Long-Term Partners

Comic Relief has had the incredible support of a range of partners – many of whom have been working with us for many, many years. They help to provide technical support, donation phone-lines, Red Noses, T-shirts and much, much more.

Some of our long term partners have even done fantastic work by funding specific projects. TK Maxx, for example, is currently helping to educate under-privileged children in Uganda, while Sainsbury’s Fair Development Fund is transforming the lives of small scale producers in Africa and the rest of the world.

To find out more about these types of projects, visit our funding partners section

Comic Relief without Sainsbury’s would be like Morecambe without Wise – unthinkable. Our brilliant partnership with Sainsbury’s has been going strong since 1999, and has raised over £63.5 million to date – an astonishing amount. Our commitment to working together has grown over the years, and both sides have gained a lot as a result.

For starters, it’s great for Comic Relief to be associated with a company as solid and trusted as Sainsbury’s, and they’re delighted to be the official partner of such a well-known and much-loved charity. Sainsbury’s raised a massive £11.4 million throughout Red Nose Day 2011 – the largest corporate cheque ever given to Comic Relief - and for Sport Relief 2012 they raised a magnificent £5.5m.

The wonderful employees at Sainsbury’s also do their bit by pulling out all the stops to fundraise. This gives them a brilliant way to work together, have fun and get customers involved – plus they also help to raise lots of much-needed cash for Comic Relief.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, Sainsbury’s has also worked with Comic Relief to set up its Fair Development Fund. Its aim is to transform the lives of small producers in Africa, and the rest of the world, by developing partnerships between small producers, producer groups, NGOs, donors and retailers.

It really does feel like Comic Relief and Sainsbury’s are a perfect match, and we’re sure we’ll continue to have a very long and successful future together.

“The partnership between Sainsbury’s and Comic Relief has grown over the years to the point where Red Nose Day and Sport Relief campaigns have become part of Sainsbury’s way of life. Our customers and colleagues enjoy being part of a truly national event each year, and we’re incredibly proud that we’ve been able to help raise over £63 million for Comic Relief over the years, as we know it is being spent to make a real difference to the lives of countless people in the UK and in the world’s poorest countries. ”
— Justin King, CEO, June 2012

Without BT, Comic Relief would never have got off the ground.

For each and every campaign – right from the very first Red Nose Day back in 1988 – we’ve relied hugely on the incredible support BT provides. From the telephony infrastructure to the call centres, network management and thousands of hours of staff time to answer calls on the night – BT are the backbone of every telethon we’ve ever done.

It’s thanks to BT that Comic Relief is able to raise millions of pounds in pledges on Red Nose Day and the Sport Relief Weekend – and lives have been changed for the better as a result.

As if that wasn’t enough, BT is always looking at ways to give extra support to Comic Relief too.

For example, in 2003, they helped us launch the Red Nose Day campaign by lighting the BT Tower red whilst millions watched live on TV. They also made it possible for Lenny Henry to become the first ever comic voice of the Speaking Clock. Lenny then teamed up with Alistair McGowan in 2005 to greet callers to BT’s directory enquiry service 118 500. And in 2007, he turned up at BT Tower to show his support for all the brilliant volunteers who took more than 860,000 calls on the night.

BT has also been extremely generous to Comic Relief – like in 2007, when they donated money to us from the sale of their products.

Recently BT has taken on the mantle of challenge sponsor including the BT Red Nose Climb in 2009 where they raised £373,768, the BT Million Pound Bike Ride in 2010 where they raised over £300,000 and The BT Red Nose Desert Trek in 2011 where they raised £353,802.

For Sport Relief 2012 BT sponsored The BT Sport Relief Challenge Series which saw David Walliams swim the Thames, John Bishop cycle row and run over 290 miles from Paris to London, and Freddie Flintoff break 14 world records in 12 hours. BT raised over £1million through customer facing activities like Buzz for Bishop Day and David Walliams voicing the Speaking Clock. Plus their staff up and down the country rose to the challenge and raised huge amounts of cash with their amazing fundraising activities.

Our partnership with BT has been our longest ever, and has been crucial to our fundraising success from day one. We hope to be working together for a long time to come.

TK Maxx have been an official Comic Relief partner since 2005 – and they’ve certainly packed an awful lot into that relatively short time, having raised an impressive £9.3 million to date.

Our partnership really came into its own in the Red Nose Day 2011 campaign, when TK Maxx raised over £3 million for Comic Relief. While the bulk of this came from selling more than 280,000 iconic Vivienne Westwood designed T-shirts, the brilliant TK Maxx staff also did their bit. They raised a spectacular £400,000 through their own fantastic fundraising feats and collected a staggering £610,000 in £1 donations at their tills. TK Maxx also joined up with Liberty Art fabrics to design and produce some fantastic limited edition shopper bags and scarves as part of the range for the campaign which were a great success.

We’re really proud to have such a committed and dedicated partner as TK Maxx, and we know that together we can achieve great things.

This amazing charity has been selling the famous Red Nose since Comic Relief first began, over 25 years ago. Through its 700 shops across the UK, and its online shop, it has sold millions of Red Noses and other pieces of official merchandise. All of this due, in no small part, to the energy and enthusiasm of Oxfam’s shop managers and volunteers, who never fail to enter into the full spirit of Comic Relief with some brilliant fundraising events.

Oxfam is also one of the charities that receives grants from Comic Relief for a number of projects across Africa. One such project is the Mali Cotton Programme. One in three people in Mali depend on cotton production for their family income with 80% living on less than one dollar a day so cotton is a vital source of income for the poorest families.

The farmers need to get a better price for what they grow. The programme helps them to do this by improving the effectiveness of their cooperatives and, amongst other things, assisting with diversification into Fair Trade and organic cotton. With an increasing number of the farmers being women, it additionally focuses on increasing their empowerment in these cotton-producing areas.

Because of projects such as this, because of their support, and because of what Oxfam represents, we very much look forward to continuing our relationship with them in coming years.

In 2010, BA became a first-class partner for Comic Relief by teaming up to launch the Flying Start initiative. Using on board collections, passengers are encouraged to donate their small change to help make a massive difference to children living incredibly tough lives at home and overseas.

The fantastic BA staff have also got on board to raise tons of cash with everyone from engineering to cabin crew, call centres to check-in, baggage handlers and operations doing their bit to fundraise and help give disadvantaged children a brighter future.

BA reached new heights and raised lots of laughs and lots of money for Red Nose Day 2011 by breaking the record for the highest ever stand-up gig at 35,000 feet. Funny men Dara O Briain, Jack Whitehall and Jon Richardson were in the aisles to provide the hilarious in-flight entertainment.

For Sport Relief 2012, everyone at BA went the extra mile to raise jumbo-loads of money with fun and exciting fundraising activities.

And with many more fundraising events on the horizon, flying colours go to everyone at BA.