The Christmas Challenge is the UK’s biggest match-funded campaign.
For seven days, the challenge offers supporters of participating charities the opportunity to double their donations — and, in doing so, make an extraordinary difference to the world’s biggest challenges. Through the campaign, we support charities working across all charitable sectors.
How does it work?
The Christmas Challenge utilises our ‘pledge’ model of match funding. The Pledge model offers supporters of participating charities the opportunity to double their donations with match funding provided by a charities’ pledgers and Big Give’s Champions.
Our 2022 results
Charity Eligibility Criteria
- UK-registered charity with a Charity Commission, OSCR or NI Charity Commission number, or tax-exempt status
- Have an annual income of at least £25,000 (as per last filed accounts on the Charity Commission).
- Charities which are registered on BigGive.org (free to register).
Charity Application Process
- Log in or sign up
- Once you have access to our charity portal, head to ‘Big Give Campaigns’
- Click on Apply now for the Christmas Challenge
2023 Campaign Timeline
- May 15th: Applications open
- July 7th: Applications close
- Sept 1st: Pledge deadline
- Oct 11th: Offer deadline
- Nov 28th – Dec 5th (midday): Campaign
2024 Campaign Timeline
- May 13th: Applications open
- July 5th: Applications close
- August 30th: Pledge deadline
- October 9th: Offer deadline
- December 3rd – 10th (midday): Campaign
Campaign Stage Breakdown
Stage 0: The Raise
Big Give starts to secure match-funding commitments from champions.
Stage 1: Initial application
Big Give markets the opportunity to charities. The application involves charities completing information on their proposed use of funds.
Stage 2: Pledge Collection
Charities that complete the application are automatically enrolled on to the next stage, which involves securing Pledgers for the campaign. Their pledges make up part of the match funding pot. Charities must secure a minimum of £1k in pledges to be eligible for Champion funding.
Stage 3: Vetting and Notification
Big Give completes due diligence checks on all applications and passes them on to interested Champions who will have the opportunity to assign additional funding to the campaign. The amount of pledges secured in stage 2 determines the amount of Champion funds charities’ are eligible to receive. The combined amount of pledges and Champion funds make up the charities’ match funding pot.
Stage 4: Marketing
Big Give provides a free suite of resources to help support charities to maximise the opportunity and market the campaign.
Stage 5: Campaign
All donations to participating charities are doubled. Pledge funds are used to match online donations first. When these are exhausted, the Champion funds are used to match online donations. Charities that don’t reach their target still receive any match funds up to the value of online donations received.
Stage 6: Post – Campaign
Learning and impact assessments are sent out, along with Champion reports and charity reporting requirements.
Ready to get started today? Join our community of like-minded changemakers
Our 2023 champions included some of the biggest names in philanthropy and funding, dedicated to making an impact. And there are more to come!
For interested funders
Champion Sign-up Process
- Get in touch with Big Give. We’ll send you a Champion commitment form, and once completed, we’ll help you curate your portfolio of charities.
The public will be told if matching funds are available or not when they donate. When donating, match funds are reserved for 30 minutes to complete the donation. All donations are matched in real-time, and donors can see how much match funding has been allocated to their donation.
Funders, who we call Champions, and Pledgers.
A Champion can include high-net-worth individuals, foundations, philanthropists, trusts, statutory bodies, companies and more. A Pledger can be anyone in the charity’s network. This may include a trustee, foundation, trust, company, volunteer, high-net-worth individual and others.
Funds received during the campaign are restricted to the information outlined in the application until the charity has hit their target. If a charity receives additional online donations after hitting its target, these funds may be unrestricted. Charities may use the campaign to raise unrestricted funds as long as it meets the eligibility requirements.
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