Comic Relief vs Children in Need
In short: Comic Relief, the charity behind Red Nose Day, makes grants to organisations tackling poverty and injustice in the UK and internationally. BBC Children in Need makes grants to projects for children and young people across the UK.
Last reviewed by CharityCompare editorial.
Both hold a televised BBC appeal night and fund other organisations’ work rather than running services. In its year to July 2025 Comic Relief awarded 237 grants worth £31.3 million, in the UK and abroad. In its year to June 2025 BBC Children in Need awarded 720 grants worth £37.9 million to UK projects. Grant totals are inputs, not results.
Comic Relief vs Children in Need: key differences
| What to compare | CHARITY PROJECTS | BBC CHILDREN IN NEED |
|---|---|---|
| Registered work and operating model | Grants and social investments for organisations tackling poverty and injustice in the UK and internationally. | Grants to UK projects for children and young people facing need, hardship or distress. |
| What to consider | Its grant total combines UK and international awards without a split, and it gives no total for people reached. Money raised through Red Nose Day or Sport Relief is allocated before the next campaign. | Its 363,000 children and young people are reached through funded projects, and the report does not explain how they are counted. The BBC is its Founder Member and provides office space and broadcast support in kind. |
| Access and practical checks | It funds organisations through funding calls, which were invitation-only in 2024/25, with at least one open call planned for 2025/26. | It paused new grant applications from April 2025, planning to reopen in autumn 2025, so organisations should check the current position. Its FAQ says at least 95p in every pound donated goes towards children and young people. |
| Sourced result or evidence gap | £31.3 million: Grants awarded through 237 grants. Year to 31 July 2025, UK and international. A financial input, not a count of people helped; it included a £900,000 emergency fund that gave 60 grants of £15,000 after the July 2024 disorder. | Over 363,000: Children and young people supported through funded projects. Year to 30 June 2025, UK. A charity-reported output with no counting method given; it reports projects in 88% of UK local authority areas. |
What the latest filings show
Figures from the accounts held in our dated dataset; the live register may contain newer filings. Ratios can span multiple years, as labelled. Clarity scores use our methodology. Cost to raise £1 of donations is not part of the score; legacies make it lumpy, and it is withheld where trading costs would distort it (how it works).
| Metric | CHARITY PROJECTS | BBC CHILDREN IN NEED |
|---|---|---|
| Latest accounts year in our snapshot | 2025 | 2025 |
| Financial snapshot refreshed | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-06 |
| Ratio reporting window | 3-yr avg | 3-yr avg |
| Overall score | 74/100 (3★) | 89/100 (4★) |
| Accountability & Finance | 100/100 | 100/100 |
| Spend on charitable activities | 75% of expenditure | 83% of expenditure |
| Fundraising efficiency | £4.2 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) | £6.7 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) |
| Cost to raise £1 of donations | Not shown for 2025: trading income was 11% of donations | 18p per £1 (2025) · 16p over 2023–2025 |
| Latest income | £51m | £61m |
| Fundraising spend | 25% of expenditure | 17% of expenditure |
| Reserves | 10 months | 17 months |
| Accounts filing | On time | On time |
| Data confidence | high | high |
| Charity number | 326568 | 802052 |
CHARITY PROJECTS on the register · BBC CHILDREN IN NEED on the register
Considering Comic Relief
- You want your gift to fund work on poverty and injustice in the UK and internationally.
- You enjoy giving through Red Nose Day or Sport Relief events.
Considering BBC Children in Need
- You want to fund projects for children and young people across the UK.
- You want a funder with projects in 88% of UK local authority areas.
Comic Relief vs Children in Need: questions answered
Comic Relief or Children in Need: which should I support?
There is no universal winner. Comic Relief funds organisations tackling poverty and injustice in the UK and abroad; BBC Children in Need funds UK projects for children and young people. Both work through the organisations they fund. Choose the cause and geography you want, then check the accounts period. A financial rating is not an impact assessment.
Are Comic Relief and Children in Need part of the BBC?
Both are registered charities with BBC links. BBC Children in Need describes itself as the BBC’s UK corporate charity; the BBC is its Founder Member and one trustee represents it. Comic Relief is the operating name of Charity Projects; the BBC is its major broadcast partner and a BBC Controller sits on its board.
How much of a donation reaches projects?
BBC Children in Need says at least 95p of every pound donated goes towards children and young people, with other costs met from investment income, Gift Aid, licensing and up to 5p in the pound. Comic Relief says all money raised through Red Nose Day or Sport Relief is allocated before the next campaign.
How we score charities +
The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.
Accountability & Transparency
Scored from filings
40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).
Financial Health
Scored from filings
30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).
Financial Efficiency
Scored from filings
20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).
Community Support
Scored from filings
10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.
Overall score
Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.