After Friday's Red Nose Day telethon this year’s appeal has raised £42.8m for Comic Relief, with more donations expected in the coming days.
This is the first year that Red Nose Day has been an annual event. Previously Red Nose Day and Sport Relief took place on alternate years, but last year Comic Relief decided to run Red Nose Day every year and maintain Sport Relief as a year-round brand.
The Red Nose Day Show was broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from Salford and was presented by Alesha Dixon, David Tennant, Paddy McGuinness and Sir Lenny Henry.
Comic Relief co-founder, Sir Lenny Henry, said: “To still donate despite the challenging time we are in, shows the kindness of our country. To the British public and our fantastic partners, we thank you for your generosity and your wonderful willingness to fundraise for us. You’re making life-changing work possible, here on our doorsteps and around the world.”
As part of the fundraising campaign Olympic champion Tom Daley raised £1m his Hell of a Homecoming, challenge. He took on four-day challenge which saw him undertake four new Team GB disciplines – rowing, cycling, open-water swimming and marathon running – and travel 290 miles from London to Plymouth.
Elsewhere, BBC Radio 1 DJ Jordan North took on a 100-mile row between London and Burnley in Rowing Home with Jordan North. He raised £826,307 for Red Nose Day.
There was also £6m match funding from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for community led programmes in Ghana, Malawi and Zambia and £550,000 from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Tampon Tax fund.
Corporate supporters included Sainsburys, which raised £6,213,159 by selling the official merchandise for Red Nose Day and made a donation of £2,612,128 for Ukraine, and Walkers, which donated £1,006,000 to the Walkers & Comic Relief Smiles Fund.
Samir Patel, CEO of Comic Relief, said: “We want to say a huge heart felt thank you to every single person who has helped raise such a phenomenal amount of money. All donations will help us fund vital mental health and domestic abuse work, tackle homelessness and poverty head on, and support organisations working in Ukraine. Your support has never felt more needed, thank you.”
Falling appeal night totals
This year's fundraising means that Comic Relief has passed a key milestone and raised £1.5bn in its 37 years. However, this year's appeal has raised less than in previous years.
In March 2021 Red Nose Day raised £52m on the night. The previous year Sport Relief raised £40m on the night.
The fundraising event peaked in 2015 when Red Nose Day raised £78m on the night. In 2018 Comic Relief revealed it was aiming to become less reliant on television appeals and focus more on year-round activity.
Overall income for the charity has also fallen in recent years. For the financial year ending 31 July 2017, its income was over £100m, whereas last year it was £74m. In 2020 its income was £78m and in 2019 it was £86m.
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