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Red Nose Day

Red Nose Day kickoff raises 2.3mn for children's charities

This year's "Nenäpäivä" fund drive is already well on its way to exceed last year's total of 2.8 million euros. The campaign runs for another week, collecting money for projects benefiting children in developing countries.

Kaj Kunnas, Alma Hätönen, Sanna Stellan, Jarkko Tamminen ja Jenni Poikelus.
Kaj Kunnas, Alma Hätönen, Sanna Stellan, Jarkko Tamminen and Jenni Poikelus took part in Friday's telethon. Image: Jyrki Valkama / Yle
  • Yle News

This year's Red Nose Day campaign, which was kicked off by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) on Friday, has already raised some 2.3 million euros for children in poverty worldwide.

That is more than 100,000 euros higher than last year's first-day donations. The total raised during Friday evening's telethon included several 10,000-euro gifts.

Known in Finland as Nenäpäivä, the annual fundraising drive goes on through Sunday, November 19.

A decade in Finland

The money raised is shared among seven NGOs including the Finnish branches of UNICEF, the Red Cross, Plan, Save the Children and Fida for long-term development cooperation in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The others are Finn Church Aid, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, the International Solidarity Foundation and the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland (SASK).

The Red Nose Day concept was launched by Britain's Comic Relief and the BBC in 1988. It has been held in Finland annually since 2007, when 1.6 million euros was raised. Since then the annual total has varied between two and 3.7 million, raising 2.8 million last year.