Improvements announced for The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge match-funding campaign
Howard Lake | 1 June 2016 | News
Applications to take part in the UK’s largest online match-funding campaign will open later this month. This year’s Christmas Challenge from The Big Give will include new and improved functions.
Applications for The Christmas Challenge open on Monday 13th June. Charities will have three weeks to complete the initial applications.
The Christmas Challenge, first held in 2008, helps UK-registered charities raise funds for their cause. So far it has raised over £71 million for 2,500 charity projects.
Doubling donations
The Christmas Challenge gives supporters of participating charities the chance to have their donation doubled during a short and intense campaign period a month before Christmas. This year The Christmas Challenge campaign will tie in with GivingTuesday.
It will run for 72 hours, from midday on 29th November (#GivingTuesday) and closing on Friday 2nd December.
The matched-funding is provided by a range of philanthropic organisations, called ‘Champions’, which in previous years have included The Reed Foundation, The Childhood Trust, Candis Magazine, The Waterloo Foundation, among many others. These Champion funds are joined with pledges from participating charities’ own major donors to double online donations during the Christmas Challenge.
Changes for 2016
Changes for this year’s Christmas Challenge include:
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- Match funding to be “ring-fenced” for each charity i.e. no competition.
- The campaign will run over 72 hours with no pausing.
- The Christmas Challenge to launch on #GivingTuesday.
- No fees for charities taking part in the campaign.
The changes have been introduced based on feedback from charities, donors and philanthropic partners, according to Alex Day, Director of The Big Give.
He added:
“This past year has unfortunately seen a lot of negative press about the UK charity sector and its fundraising methods. We know from recent research (available from theBigGive.org.uk) that match-funding is an incredible way to incentivise donations. We hope this year’s Christmas Challenge will provide a fantastic opportunity for charities to engage with their donors in an innovative way and provide a boost to their fundraising efforts.”
Applications to take part in the Christmas Challenge close on 4 July 2016, but The Big Give encourages early applications.
- Read about The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge in 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.