Comic Relief’s mission is “to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty by harnessing the power of entertainment to drive positive change by raising awareness of complex social and economic issues facing children and caregivers living in poverty and mobilizing the public to act.”

On March 3rd, 2025, Comic Relief U.S. will host a star-studded event at The Town Hall in New York City to benefit and raise funds for the children and families rebuilding after the recent devastating wildfires that ravaged parts of Los Angeles and surrounding communities. The “Comic Relief: Stand-Up for LA” event will feature a parade of stars, including Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Ramy Youssef, Chris Distefano, Desi Lydic, Hannah Berner, and Josh Johnson. The evening hopes to promote an environment of unity in New York City in support of the children and families who are working to rebuild and recover after the Los Angeles wildfires.

View CharityWatch’s Top-Rated list of charities providing aid to victims of the L.A. wildfires

What Does Comic Relief Do?

CharityWatch analysts recently reviewed the 2023 audited financial statements and IRS tax Form 990 of Comic Relief U.S., the most current publicly available as of the date of this article. We found that the organization distributed nearly $16.9 million in grants to 27 U.S. charities in 2023 and nearly $12 million to foreign organizations that year. Domestic grants went to charities such as American Indian College Fund ($200,000); Covenant House ($815,000); Feeding America ($445,000); Human Rights Campaign Foundation ($315,000); Student Conservation Association ($315,000); and The Children’s Health Fund ($1,326,000). Foreign grants went to undisclosed recipients primarily in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Central America and the Caribbean.

CharityWatch Rating

Comic Relief U.S. meets CharityWatch’s benchmarks for Top-Rated charity status for its fiscal year 2023. CharityWatch found that the organization spent 77% of its cash expenses on its programs in 2023 and 23% on overhead. It cost the charity $14 to raise each $100 in public support. This earned it an A-minus rating on CharityWatch’s “A+” to “F” rating scale for its fiscal year 2023. The charity raised a total of about $46 million in cash contributions that year and expended approximately $39 million in cash, of which about $30.2 million was spent on programmatic activities.

Comic Relief also meets CharityWatch’s benchmarks for governance and transparency for having a sufficiently large and independent governing body, maintaining conflict of interest, whistleblower, and document destruction and retention policies, and meeting other criteria for good governance.

Room For Improvement

According to Comic Relief U.S.’s audited financial statements for its fiscal year-ended December 31, 2023 (Note 10, Special Events), the charity held its first annual Gala event in December 2023. The event raised revenue of $64,675 according to the organization’s tax filing of the same year. A charity’s special events revenue refers to the money that is generated as the result of ticket sales or other revenue for which the person or company giving the money receives something of value in return.

Comic Relief U.S. reports in its audited financial statements that its costs of throwing the event included food and beverages of $267,675, entertainment and production of $108,288 and other direct costs of $20,625, amounting to total costs of $396,588. Meaning, Comic Relief U.S. spent $331,913 more to throw the event than the revenue it generated from doing so. This loss was offset by the contributions it collected at the event which totaled $533,192. In other words, while the charity did generate more combined total revenue and contributions at the event than the related costs it incurred, it only netted $201,279 for charity. CharityWatch recommends that charities not spend more throwing their events than what they are able to collect from ticket sales so that 100% of the contributions donated at events can be used for charitable purposes.

Concentrations

According to the Comic Relief (CR US) audit of December 31, 2023 (Note 6, Concentration of Risk):

“…For the year ended December 31, 2023, approximately 80% of support and revenue was received from two partners…

…A partnership agreement which represented 71% of support and revenue for both the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, expired during 2023 and will not be renewed.”

Related Party Transactions

According to the Comic Relief (CR US) audit of December 31, 2023 (Note 7, Related Party Transactions):

“CR US incurred legal expenses with a firm, wherein a board member is a partner. During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the total expenses incurred were $62,642 and $54,430, respectively. During 2023, a board member contributed $153,192 to the organization in support of the Gala event. The organization also paid a board member $65,000 and $40,000 during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, for expenses associated with supporting the organization.”

Conclusion

CharityWatch found based on our analysis of its 2023 audited financial statements and IRS tax Form 990 that Comic Relief U.S is a financially efficient charity with good governance. It spends most of the donations it collects on programmatic activities primarily consisting of grants, and keeps its overhead spending reasonable. However, deciding if any particular charity is a good or bad one to donate to is a personal choice that must be made by each individual donor.

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