2024 Big Give Christmas Challenge raises record £44.7mn
Melanie May | 10 December 2024 | News
This year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge, which ended at midday today (10 December) has raised a record-breaking £44.7 million in one week: a 35% increase from last year’s total of £33 million.
The campaign attracted over 119,000 donations from the public, with 74% of participating charities meeting or exceeding their fundraising targets, and 95% of all available match funds utilised.
This year, Big Give also secured a record-breaking £20 million in match funds for the campaign, from Champions including The Reed Foundation, the Julia Rausing Trust, The Childhood Trust, The Hospital Saturday Fund, ShareGift, Steve Morgan Foundation, Candis Magazine, Hampshire Cricket Foundation, Aesseal, and The Coles-Medlock Foundation.
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It was also supported by celebrities including David Harewood (for RADA), Peter Capaldi (Magic Breakfast), and Sabrina Cohen-Hatton (StreetVet), with mentions on social media from Nigella Lawson, Muse, Deborah Meaden, Eddie Marsan, Sally Dynevor and others.
Big Give’s annual flagship campaign, Christmas Challenge accounts for around three-quarters of the £346 million raised by Big Give since 2008. Over half of the charities taking part (59%) were small charities with an annual income of less than £1mn.
Sally Airey, Director of Communications and Fundraising at participating charity Tree Aid commented:
“We are absolutely delighted to have exceeded our £100,000 target by almost £14,000. Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful supporters, we are able to scale up our work with families across the drylands of Africa, enabling them to grow trees and restore land. Trees are an incredible source of nutritious food for families living in the face of the climate crisis, and the produce can be sold to earn an additional income for families too. We are grateful to partner with Big Give and the Helen and Michael Brown Charitable Trust to double our impact this Christmas.”
James Reed, Chair of the Trustees of Big Give, said:
“We are thrilled that Big Give’s Christmas Challenge has become the biggest public fundraiser in the UK this year thanks to the incredible generosity of everyone who has donated, particularly at a time when we know charitable giving is being squeezed by the cost of living crisis.
“We had hoped to beat last year’s record total but to do so by such a margin is extraordinary. I want to thank everyone who chose one of over 1,250 charities to support and our generous funding champions who put up match funding to double those donations.
“Behind every £1 raised and every target hit are stories of incredible, life-changing, heart-warming impact delivered by our charity partners. These funds will make a vital difference to the lives of so many.”
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.