The UK’s largest newspapers have raised some £6m for charity as part of their seasonal Christmas appeals, with the final figures set to be higher as some appeals come to a close in February.
Civil Society News has so far received total fundraised figures from The Guardian and Observer; the Evening Standard and Independent, and the various News UK titles. The total amounts raised through the seasonal appeals of these newspapers so far is worth more than £6m.
A spokeswoman from the Financial Times told Civil Society News that its appeal, raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières UK, is still “well underway”, and that final figures would be made available after the appeal closes on 11 February 2017.
Last year’s FT appeal raised £2m for the International Rescue Committee.
Individual totals raised so far
ESI Media, the parent company of both the Evening Standard and the Independent, has so far raised £2m for youth homelessness charity Centrepoint, to fund the launch of its helpline. The campaign opened on 21 November 2016, and is scheduled to close in February 2017.
Nick Connolly, head of corporate development at Centrepoint, said: “The success of this campaign could be the difference between thousands of young people sleeping rough or finding warm, safe place to stay. When it launches, the Centrepoint Helpline will be the first single advice service for young people in facing or experiencing homelessness.”
News UK titles have also raised £2m so far to benefit a number of charities. The Sunday Times has so far raised over £1m to aid Save the Children’s “projects in conflict zones”, with £560,000 of that coming from the titles readership.
Readers of the Times have so far donated £470,000 with the funds going to three charities: Care International, The Royal Voluntary Service and Dogs for Good – a 30 per cent increase in donations from the same period last year.
The Sun has also raised some £500,000 worth of “cash and toys” for four different charities that “work with kids at home and abroad”. According to News UK, the Sun has so far raised more than £100,000 in cash, with the remaining figure being made in donated toys at branches of Toys R Us and McColl’s convenience stores.
More than 17,000 readers of the Guardian and Observer helped the titles raise over £1.75m, with the funds being shared between Help Refugees, Safe Passage and the Children’s Society.
The money will go towards the charities providing support, emergency aid and legal sanctuary for unaccompanied refugee children on the European mainland.
The £1.75m figures represents the second most successful Christmas appeal run by the Guardian and Observer. The most successful was the 2015 Christmas appeal, which raised £2.6m for six different refugee charities.
A spokesperson for the Telegraph has yet to respond to comment from Civil Society News, requesting a figure for its Christmas appeal. It is raising money for the Blue Cross and will announce how much it has raised in February.
The Daily Mail did not run a Christmas Appeal in 2016.
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