Comic Relief has created a new senior position to oversee its income generation as part of plans to become a “more commercially minded charity”.
The charity, best known for its Red Nose Day telethon held in March each year, is now “entering our next chapter”, chief executive Samir Patel said in a LinkedIn post yesterday advertising the new chief income officer role.
Patel said the charity had “worked hard to strengthen” its foundations and is now “rebuilding public relevance, growing our supporter base, developing new income streams and ensuring Comic Relief can thrive for decades to come”.
The successful candidate will work closely with the charity’s executive team and trustees, with tasks including managing the charity’s future income strategy, strengthening public fundraising, and building partnerships.
They will be paid £120,000-£140,000 per year and be asked to lead a “clear, organisation-wide income strategy across all streams” including public fundraising; corporate partnerships; philanthropy and high-value giving; trusts, foundations and institutional funding and commercial income.
“This is a highly strategic role, identifying what our future income portfolio should be, charting a path to get there, and overseeing progress on that path year to year, month to month and day by day,” the job description reads.
This year, Red Nose Day reported a fall in income, after raising £30m on the night, a £4m drop from the previous year’s total.
Red Nose Day’s on-the-night total has generally declined since 2015, when £78m was raised.
Charity Projects, the official name for the Comic Relief charity, recorded an overall income of £51.1m in the year to July 2025, including £4.55m from trading.
Since launching in 1985, Comic Relief has raised over £1.6bn.
