# Channel 4’s The Secret Millions to give away £10 million from Big Lottery Fund

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/03/08/channel-4039s-secret-millions-give-away-10m-big-lottery-fund/
- Published: 2013-03-08T10:48:23+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/katie-piper-channel4-secret-
millions.jpg)

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/katie-piper-channel4-secret-
millions_0.jpg)

Channel 4 and the Big Lottery Fund are to grant £10 million to help charities implement
radical ideas to tackle issues such as youth unemployment, social housing, and families
with disabled children. This is the largest sum given away via a Channel 4 TV series.

**The Secret Millions**, a five-part series that airs this month, comes from the
producers of The Secret Millionaire. It will follow five Channel 4 presenters as
they work with charities that they have an "emotional connection" to in order to
develop new projects. The charities don't know that they are also secretly trying
to help secure £2 million of Lottery funding to turn the ideas into reality: The
Big Lottery Fund staff are assessing whether to award funding.

The Channel 4 team consists of **Gok Wan, Katie Piper, Jimmy Doherty, Dave Fishwick
and George Clarke**.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

## Participating charities

The five charities involved are:

 *  The Foyer Federation, with Dave Fishwick
     
 *  Kids Company, with Gok Wan
     
 *  Papworth Trust, with Jimmy Doherty
     
 *  Acumen Development Trust, with Katie Piper
     
 *  London Youth, with George Clarke

![Dave Fishwick on Channel 4's The Secret Millions](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/
files/images/dave-fisher-channel4-secret-millions.jpg)

_Dave Fishwick on The Secret Millions_

## Channel 4 and The Big Lottery

The series grew out of a [survey in 2011 by Channel 4 and the Big Lottery Fund](http://channel4.com/thebigdecision)
in which the public was asked to decide which five themes should be given priority
in the current financial climate. The results were used by the Fund to decide which
projects should share the £10 million of funding.

This is the first time the Big Lottery Fund has asked the public to help design 
and develop a grant programme from choosing the programme themes to the types of
projects and beneficiaries they want funded.

## The Secret Millions

Each week, The Secret Millions will follow a celebrity working with a charity to
test out a bold idea dealing with major social issues. The Channel 4 presenters 
will help the charities set up a trial run of the innovative project which is, in
fact, part of the secret bid to win the Lottery funding.

Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "The Secret Millions
is one of the most exciting projects we have ever been involved in. Offering possible
access to considerable sums of our good causes cash as part of Channel 4's largest
ever TV giveaway, knowing the huge difference that it could make on issues the public
prioritised, has been an excellent experience."

He added: "I hope The Secret Millions experience will lead to a greater public awareness
of such good causes and the opportunities there are for everyone to get involved."

The Secret Millions will begin on Sunday 17 March at 8pm on Channel 4.

www.channel4.com