The Big Give Christmas Challenge raises over £6.4m in first three days
Howard Lake | 8 December 2015 | News
The Big Give Christmas Challenge has raised over £6.4 million in its first three days for 258 charities. Running until 14 December, the annual campaign offers donors the chance to double the value of their gifts through matched giving.
As in previous years there is an immediate scramble to take up the opportunity on each day. When the campaign launched at midday on Friday 4 December, over 1,192 donations worth £2.5 million were received in the first five minutes!
Participating charities with match funds remaining can still benefit from donations. Match funds remain open until 5pm on 14 December, but donations are matched on a first come first served basis.
Who matches the donations?
Match funding is provided by a range of philanthropic organisations, which The Big Give refer to as ‘Champions’. These include The Reed Foundation, The Childhood Trust, Candis Magazine, and The Lake House Foundation. These Champions funds are joined with pledges from the charities’ own major donors to double online donations during the Christmas Challenge.
The Childhood Trust today confirmed that it had already raised £1.3 million:
£1.346m raised in matched online giving #tbgchallenge but more match available til Mon @CharitySharer @howardlake https://t.co/mdcERdrxE2
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— @Childhoodtrust (@ChildhoodTrust) December 8, 2015
Alex Day, Director of the Big Give, commented:
“The Christmas Challenge demonstrates just how generous the UK public are. We’ve been astounded by the response from charities and their supporters and we’re incredibly proud to partner with such a passionate group of organisations and philanthropists who double these donations. To raise such a phenomenal amount of money in such a short time is testament to the power of match funding”.
Who else has raised money?
You helped us raise nearly £30k! Thank you to all who donated in @BigGive with @candismagazine #CharityTuesday #news pic.twitter.com/hU8EQkIgl5
— St Peter & St James Hospice (@StPeterStJames) December 8, 2015
We are pleased to announce we have raised £3,464.00 so far during The @BigGive Christmas Challenge! Thanks to all who donated! #TBGChallenge
— Jigsaw Bury (@Jigsawbury) December 8, 2015
We raised a total of £15,000 through @BigGive Christmas challenge! Thank you to all who donated & @ChildhoodTrust for matching #TBGChallenge
— Coram Beanstalk (@beanstalkreads) December 7, 2015
Thanks to @BigGive's annual Christmas Challenge an incredible £2,075 was donated meaning total of £4,150 was raised! pic.twitter.com/R7YAAVaLzz
— ChildAid (@childaidrr) December 7, 2015
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.