# ITV’s Text Santa appeal raises record sum

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/01/06/itvs-text-santa-appeal-raises-record-sum-of-8-5m/
- Published: 2016-01-06T09:30:51+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**ITV’s Text Santa 2015 appeal has raised its biggest ever total at £8.5m, with 
money still coming in.**

This takes Text Santa’s overall fundraising total to £29.5 million over the last
five years.  This year’s total will be shared equally among [Macmillan Cancer Support](http://www.macmillan.org.uk/),
[Make-A-Wish UK](https://www.make-a-wish.org.uk/) and [Save the Children](http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/)
to support their work both in the UK and abroad.

Text Santa 2015 kicked off on 1st December, with the #XmasJumperDay Challenge asking
people to get their friends and family to sponsor them to see how many Christmas
jumpers they could put on in one minute.

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Text Santa Christmas Jumper Day took place on 18^(th) December. During the day on
18th December the ITV schedule focused on Text Santa with special one-off editions
of  The Chase, Tipping Point, Jeremy Kyle and 1000 Heartbeats.

The appeal culminated in a three-hour ITV special hosted by a number of celebrities
such as Philip Scofield and Olly Murs, which had raised £8,383,361 of the total 
by its end. The TV show included Richard Branson guest starring in Coronation Street,
a special celebrity episode of Downton Abbey, a special celebrity Ninja Warrior 
UK episode to win money for the Text Santa appeal,and a number of celebrity-hosted
charity films.

Peter Fincham, director of ITV, said:

> “This is a fantastic achievement.  I want to thank all ITV viewers and our partners
> who have donated so generously to the Text Santa appeal. All the money will go
> directly to this year’s charities Macmillan Cancer Support, Make-A-Wish® UK and
> Save the Children and will make a real difference to the lives of those who rely
> on the charities’ support.”

 * **[Text Santa 2015 beats previous fundraising totals](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/02/19/text-santa-2015-beats-previous-fundraising-totals/)**(
   19 February 2016)
 * **[Applications open for ITV’s Text Santa 2014](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/02/25/applications-open-itvs-text-santa-2014/)**(
   25 February 2014)
 * **[Text Santa asks public to “do your bit in a Christmas knit”](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/10/15/text-santa-asks-public-to-do-your-bit-in-a-christmas-knit/)**(
   15 October 2015)