Four matched giving campaigns by small charities
Howard Lake | 18 October 2021 | News
Doubling income to an appeal can be both an attractive offer to donors and an effective approach to fundraising, especially when fundraising resources are scarce.
Some fundraising and giving platforms specialise in running matched funding campaigns, and others include the function.
Here are four recent or current matched giving appeals by smaller charities that have used The Big Give, together with some findings about matched giving from research by the platform.
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AfghanAid
AfghanAid launched its own emergency match funding campaign in response to the crisis in Afghanistan in August.
From an initial seed match funding pot of £2,000 at the start of the campaign, the match funds grew to £35,000, with more match funders wanting to contribute after seeing the impact of match funds on donations. The campaign raised a total of over £78,000 to deliver emergency support to families whose lives have been destroyed or uprooted by the conflict.
Consortium for Street Children
Consortium for Street Children raised a total of £10,355 (inc match funding) for their match funding campaign to help and train their network members to be able to help street children all over the world in response to the pandemic. This was £355 above their campaign target.
They will also look to consolidate their findings into a report on the impact of the pandemic on street children, as well as responses and opportunities.
Legs4Africa
Legs4Africa launched a match funding campaign on the opening day of the Paralympics to continue to provide and expand their prosthetic legs service in The Gambia, where they have worked for a number of years.
Their match funding campaign is their biggest ever and will be running until Christmas Eve 2021. They are aiming to raise £100,000 in total to help amputees in The Gambia – reaching even more people with limb differences.
Brain Tumour Charity
The Brain Tumour Charity ran a one-week match funding campaign during August 2021 and raised £127,681. This was to help fund a placebo-controlled, randomised trial for recurrent glioblastoma in adults to establish whether adding cannabinoids to standard treatments prolongs survival or improves the quality of life.
Over 600 people donated during their campaign, with an average donation of £109 over the course of the week-long campaign. These donations were then matched by Bluecube Technology Solutions.
James Hawker, Chief Executive of Bluecube Technology Solution said: “The principle of matching funds, I think, is brilliant as it isn’t a simple donation; it helps support the philanthropy and generosity of others who are passionate and putting in the effort to make a difference. Especially when it is to fund a potentially game changing, and indeed life changing, a trial that could have a positive impact for so many people affected by a brain tumour.”
The power of match funding
Research in 2016 from the Big Give shows that donors are:
- not only more likely to give with match funding on offer for their donation
- but they are also more likely to give more when they see that their donation will be doubled.
The Brain Tumour Charity expects to receive new or repeated donations using this approach.
A spokesperson said: “We have some donors who have specifically asked to be notified should we host similar campaigns in future as they were so thrilled to have their gift doubled.”
Since 2020, The Brain Tumour Charity has raised over £280,000 across three of their own match funding campaigns. Their third campaign saw a 170% increase in the number of donations made compared to their first match funding campaign.
The charity will run its next match funding campaign as part of the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge 2021, the UK’s biggest match funding campaign.
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.