About this organisation
Summary of activities
Over 26 consecutive days across March and April, more than 2,000 performers took part in the largest festival in the organisation s history. A record 696 shows were presented across 182 stages in 133 venues. While inflationary pressures on suppliers continued to impact on delivery costs, ticket sales were strong and the community s enthusiasm for what the Comedy Festival delivers is higher than ever. There were 646,864 tickets sold and total attendance was 707,388 across 7,804 individual performances. Total box office was $22.9 million which set a new benchmark for the Festival, providing income for over 4,000 creative industry artists and related support teams. In 2025, the Festival managed 30 venues across 10 sites, including 21 temporary performances spaces built specifically for the Festival. Melbourne continues to face a lack of permanent performance spaces requiring the Festival to invest significantly in hiring, programming and operating temporary venues to accommodate the growing event. Melbourne International Comedy Festival also administers the Light The Way Home, a program that offers a secure mode of transportation to women, trans, non-binary, and other vulnerable performers after their shows in or around the Melbourne CBD. During 2025, the initiative provided more than 130 rides home for more than 50 registered users. Melbourne International Comedy Festival is committed to the development of the comedy industry and fostering emerging talent. This is supported through the year-round national delivery of development programs RAW Comedy, Deadly Funny, Class Clowns and Up Next providing crucial career pathways for artists. Immediately following the Festival, the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow again toured successfully. This year, it showcased in 78 communities across Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. Over 50 artists toured with the Roadshow and over 31,000 people attended performances across Australia.
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Outcomes
Outcomes are self-reported by charities
Programs and activities
Name: Class Clowns
URL: https://classclowns.com.au/
Classification: Performing arts (Arts and culture > Performing arts )
Beneficiaries:- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Deadly Funny
URL: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/deadly-funny/
Classification: Performing arts (Arts and culture > Performing arts )
Beneficiaries:- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Name: RAW Comedy
URL: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/festival-programs/raw-comedy/
Classification: Performing arts (Arts and culture > Performing arts )
Beneficiaries:- Adults - aged 25 to under 65
- General community in Australia
- Youth - 15 to under 25
Name: Light the Way Home
URL: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/support-us/light-the-way-home/
Classification: Freedom from violence and torture (Human rights > Individual liberties > Freedom from violence and torture)
Beneficiaries:- Females
Name: Up Next
URL: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/festival-programs/up-next-comedy/
Classification: Performing arts (Arts and culture > Performing arts )
Beneficiaries:- Youth - 15 to under 25
Finances
What is this?
This graph shows how much revenue (money in) and expenses (money out) the charity has had each year over the last few years. Charities have many sources of revenue, such as donations, government grants, and services they sell to the public. Similarly, expenses are everything that allows the charity to run, from paying staff to rent.
What should I be looking for?
First off, this graph gives a general indication of how big the charity is - charities range in size from tiny (budgets of less than $100,000) to enormous (budgets more than $100 million). You're also looking for variability - if the charity's revenue and expenses are jumping up and down from year to year, make sure there's a good reason for it.
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want revenue to be slightly above expenses. If expenses is reliably above revenue, the charity is losing money. If revenue is much larger than expenses, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
If a charity receives more money than it spends, that's a surplus (in business, it would be called profit). If it spends more than it receives, that's a deficit. This chart shows surpluses and deficits for the charity over the last few years.
What should I be looking for?
Unlike companies, charities and not-for-profits aren't on a mission to make money. However, if they spend more than they receive, eventually they will go into too much debt and run into trouble. As a very general rule, you want a charity to make a small surplus on average. A deficit means that charity lost money that year, which may indicate poor financial management or just a series of bad circumstances. If the charity always has a huge surplus, it means the charity might not be using its resources effectively. It isn't always that simple, however, and there's a lot of reasons a charity might not follow this pattern. They might be saving up for a big purchase or campaign, or they might have made a big one-off payment. If you're worried, always look at the annual and financial reports to understand why the charity is making the decisions it is.
What is this?
This chart compares the amount the charity receives from various sources, including donations (i.e. money given by the general public or philanthropy), goods and services, government grants, and other sources.
What should I be looking for?
Donations are an important source of revenue for some charities. Others rely more heavily on government funding, or on revenue from other sources. This is an indication of how much they need donors to accomplish their mission. Note that there is no 'good' or 'bad' amount of donations for a charity to have. It might be interesting to look at values over time - are they going up or down? A charity that gets less donations every year may be in trouble.
What is this?
Assets are things that the charity owns that are worth something. This could be anything from a car to investments. Similarly, liabilities are debts or obligations that the charity owes to someone else, like a loan or an agreement to pay for something.
What should I be looking for?
Firstly, in general a charity should have more assets than liabilities. If it doesn't, it implies that the charity might not be able to pay its debts, and you should look very closely at the charity's annual and financial reports to make sure they are taking steps to remedy this. Current assets should generally be above current liabilities - that means the charity can easily pay off the debts that are coming due soon. Beyond that, look for a large stockpile of assets. While a charity should have enough assets to keep it afloat in hard times (a 'buffer') if that stockpile gets too large the charity could be using that money more effectively. As always, if you have concerns check the annual and financial reports.
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