Big Give Women and Girls fund raises £1.8 million
Howard Lake | 23 October 2026 | News
Big Give’s fifth Women & Girls Match Fund has raised £1.8 million for charities improving the lives and opportunities of women and girls in the UK and around the world.
The week-long campaign, which ran from 6 to 13 October, brought in more than 7,000 donations for 150 charities. Public donations were doubled by over £900,000 in match funding from Big Give’s network of Champions.
The money will support services ranging from recovery programmes for women rebuilding their lives after domestic abuse or sexual violence to safe accommodation for mothers and children, counselling, mentoring and education for girls.
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Funders and ambassadors
The Julia Rausing Trust has supported the fund for the past three years. This year Admiral Group joined as a first-time funder, supporting 18 charities working on health, safety, inclusion and economic opportunities for women and girls. The campaign coincided with International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October.
Ambassadors who helped promote it included Sally Dynevor and Sue Cleaver (Prevent Breast Cancer), Lorraine Kelly (Big Give), Sophie Turner, Katie Shanahan and James D’Arcy (Women for Women UK) and Maisie Richardson-Sellers (You Make It). Since its launch in 2022, the Women & Girls Match Fund has raised more than £9.4 million.
James Reed CBE, Chair of Trustees for Big Give, said:
“Charities supporting women and girls receive just 1.8 per cent of UK grants, so the public’s generosity this week has made a real difference.”
Examples and what is next
Smart Works, which helps unemployed women into work through interview clothing and coaching, raised £50,736, matched by Admiral Group. Luminary, which supports women affected by the criminal justice system, raised £19,872, matched by The Julia Rausing Trust.
Big Give’s next campaign is its Christmas Challenge, running from 1 to 8 December 2026. Last year it raised £57.4 million in a week.
More on the charities that took part is at donate.biggive.org/women-and-girls-2026.
- Big Give launches fifth Women and Girls Match Fund (7 October 2026)
- Big Give raises £2.4 million to support charities championing women and girls (30 October 2025)
- Big Give Christmas Challenge 2026 opens for applications after record-breaking year (11 May 2026)
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.