I hate Comic Relief. If you invented it from scratch, I can’t believe that you could achieve so little.
I usually try to ensure that I’m out of the house that evening so I can forget it’s happening but last night I wasn’t so lucky. Perhaps I disliked the pressure of non-uniform day at school – Marks and Spencer’s jeans were no match for the bluebolts that were fashionable when I was 12 years old. But basically, I hate the entire concept.
Comic Relief isn’t very good at raising money. It doesn’t raise any additional money for charity. It doesn’t encourage any more people to give money to charity. There’s no evidence that it positively raises awareness of inequality either in Britain or Africa. And there isn’t persuasive evidence that the donations it passes on make any impact.
1. Comic Relief isn’t very good at raising money
The total raised in 2009 currently stands at £59 million, up from £40 million in 2007. That’s an amazing amount of money. But it represents less than £1 per person. In 2007 it attracted 9.5 million viewers so that was £4 donated by every viewer – better but not great. And it also gives the impression (at least to me) as though this is a staggering contribution by British citizens and implicity, that one night can raise enough to fix some pretty big problems. It isn’t.
2. It doesn’t raise any additional money for charity
The table below shows the total amounts of money donated to charity in the UK over the last four years. The figures are from an annual study conducted by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Charities Aid Foundation. Spot which years coincided with Comic Relief.
| 2004/05 | £8.2 billion |
| 2005/06 | £8.9 billion |
| 2006/07 | £9.5 billion |
| 2007/08 | £10.6 billion |
3. It doesn’t encourage any more people to give money to charity
There are roughly 28 million people who donate money to charity each year in the UK. That’s the same 28 million people who gave money to charity five years ago, or three fifths of the population. Research from 2003 estimated that just under two thirds of people give to charity – a similar proportion to last year.
4. No evidence that Comic Relief positively contributes to awareness of inequality
According to the British Social Attitudes survey, 72 per cent of Britons thought that the gap between rich and poor was too large in 1983 (2 years before Comic Relief). This increased to 87 per cent in 1995 but fell to 82 per cent in 2002. In short, it hasn’t changed very much. So Comic Relief hasn’t contributed particularly to an increased awareness of inequality.
Last night, I only saw 90 minutes or so of Comic Relief. But what really disappointed me was the constantly negative pictures – particularly of life in Africa. There was no effort to distinguish between African countries that were doing comparatively well. There were few positive stories of improving life in Africa. If none of this is available, so be it. But I remember research (which I can’t find) which shows that it’s the perception of helplessness in Africa that helps reduce the likelihood that Britons will donate more.
5. No evidence that donations make a positive impact
This is a small point but the analysis conducted by Intelligent Giving found that:
“(Comic Relief is) raising lifeblood cash for a set of unsexy charities in the UK and abroad . . . The annual report is interesting and informative in parts, but for the second year running there’s still depressingly little info on the impact the charity’s grants have made.”
There’s nothing inherently wrong with Comic Relief. It’s good to see celebrities break out of their privileged lives and be genuinely touched by the plight of people who are less fortunate than themselves. And some of the films last night were tear-jerking – particular Davina McCall’s trip to a children’s hospital in Malawi. (Incidentally, I can’t find any of those videos on YouTube – only the comic bits). I can only assume that they give one per cent of their salary to charity now – if they didn’t before. So maybe I don’t hate it – maybe it’s just deeply disappointing.
But my problem is that for all of the resources invested in Comic Relief, it just isn’t very good. If you take the total time contribution of celebrities, the amount of BBC airtime and the involvement of schoolchildren across the country and asked ‘what can we achieve with this’ I refuse to believe that the end result would be quite so negligible.