Comic Relief set to boost donations from younger viewers in the run up to Red Nose Day. Comic Relief is set to launch its biggest wave of SMS activity to date in a bid to boost donations from younger viewers in the run up to Red Nose Day. Several wireless initiatives, developed by Flytxt, are hoped to raise funds for the charity via premium rate SMS, while also building an opt-in database of donors for future use.

The SMS activity will include competitions and voting around special BBC TV and radio shows, which culminate on March 14 for the six-hour fundraising telethon.

Programmes include; Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, Comic Relief Does Celebrity Driving School and Battle of the DJ's for Comic Relief. Voters will be charged 25p to £1, with over two thirds of the money raised going to Comic Relief.

Other interactive activity includes the ability to request fundraising packs via both SMS and its website, www.rednoseday.com. BBCi Sky and Freeview viewers will also be able to donate on the night through 'red button' interactivity.

Organisers hope the activity will help surpass online donations from the last Red Nose Day in 2001, when some £3.6m was raised out of a total £55m.

Amanda Horton-Mastin, Marketing Director for Comic Relief, hopes this Red Nose Day will see the charity's biggest SMS push yet. She says: "SMS has firmly established itself as an excellent tool to both raise money and gain involvement from the UK public in our campaigns'

Since its launch in 1985, Comic Relief has raised over £250m, of which one-third is allocated to UK projects, while the rest is used to aid work in Africa.