Comic Relief gives the Evening Standard's Dispossessed Fund a £1m boost

Comic Relief has hailed the “critical work” of the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund — and backed up its praise with a cash bonanza, giving Londoners one million extra reasons to smile on Red Nose Day.

Thanks to the fun-loving generosity of our readers, who made their hair “funny for money” and got sponsored, Comic Relief has announced a £1 million cash injection to our award-winning fund. The windfall will be distributed to more than 60 grassroots groups tackling poverty across the capital in grants from £5,000 to £20,000.

It is the fourth year in a row that Comic Relief and Sport Relief have backed our fund with £1 million.

That brings the total now raised by the Dispossessed Fund to an extraordinary £13.46 million, breaking all records for a newspaper-created charitable fund and far exceeding the £1 million target we set five years ago.

This weekend’s television spectacular marks the climax of a two-month-long nationwide fund-raising campaign for Comic Relief in which our readers have indulged their outrageous sides.

Comic Relief’s CEO Kevin Cahill said: “The Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund does a critical job in helping the most marginalised communities in London and we are proud to be once again handing over £1 million to support the fund. Thanks to your readers’ generosity we can help some of the poorest people in the UK and Africa.

“It has been brilliant to see all the creative efforts of your readers making their hair funny for money in support of Red Nose Day. The work done by the Dispossessed Fund in tackling social exclusion continues to set the standard and is a huge asset to the capital.”