In its U.S. debut on May 21, the British fundraising telethon Red Nose Day raised more than $21 million for twelve charities working to address childhood poverty around the globe, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Donations made during the star-studded three-hour telethon on NBC went to the Red Nose Day Fund, a program of London-based Comic Relief, which will distribute money to Boys & Girls Clubs of America, charity: water, the Children's Health Fund, Feeding America, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, LIFT, the National Council of La Raza, the National Urban League, Oxfam America, Save the Children, and the United Way.

The telethon was conducted on multiple platforms and included several social media campaigns leading up to the event designed to encourage members of the public to donate or start their own fundraisers. Nevertheless, the $21 million figure — which includes proceeds from sales of red clown noses at Walgreens stores — fell far short of the $122 million raised in March by the most recent UK event.

While the British telethon, which began in 1988, has raised a total of $1.6 billion to date, the telethon model may be losing steam, the Chronicle notes. The Muscular Dystrophy Association, for example, recently announced it would end its longstanding telethon and refocus its efforts on engaging with audiences via digital and mobile channels.