ITV’s Text Santa raises over four million pounds

ITV’s festive fundraiser Text Santa has so far raised £4.9 million for six UK based charities the broadcaster has announced.

The appeal culminated in a live, three-hour pre-Christmas show, which resulted in ITV viewers donating millions of pounds. Every penny goes directly to the six charities: Age UK, Barnardo’s, BeatBullying, British Heart Foundation, CLIC Sargent and Help the Hospices. A cheque presentation from the Text Santa appeal took place yesterday with all the charities attending, confirming the amount raised so far.

We’d like to pay tribute to the generosity of ITV’s viewers and thank everyone for their fantastic support, including our presenters, and the stars such as Cheryl Cole, Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow, the cast and producers of Coronation Street and Emmerdale, and many, many others who did their bit for Text Santa. It was a brilliant team effort across ITV and Text Santa will be back later this year. – Sara Hanson, ITV’s Head of Corporate Responsibility

In three years of fundraising, Text Santa has now raised over £14.5m for UK charities. ITV directly funds all operating costs and 100% of donations get passed to the charities as soon as possible.

Text Santa 2013 devoted more airtime than ever before to the work of the charities with more than six hours showcasing their great work across the UK. The first telethon broadcast on ITV took place in 1980 with the London-only Thames Telethon.

[Pictured: Cheryl Cole makes an appearance in a special Coronation Street for Text Santa]