Big Give Christmas Challenge raises record £13.3m
Melanie May | 6 December 2018 | News
This year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge raised £13.3 million in one week – a record-breaking total for the annual campaign.
589 charities – the largest number ever – participated in this year’s campaign, supporting a large range of causes, and it also received the backing of a number of celebrities including Stephen Fry, Professor Green, Jon Snow, Kirstie Allsopp and Ben Elton.
The Big Give campaign ran from 27 November – 4 December, and closed with a reception at 11 Downing Street, hosted by the wife of the Chancellor, Mrs Susan Hammond.
The average donation in the campaign was £175 and over 35,000 people donated, with #ChristmasChallenge18 trending on Twitter for most of the opening day. The match funding was provided by a number of ‘Champions’ including The Reed Foundation, The Childhood Trust, Candis, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The People’s Postcode Lottery and The Waterloo Foundation amongst others.
Sir Alec Reed CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Big Give said:
“We are delighted by the success of this year’s record breaking campaign in our 10th year of running the Christmas Challenge. It once again proves what a powerful tool match funding is for both funders and fundraisers. I am so proud of all of the hard work of the charities which were supported in the campaign. We know that the funds raised will help tackle some of the biggest challenges in our society and our planet. I am also incredibly thankful to our match funding Champions for their generosity and for backing the campaign.”
At the reception, the Big Give also announced that it was investing in its technology to be able to run more match funding campaigns in the future with an ambitious goal of helping to reach £1bn raised for good causes. It expects to re-launch the platform in the spring of 2019.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.