will have different charities or causes that mean something to them. So, we encourage everyone to nominate their’s, however big or small.

It’s a great opportunity for members on the forum to talk about the different realities that people across the UK are facing too. We’re chuffed we can help our members be more aware, and keep the conversation going. As an autistic person herself, Kerry is a big supporter of this.

“Autism is hard to live with. We live in our own little world and see things differently. We might struggle with some things, or like things a certain way. Some people ‘understand’ us and some people don’t, but we’re still human and we still have a heart. giffgaff have been really good to me, ever since I joined them. All the community members are lovely and everyone is there to help one another and listen. I couldn’t imagine switching networks and I would say to everyone to get involved - helping members and donating what you can."

What a champion. You’re ace Kerry. And we’re so proud to call you a member.

This month, our members voted for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Parkinson’s UK to receive our latest donations. Lovely.

Start earning Payback

We’d love for more members to get involved on the forum, and earn Payback. Want to know more first? You’ll find all the info you need, here on our website. Then, hop over and get involved.

Our next payout period is in December, so you’ll have plenty of time to decide if you want to donate your Payback, and which charity you might want to nominate. See you there!