Christmas Challenge raises £7.2m for 332 charities and receives a record number of donations

The Christmas Challenge, the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign has drawn to a close for this year. Since it began in 2008, the campaign has now raised a staggering £78.7 million for over 2,800 charity projects.

This year, the campaign launched on #GivingTuesday and raised £7.2 million for the 332 participating charities. The Big Give received over 17,000 donations which, despite the campaign’s shorter duration, is the highest number of donations ever received in a Christmas Challenge campaign. Participating charities were supporting causes across the board both in the UK and internationally. The Big Give is delighted to share that the campaign raised over £1.4 million towards child poverty projects in London (with support from the Childhood Trust), nearly £500,000 towards projects supporting the elderly (with support from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery), and over £1.3 million for International projects (with support from the Reed Foundation, Waterloo Foundation & Ethiopiaid). Of the 332 participating charities, 74% hit or exceeded their targets.

The new model

The Big Give is celebrating the success of the new model which ran this year. One of the key changes was that match funds were ring-fenced for each charity meaning that funds lasted longer than in previous years leading to a greater level of charity and donor satisfaction. As a result, charities have been more able to control their performance in the campaign, and this change has been well-received.

Alex Day, Director of the the Big Give said:

“We are extremely happy to have raised over £7.2 million in this year’s Christmas Challenge with a record number of donations coming in. The Big Give is set up to inspire online giving and the Christmas Challenge offers charities the opportunity to approach donors to give at one of the most charitable times of the year with the added incentive of having their donations doubled. A greater number of donations means that charities are able to build their donor base and future fundraising capabilities, enabling them to be more sustainable and to have a greater impact on the beneficiaries they exist to serve. So far, the feedback on the new model has been extremely positive from donors and charities. We’d like to congratulate all participating charities for their hard work, and to say a big thank you to all the generous donors and Champions who made this possible.”  

To get involved next time, register your charity on the Big Give here to receive updates about future match funding campaigns.