The Big Give: Making donations go further

As a charity you are always trying to maximise the donations you receive. If You haven’t looked at the Big Give you should look now and I mean right now.

The Big Give is a website that enables charities to pitch their projects and get people to donate, but the BIG thing are the Big Give Challenges. These are for short periods of time and, typically 3 days, and charities are paired with Charity  Champions – these are organisations that match the donations made by the public during the Challenge.

The 2013 Christmas Challenge runs from 5th – 7th December, so if you are not in there then it is too late for this one. But get in there now and start planning for next year.

The 2012 Christmas Challenge raised £10.5m for 350 participating challenges. The Big Give say of the challenges:

The Big Give runs annual Christmas Challenge Funds, which have a number of benefits:

• The Christmas Challenge is an effective way of inspiring new donors – In 2012, 62% of participant charities gained new supporters.

• ‘Double donations’ offer encourages new and lapsed donors to give and give more.

• The Big Give encourages charities to try new fundraising techniques and can be an effective way to increase their social media presence.  In 2012 #TBGchallenge was a UK trend for 2 days, drawing widespread attention to the initiative and the participating charities.

• The Christmas Challenge can be a good way to source corporate sponsorship.

• A quarter of Christmas Challenge 2012 participants reported that one or more of their trustees gave for the first time.

• The model can help charities move donors toward online giving, which also increases the number of Gift Aid claims – Last year, Gift Aid was claimed on 86% of donations, far higher than the national average of 40%

And it’s not all about the challenges. The Big Give showcases the work of over 9,500 charities. We run a wide variety of innovative programmes which help our charities raise further income whilst enabling donors to increase the impact of their donations. AND it is free to all users.

Visit TheBigGive.org.uk to get started.