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The World’s Largest Fundraiser: Norway’s Charity Push

By Kristian Lovstad


Charity work is being done all around the world to collect money for charities, and when done right it can make an enormous difference for the charities it affects.


In Norway, the world's largest charity event for volunteers takes place every single year, and has done since it first took place in 1974.



TV-Aksjonen, which would translate to The TV-Campaign, got its name because the event is arranged by NRK, which is the largest broadcasting organisation in Norway.


Each time the fundraiser takes place, over 100,000 people volunteer to raise money for what the chosen charity is that year. The charity changes every single year, but it is usually either a Norwegian charity or the Norwegian branch of a global charity such as Amnesty or UNICEF.


Just looking at the last ten years, they have supported children's charities such as UNICEF, environmental charities like WWF and Norwegian Red Cross, which helps people in countries such as Somalia, Afghanistan and Syria.


This year, the charity they will raise money for is PLAN Norway, which is a part of the global charity PLAN International.



Their goal is to prevent child marriage in the countries where that is a big problem. Bangladesh, Nepal, Mali, Niger and Malawi are the countries they have mentioned.

As this charity event is built on volunteers, it is impressive to consistently see more than 100,000 people turn up every single year. And with roughly 7,000 others being responsible for mobilising them, it has been a success every year since for the last 46 years.


How the event works, is that the volunteers who sign up is assigned a route and a collecting tin. From there, they work their way through the route, knocking on every door along the way, and everyone who wants to donate some money can do so.


It is absolutely not mandatory, but even if you are able to give a small amount, it is still a helpful gesture.


In total, between 2 and 2.5 million doors are being knocked on throughout the day, and an average of 220 million Norwegian kroner, which is roughly £19-£20 million have been raised every year since the year 2000.


In total since 1974, that amounts to 9 billion Norwegian kroner, roughly £770 million. The entire event is also broadcast on the TV channel NRK, and there is also a collaborative radio show by Norwegian radio station P3 who supports the event and helps raise money for the charities.



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