TELETHON BEATS AID DEADLINE

When Home Box Office Inc. aired its Comic Relief telethon special March 29, organizers promised to get viewers’ pledges out to the nation’s homeless within six months’ time.

Bob Zmuda, one of the creators of the all-star special to aid the nation’s homeless, said last week that the organization will beat its deadline by more than a month.

The special, headlined by Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams, grossed $4.2 million in viewer pledges and corporate contributions. It netted $2.6 million for actual distribution to projects for the homeless--the avowed purpose of the all-star comedy show, Zmuda said.

Though operating and production costs were put at $1.65 million, all of that overhead was met through corporate contributions so that most of the viewers’ pledges will go directly to aid for the homeless, he added.

The money will all be distributed to shelters and services for the homeless in 18 cities, including Los Angeles, no later than Aug. 31, Zmuda promised.

The first Comic Relief grant was to be made Sunday to a Chicago emergency shelter.

Zmuda, Comic Relief’s president and executive producer, made the promise that the money would be distributed within six months over the air during the four-hour Comic Relief special. He made the public statement in part as an answer to criticisms that have been made of pop charities, such as the Live Aid Foundation and the USA for Africa Foundation, for failing to spend their charitable contributions quickly on African famine relief.

“The main thing we’re proud of is that we are going to be able to give out the funds in time,” Zmuda said.

Dennis Albaugh, Comic Relief vice president, said the project’s board of directors decided that focusing on medical services would be the most effective use of money, given the relatively small amount of money that was raised.

“We sure as hell can’t pay for a lot of shelter beds with $2.6 million, but we can give specific care for a lot of people for the same money,” Albaugh said.

In Chicago, Comic Relief was to have presented the Fire House Annex, an emergency housing shelter, a $46,500 check for medical supplies and equipment, the first installment of a $139,500 grant to be disbursed over a three-year period, Zmuda said. About 6,000 people from seven neighboring shelters are expected to receive medical services during this period, he said.

On Saturday in Washington, Comic Relief will award the Washington Health Care for the Homeless Program another $139,500 grant. The two-year grant will pay for medical staff, supplies and a van to transport the program’s medical staff to seven area shelters, soup kitchens and Skid Row hotels.

Despite Comic Relief’s modest achievements, Albaugh said, the project is a good example of efficient use of television in a decade of splashy, high-cost, media-oriented fund raising.

Because the show’s $1.65 million in expenses were paid in advance by corporate sponsors like Pepsi-Cola and HBO, he said the project’s costs came to about 33 cents for every dollar raised. The cost-to-earnings ratio averaged by most telethons is about 47 cents per dollar, he said.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York are overseeing the selection of deserving projects, as well as monitoring how the money is spent once the grants have been made.