Comic Relief is to launch a new investment policy in the coming weeks, following a decision to remove all funds from its portfolio that include shares in alcohol, tobacco and arms companies.
Last year, a Panorama documentary heavily criticised Comic Relief for its decision to invest money in arms, alcohol and tobacco. In the programme, ordinary supporters of the charity said its investment policy was “disgusting” and called for it to change its strategy.
At the time Kevin Cahill, chief executive of Comic Relief, promised to review the charity’s investment policy and a panel was appointed to recommend on the principles and framework for a new investment policy at Comic Relief and its levels of transparency.
The panel, which includes Andrew Hind, editor of Charity Finance, John Kingston founder director of CAF Venturesome and three Comic Relief trustees, has now made its recommendations, and these are now with Comic Relief’s board of trustees for consideration. The full outcome of the review, and Comic Relief’s response, will be announced shortly.
A charity spokeswoman confirmed in a statement following the publication of its annual report that the charity planned to introduce a new investment policy. She also confirmed that Comic Relief has already removed shares in alcohol, tobacco and arms from its investment portfolio.
At the time of Panorama, Cahill said the charity had up to 5 per cent of its assets in “any of those particular areas”.
In that year, the charity has an investment portfolio of £155m, which would suggest that up to £23m could have been invested in alcohol, arms and tobacco.
Comic Relief’s new accounts for the year ending July 2013, filed last week with Companies House, show that Red Nose Day 2013 raised over £100m, £8m less than Red Nose Day 2011.
Trustees say that the record-breaking Red Nose Day of 2011 was due to an “exceptional performance in 2011 rather than the start of a trend”.
Its accounts also say that social media channels saw “enormous growth”, with a 183 per cent follower increase on Twitter to 735,000, and a 27 per cent increase on Facebook to 539,000. Also, a new Instagram feed attracted 39,000 new followers.
Last year, Comic Relief awarded grants worth £103.1m.
