The Big Give Christmas appeal raises over £13m

06 Dec 2018 News

Credit: The Yard Theatre

The Big Give has announced that its recent Christmas Challenge campaign has raised £13.3m in a week, for over 580 participating charities.

The fundraising platform said this year’s campaign was both its biggest in terms of both charities supported and in total raised. The figure was raised with the help of a number of organisations matchfunding public donations to the platform; including The Reed Foundation, The Garfield Weston Foundation and the People’s Postcode Lottery. 

The Big Give said that more than 35,000 people donated to its campaign, and the average donation was £175. The campaign ran between 27 November and 4 December. 

The Big Give’s appeal is in support of 589 charities, such as Action for ME, homelessness charity The Passage and The Yard Theatre (pictured). 

A number of celebrities; including David Tennant and Davina McCall backed the campaign, and released videos supporting some of the charities participating. Channel 4 newsreader John Snow was also involved in the campaign, and voiced its official video. 

The campaign means that the Big Give, founded in 2008 by Sir Alec Reed, the founder of Reed recruitment business, has now raised over £100m in its history for charitable causes across the UK. 

Speaking at an evening reception at 11 Downing Street on Tuesday night, Reed 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.”   

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