University alumnus John-Scott Thompson has developed a new way for students to help the environment, raise funds for worthy causes and get money by donating old phones.
Unsatisfied in a corporate oil job, Thompson founded Pandabit, a fundraising website where nonprofit organizations and other causes promote donations of old electronic devices — cellphones, iPods and tablets — to raise money.
What started as a collaboration with Shreveport schools and nonprofit organizations serving as locations where people could dispose of their old electronics is set to revamp today, when Pandabit’s new website goes live.
The new Pandabit will merge Thompson’s buy/sell business with fundraising efforts, and users will choose either to donate or sell their old electronics to the company, Thompson said.
Thompson started buying and selling old electronics on the side while working in the oil and gas industry.
“Tons of people buy and sell electronics online … I realized nobody was doing fundraisers online,” Thompson said. “I felt that we could integrate social media with the fundraising … and educate people about what they can do with their electronics. Everything that I take for a fundraiser goes up for sale because even if it’s broken and working, people still need phones, or this technology is being repurposed into new technology.”
Once he was making more money with his business, Thompson was inspired to develop Pandabit after someone at a conference recommended he start raising funds through old electronic collection.
“My disaster science [management training] kicked in,” Thompson said. “Electronic waste is the largest man-made disaster there is out there, so I can finally do something with my degree and tie in what I like as an entrepreneur along with what I liked studying in school and make a difference.”
Organizations and causes encourage online followers on social media to visit their customized Pandabit page and select the item they wish to donate. Pandabit then sends a free shipping kit for the user to send the product at no cost.
Stephanie Yu Lusk, director of the Marlene Yu Museum and the Rainforest Art Foundation, said working with Pandabit directly relates to the foundation’s mission statement of increasing appreciation of nature through art.
The Rainforest Art Foundation and Pandabit’s collaboration started with a donation box and participation in online promotion when Thompson’s company first launched.
“[The Rainforest Art Foundation and Pandabit] have very similar goals,” Lusk said. “They’re a for-profit business and … we’re a nonprofit. We can help each other and help our environment from this toxic waste, and also help people because they don’t know necessarily what to do with those old or broken cellphones and tablets. This is a really great partnership.”
Thompson said website developers are working on a new feature allowing users to give a portion of the profits from selling their phone to a good cause.
He said he expects this feature soon to be incorporated into Pandabit.
Pandabit also offers literature on the importance of recycling unwanted electronic items and gives locations on where users can recycle e-waste not accepted by Thompson’s company.
“Electronic waste is the largest growing waste streaming in the U.S.,” Thompson said. “It is only two percent of the waste stream, but it’s actually 70 percent of the toxic waste stream [because] all your electronics are filled with toxic materials. My goal is to educate people of the effects of what happens when you throw [electronics] in the trash and then how to give it away consciously to places that are doing the right thing.”