A growing band of philanthropists
The Big Give works with a variety of philanthropists including trusts and foundations, corporations, high net worth individuals and statutory bodies. Our network of philanthropists are called ‘Champions’ and they provide some of the funding to double online donations to charities in the match-funding campaign, the Christmas Challenge.
Since 2008, our Champions have helped to raise over £112 million for thousands of charity projects.
Would you like to join this unique and exclusive group in the philanthropic world?
Becoming a Champion
If you would like to have the opportunity to significantly increase the impact of your philanthropy, we would be delighted to work with you.
The Big Give’s matching model is completely unique as it enables our Champions to leverage their philanthropic contributions four to five times. For example, a Champion who commits £100,000 to the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge can expect to raise between £400,000 to £500,000 in total when all donations and Gift Aid are taken into account.
In previous years, we have been supported by some of the biggest names in UK philanthropy. Past Champions have included The Cabinet Office, ICAP, Helen Hamlyn Trust, The Reed Foundation, The Childhood Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation and many more.
We offer prospective philanthropists a range of opportunities to suit different levels of contribution. The minimum commitment required to become a Champion is £10,000.
The Opportunities
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More information
We work with philanthropists who are willing to commit at least £10,000 in match funding. Find out more about the different opportunities we offer.
Silver Champions
Becoming a Silver Champion gives you the opportunity to leverage your philanthropy at least four times by contributing to one (or more) of the managed funds. Each fund (below) supports a group of charities that have been pre-selected by the Big Give. The minimum contribution is £10,000. More information on the Managed Champion Fund.
International Fund
- To support charities working with communities in developing countries across the globe and helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
- Types of projects funded are clean water, education, healthcare, peace building, livelihoods
UK Fund
- To support charities working to address the needs of vulnerable people across the UK and to tackle the root causes of their vulnerability
- Types of projects funded are homelessness, food banks, youth work, elderly, information & advice
Environment & Animals Fund
- To support charities focussed on safeguarding the environment and improving animal welfare in the UK and overseas.
- Types of projects funded are rainforest, nature reserves, endangered species, dogs/cats homes
The Arts Fund
- To support charities focussed on promoting, and delivering arts, music, culture and sport projects across the UK.
- Types of projects funded are theatre, orchestras, ballet, galleries, sports clubs
The ‘Small’ Charities Fund
- To support smaller charities with an annual income of less than £2 million who are delivering impactful projects.
- Types of projects funded are a broad and include UK community groups, smaller international NGO’s and environmental organisations.
Gold Champions
As a Gold Champion, you have access to a wide and varied portfolio of charities to match your philanthropic interest. There are over 10,000 UK-registered charities on theBigGive.org.uk, which you can discover by using our sophisticated search tool.
The Big Give is delighted to support you in selecting charities for your portfolio and offers guidance on conducting due diligence on these charities. We are passionate about providing a platform for you to donate to the causes you care about most, while helping your philanthropy go further.
A key strength of the Big Give’s matching model for the Christmas Challenge is that it encourages charities to involve a range of supporters, from major donors to individual givers. Becoming a Gold Champion gives you the opportunity to build the capacity and sustainability of the charities you choose to support; through the Challenge they are able to strengthen their supporter bases and develop new income streams. For example, more than half of charities that participated in the Christmas Challenge 2015 indicated they received new major donor funding and gained new individual givers.
As a Gold Champion, you are not only supporting the work of charities in your field of interest, but contributing to their future development as organisations and the betterment of the UK charity sector.
Platinum Champions
As a Platinum Champion, you are entitled to all the benefits of the Gold Champion package, as well as receiving additional support from the Big Give. We work with you on a one-to-one basis to give you a thorough overview of the charities listed on our website that we feel match your philanthropic interest.
We are delighted to meet with you at your own convenience to answer any questions you may have about our match-funding campaign and we are happy to make slight amendments to the model to suit your philanthropic needs.
The success of the Christmas Challenge to date (£103m raised since 2008) would not have been possible without the involvement of our Platinum Champions. To show our gratitude for their contributions, we list the Platinum Champions as key partners on theBigGive.org.uk and include them in all PR/ comms relating to the campaign.
We are also proud of the strong presence we hold on social media; previous Christmas Challenges have trended on Twitter with tweets from Stephen Fry, Gabby Logan, Sting and Davina McCall (amongst others).
We understand the importance of receiving feedback from your charities on the work they do post campaign, so we provide ongoing support in the management of your portfolio after the Challenge. We take on board to the type of reporting you would like to receive and endeavour to provide this.
We hope that participating in the Christmas Challenge for our Platinum Champions may be the beginning of long-term relationships between you and your charities. To read about the experience of one of our current Platinum Champions, see why Lisa Gagliani MBE, Chief Executive of The Childhood Trust, chooses to channel funds via the Big Give’s match-funding campaigns.
Contact details
If you are interested in becoming a Big Give Champion, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch by emailing the Big Give Director, Alex Day, at champions@thebiggive.org.uk.