CarFest sets £21m fundraising target for 2021 & gives £2.5m to UK children’s charities
Melanie May | 25 November 2019 | News
This month’s launch of CarFest 2020 saw Chris Evans hand out £2,502,724 to the UK children’s charities supported by this year’s event, with plans to raise £21m for good causes by 2021.
The money was raised at this year’s event benefits charities included BBC Children in Need, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, Teenage Cancer Trust, Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, Starlight Children’s Foundation as well as charities nominated by the winners and runners up of The Sun’s ‘Who Cares Wins’ Awards.
November saw Evans host a breakfast celebration to mark the launch of CarFest 2020, his annual family fundraising festival, on the 17th floor of News UK in London. The space was transformed into a mini festival including circus performers, hula hooping, half life-sized cars.
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At 8am, during the festivities, tickets for CarFest North and South 2020 also went on sale for one day, as part of the celebration.
CarFest was created by Evans in 2012 with the sole purpose of raising funds for UK children’s charities and has over the past eight years raised over £16million for BBC Children in Need and its other partner charities. CarFest has donated 25% of ticket sales direct to children’s charities each year, and Evans recently announced the festival’s aim to continue to #DoMoreGood and raise £21million by 2021 to mark CarFest’s 10th anniversary.
CarFest takes place in two locations across two weekends in July and August. The 2020 events will also see CarFest continue on its mission to #GoGreen and achieve its goal of being 100% Carbon Neutral on its primary emissions. It will also encourage visitors to offset their carbon footprint with a donation towards the planting of 1000 trees.
Evans had been on a media tour ahead of the celebrations, guesting on both The One Show with Angellica Bell and Matt Baker and on This Morning with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, where he donated a further £20,000 from the CarFest Fund to two of Holly and Phil’s chosen children’s charities.
Evans said of the celebrations:
“It’s our 17th and 18th CarFest. We started eight years ago and next year we’ll see our millionth visitor, which is brilliant! Wednesday morning was amazing, we handed over cheques to all the charities that we’ve helped this year. What better way to launch 2020 than by handing out all the money we raised this year, and then starting it all over again!”
Next year CarFest North takes place from 24–26 July at Bolesworth in Cheshire, and CarFest South takes place from 28–30 August at Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.