Big Give Christmas Challenge open to charity applications

THE UK’s biggest match fund campaign, the Big Give Christmas Challenge, is now open for charities to apply to take part. Big Give expects 2023 to be a record year, once again.

Last year, the Christmas Challenge had a major positive impact on the charities participating as it raised £28.6m for 1,021 charities and 79,000 members of the public donated. 70% of the charities that took part reached their funding target. The campaign was promoted by a number of celebrities including Dame Judi Dench, Claudia Winkelman, Stephen Fry and Chris Packham.

The Christmas Challenge is Big Give’s annual flagship event and accounts for around three-quarters of the £240m raised by Big Give since 2007. Almost half of the money raised by the Christmas Challenge in 2010–2022 was for small charities with a current annual income of less than £1 million.

The funds raised via the Big Give will make a huge difference to charities that are facing challenges from the cost of living crisis and increased demand on their services. The Christmas Challenge doubles the public’s donations and doubles their impact as it matches their donations with Big Give ‘Champions’ i.e. philanthropists, foundations and companies. This year’s Champions include The Reed Foundation, Julia & Hans Rausing Trust, The Childhood Trust, Candis and many more.

The Christmas Challenge runs from 28 November – 5 December 2023. Charities have until the 7^th of July to apply for the campaign and information on eligibility and the application process is here: https://biggive.org/christmas-challenge/.

Alex Day, Managing Director of Big Give, said:

“The Christmas Challenge is what we are most well-known for and every year it makes a major difference to so many charities. This year we are looking to smash all previous totals with a record amount of matched funds available for the largest number of charities and of course record generosity from the public. Taking part makes so much sense so we encourage any charity to apply and  be part of what is a great UK success story.”

Participating in Big Give’s Christmas Challenge has improved the resilience of charities:

• 76% of participating charities say the Christmas Challenge’s match-funding results in more donations being made compared to a non-match-funded campaign (a quarter believe significantly more).
• 65% of charities say the Christmas Challenge’s match-funding results in bigger donations being made compared to a non-match-funded campaign.
• 56% of charities say their existing supporters give more through the Big Give Christmas Challenge than they would normally donate.

Other benefits identified by charities participating in Big Give’s Christmas Challenge include:

• 94% of the charities received online donations from new donors who had not previously given to their charity. These donations equated to, on average, 28% of the monetary value of all donations made.
• 74% of the charities believe that the Christmas Challenge has helped to raise their profile.
• 9 in 10 of the charities believe the Christmas Challenge helps to develop their relationships with existing and new donors.
• Participating in the Christmas Challenge improves the skills of charities with 88% saying doing so has increased their organisation’s confidence in digital fundraising.