Comic Relief to raise contactless donations through comedian statues
Howard Lake | 11 February 2015 | News
Comic Relief will be offering shoppers yet another way to donate to Red Nose Day this year, in the form of contactless payments via statues of famous comedians.
Some larger than life replicas of Comic Relief stalwarts like Rowan Atkinson, Dawn French and Billy Connolly will appear in cities across the UK. Passers-by will be able to donate £1 to Comic Relief simply by tapping their debit card on the comedians’ pocket.
Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day Statues
Barclays Contactless and Pingit
The mobile transactions take place either via Barclays Contactless or Pingit.
People can donate via the contactless method by holding their card to the contactless reader in the comedian’s pocket until they see the “approved” message.
Alternatively they can choose to donate via their mobile phone using Pingit, Barclays’ mobile payment tool, which also enables a Gift Aid declaration to be made. A QR code will be positioned near the statue so that people can download the app. In addition, a Barclays ‘Digital Eagle’ or helper will be on hand to help you download the app to your phone and guide you through the giving process.
Selfie potential
Comic Relief expect plenty of people to take the opportunity to take a selfie of themselves next to the comedian statues, so the charity is encouraging people to do so and use the hashtag #RNDStatues to spread the pictures.
Rowan Atkinson Red Nose Day 2015 statue
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Where to find the comedian statues
• Edina & Patsy, Westfield London, 12-18 February
• Alan Partridge, Chapelfield Shopping Centre, Norwich, 12-18 February
• Billy Connolly, Braehead Shopping Centre, Glasgow 12-18 February
• David Walliams, Westfield Stratford City, London 12-18 February
• Dawn French, Intu Milton Keynes 12-18 February
• Del Boy, Cabot Circus, Bristol 12-18 February
• Lenny Henry, Merry Hill, Birmingham 12-18 February
• John Bishop, Golden Square Shopping Centre, Warrington 12-18 February
• Miranda Hart, Guildhall Shopping Centre, Exeter 14-18 February
• Mr Bean, Intu Eldon Square, Newcastle 12-18 February
The statues were unveiled this week by comedian Miranda Hart.
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MERt1uPKN4g[/youtube]
We’ve come a long way in fundraising since 1988!
Comic Relief co-founder Richard Curtis came up with the idea of the mobile fundraising statues. Acknowledging that “we’ve come a long way in fundraising since 1988!”, he commented:
“Since the beginning of Comic Relief I’ve asked hundreds of exceptionally talented and generous comedians to do strange things to raise money and this might be the oddest request yet. Huge thanks to all ten who agreed to let us turn them into a statue. As well as perfect selfie opportunities, just a simple tap on the pocket with a contactless card will give a £1 donation to help incredibly vulnerable people in the UK and across Africa”.
Innovation in Giving Fund
The statues were designed by creative agency Fallon, after it received a grant from the Innovation in Giving Fund, managed by Nesta and funded by the Cabient Office. Comic Relief was the first charity to partner on the project.
• Cancer Research UK this month is also trialling contactless payments via the windows of four of its charity shops.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.