Comic Relief

Themes: poor and disadvantaged people

Level of funding: up to £40,000 a year for up to 3 years

Type of funding: capital & revenue, full cost recovery

Area of distribution: all of Wales

Application cycle: see upcoming deadlines

How to apply: Online application process

About the funder

Our mission is to drive positive change through the power of entertainment.

Since we first set up shop 25 years ago, we’ve been doing three main things…

  • We raise millions of pounds through two big fundraising campaigns – Red Nose Day and Sport Relief.
  • We spend that money in the best possible way to tackle the root causes of poverty and social injustice.
  • We use the power of our brand to raise awareness of the issues that we care most about.

Our vision in the UK – across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales – is that people should be able to live free from poverty, where their rights and safety are protected, their needs provided for and where they can play a part in the communities in which they live.

Funding Strands

We support work in the UK in the following areas:

  • Young People and Mental Health
  • Young People and Alcohol
  • Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Young People
  • Older People
  • Domestic and Sexual Abuse
  • Refugee and Asylum Seeking Women
  • Mental Health
  • Young Carers
  • Local Communities
  • Sport for Change

For more information on each programme please visit our website.

Comic Relief makes grants in the programme areas outlined, and organisations can make only one application to one programme at a given time.

What we don’t fund

There are certain types of work and organisations that we do not fund. If your proposal falls into one of these categories, please do not apply to us:

  • grants to individuals
  • medical research or hospitals
  • churches or other religious bodies where the monies will be used for religious purposes
  • work where there is statutory responsibility to provide funding
  • projects where the work has already taken place
  • statutory bodies, such as local authorities and Primary Care Trusts, or organisations seeking funding to replace cuts by statutory bodies
  • profit-making organisations, except social enterprise
  • where your 'free' (unrestricted or designated) reserves are more than one year’s running costs, we may not provide the full amount you ask for – or may not fund at all – if we feel you have enough to pay for the work yourself.
  • we are also unable to fund minibuses.

Up-coming deadlines

The next application deadlines for Older People and Sport for Change are the 7 October 2011 and the 8 June 2012.

For all our other programmes they are the 28 October 2011 and 29 June 2012. Please check on our website closer to the deadline to make sure this information is still correct

Grant enquiries

For North Wales please contact Alan Whittick, tel: 07528 536 545 or email

Alan Whittick, Pencloddiau, Llangurig, Lanidloes, Powys, SY18 6RS

For South Wales please contact Roy Norris, Tel: 01686 622 217 or email

Roy Norris, Llys Gwyn, Cefn Mawr, Newtown, Powys, SY16 3LB

Or visit our website.

Additional information

General information
Overview of programmes you can apply for
What we look for in an application