ITV supports a diverse range of charities, both nationally and regionally, in different ways.
From small prize donations to direct financial sponsorship, we continually look at ways to help causes that meet our Charitable Giving criteria.
As part of our Responsible Reach we often use the power of our well-known channels and programme brands to help raise awareness and donations for charities. They are chosen for their close link or association with the programme content.
However, ITV's flagship giving programme is our annual Christmas fundraising appeal - Text Santa. The charities selected to benefit from the appeal reflect ITV's own unique position of being a national organisation but have a strong presence across our regions and aspire to make a real difference within our communities.
Last year we raised over £5.2 million for our six UK based charities. Exceeding the 2011 total by over £1.1 million. 100% of these donations will go to our six specially chosen charities.
Not only does Text Santa raise donations for the charities, but our aim is to raise awareness and inspire viewers and supporters to get involved on a local level with our charities.
To hear directly from last year's charities on their experience, how the money has made a difference and to meet some of the individual's helped click here.
You can also find out more about Text Santa on Facebook and Twitter.
Visit www.itv.com/textsanta for the latest news about the show.
Becoming a Text Santa beneficiary
How our charities are selected
Becoming a Text Santa
beneficiary
We are delighted to announce that ITV's Text Santa Appeal will return in 2013 to raise more money for charities in the UK.
Thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about applying to become a beneficiary this year and to the charities that have applied. Our process is now closed for this year and we look forward to announcing the charities that have been selected for this year's appeal later on in Spring.
Please read below to find out more about our selection process, or if you would like to read through our FAQs please click here.
How our charities are
selected
We openly invite charities to apply to be part of our Text Santa appeal. We include some specific criteria to ensure the charities chosen fit our Charitable Giving Policy and the aims of the appeal.
A selection panel that consists of both ITV and external representatives then review applications that meet our criteria. Specific criteria includes:
- Charities able to demonstrate they were a national organisation, who work within each of our nations. This is important to us, as Text Santa is a UK based fundraising appeal and we wanted to ensure that donations raised benefited people locally.
- Charities were able to demonstrate financial stability and a minimum turnover of £1.5 million per year. We recognise that this ruled out a number of smaller organisations from applying. However, due to the scale of this appeal, charities selected need to have the infrastructure in place to deal with the programmes' requirements and additional media and public attention it receives. One of last year's charities' call volumes increased by 300%. It would be irresponsible of ITV to put such demands on a young or small charity.
In 2012, our activities have ranged from charitable giving to donations for specific appeals and campaigns. In all, ITV contributed £5 million in cash and in-kind support, along with viewer donations from our appeals this helped raise over £15.5 million pounds for charitable causes by ITV.
- Charities are able to demonstrate they offer practical and tangible help to people in need. To match the ethos of our Text Santa appeal, charities applying were required to demonstrate how the services they provide could make an immediate impact on people's lives. We want to be able to demonstrate to donors that their generosity can help someone near them, often through very simple interventions.
How you
got involved
With your help we raised a fantastic amount of money for charity this year. To find out how you and others got involved click here
2012's Charities
In 2012 we selected six charities to benefit equally from our Text Santa appeal.
Our charities all had something in common; they were all national UK based charities that have a strong regional presence, all offering practical help and support within the communities we all belong to.
Therefore every penny donated will go to helping someone near
you at what can be a difficult time of year for charities to raise
funds.
2012's charities were: Age
UK,
Anthony Nolan,Carers
UK,
Marie Curie Cancer Care, Together for Short
Lives and Whizz-Kidz. For
further information on how these charities plan to use donations
raised please see below.
Making a difference
Below are some examples of how the £5.2 million raised through our 2012 appeal has been invested in our communities across the UK; helping make a difference to people's lives.
Age UK have used some of the donations raised to fund Age UK services helping to tackle loneliness. These services will range from transportation, social activities and lunch clubs to befriending, information, advice and practical services; they are delivered to older people in local communities in the UK.
Anthony Nolan will use some of the much needed funds raised to enrol more donors on the stem cell register as it costs £100 to add each potential donor to the register.
Carers UK are now able to extend their Carers UK AdviceLine. At present it operates 2 days a week. For 2 hours a day. The aim is to provide the service 5 days a week, 8 hours a day for as long as the donation sustains and to include: Emotional help and support by trained counsellors and a follow up call back service.
Marie Curie Cancer Care will be able to continue their Marie Curie Nursing Service which provides hands-on, specialist care for patients and their families in their homes.
Togther for Short Lives The majority of the donations raised will be distributed evenly across 49 Children's Hospices in the UK.
Whizz-Kidz will use the donations to enable more age appropriate wheelchairs to be provided to children on their waiting list as the average cost of a wheelchair is £2,400.
To hear directly from last year's charities on their experience, how the money has made a difference and to meet some of the individual's helped click here.
For more information on our 2011 chairites please click here.
