Comic Relief raised £15.17m via mobile phone text donations this year, accounting for nearly £1 out of every £5 donated via the event.

The event, held on 18 March, has raised a total of £74.3m with a significant spike in the proportion of income coming from donors using their mobile phones to give.

The Comic Relief audience were encouraged to give texts to the value of £1, £5 and, for the first time, £10 to the charity.

All mobile phone companies waived charges, when they exist, on donations made to Comic Relief.

Radha Chakraborty, Comic Relief operations director, said SMS provided a valuable channel for donations. “Text donations make up nearly 20 per cent of the total raised so far and we extend our heartfelt thanks to the British public,” said Chakraborty.