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.
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 completing the information for the project charities are seeking to raise funds for.
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. Pledger funds are used to match online donations first. When these are exhausted, the Champion funds are used to match online donations.
Stage 6: Post-Campaign
Learning and impact assessments are sent out, along with Champion reports and charity reporting requirements.
The Christmas Challenge follows our Pledge match funding model
Learn more about how match funding works
Eligibility criteria:
- Be a UK-registered charity with a Charity Commission number or tax-exempt status and an annual income of at least £25,000 (as per last filed accounts).
- Charities that are working on environmental issues as part of their core mission. (By “core mission”, we mean that the environment is mentioned in the organisation’s charitable objects). This may include: biodiversity & conservation; climate change; agriculture & food; sustainable communities; energy; transport; trade & finance; consumption & waste; toxics & pollution. Charities may be working in the UK or overseas.
Sign-up process:
Log in or sign up, head to Big Give Campaigns, and click on Apply now for the Christmas Challenge
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.
Our 2022 champions included some of the biggest names in philanthropy and funding, dedicated to making an impact.
Ready to get started today?
Join our community of like-minded changemakers.
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 project the charity has outlined in their application until they hit their target. If a charity receives additional online donations after hitting its target, these funds may be unrestricted.