The Big Give partnered with The Childhood Trust to run the Summer Give match funding campaign for a second time.

The campaign took place over 48 hours (16th-19th May) raising funds for charities supporting London’s most vulnerable children in the summer holidays. The Big Give was delighted that the campaign was even more successful this year, raising £541,420 for the 25 charities that participated.

Who does it help?

The focus of the Summer Give campaign, a partnership between the Big Give and The Childhood Trust, was to raise money for charities which work with the capital’s most disadvantaged children over the school holidays, when vital safety nets such as free school meals and after school clubs disappear. The organisations involved were all carefully selected by the The Childhood Trust for the strength of the programmes they provide for London’s poorest children over the school holidays.

Over half a million children in London struggle for food outside of term time. The projects supported by the Summer Give offer vital provision of healthy food and suitable activities for these children, at a time when they are particularly vulnerable.

You can see which charities took part and continue to make an unmatched donation here.

What happened?

Impressively, over £300,000 was raised in the first 30 minutes of the campaign and 16 out of 25 charities hit or exceeded their funding target. Online donations were matched by a mix of funding from The Childhood Trust and pledges from the charities own major donors.

Lisa Gagliani MBE, Chief Executive of The Childhood Trust said:

“Once again, our campaign to raise awareness and funds to support summer holiday care and provision has been a great success. The capital is not a great place to be for six weeks in the school holidays, if your family is living on less than £16,000 a year; there’s barely enough to live on during term time let alone the school holidays when the opportunities for free school meals and a place to meet friends is not there. We know there is a great need for clubs run by charities such as these, to provide care, food and some enrichment activities such as sport, arts, adventure or even windows into the world of work. On behalf of the anticipated 5,000 children who will be able to attend a Summer Give funded project this July and August, we’d like to say ‘Thank You’.”