YMCA Exeter is coming together with almost 600 charities to thank supporters who donated through the UK’s biggest match funding campaign, The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge 2019.
Through this year’s Christmas Challenge, we smashed our target and raised over £7,000 to help tackle youth homelessness, in just seven days.
During the week YMCA Exeter raised an incredible £7,022 through the Big Give online platform. A further £1,680.11 was donated through bucket collections at Grow Coffee House, Smart Estate Agents, Nationwide (Princesshay), Tesco Exeter Vale, Exeter Cookery School and Pink Moon, as well as a generous gift from Barretts David Wilson (BDW) Homes.*
Gareth Sorsby, Joint CEO of YMCA Exeter, says:
“A big thank you to everyone who donated. We’ve been blown away by the support and can’t wait to put the money to good use by purchasing additional long-term accommodation. Every penny raised will be used to create homes and communities for homeless youth in Exeter.”
The Big Give’s record-breaking campaign, which ran from 03-10 December 2019, generated over £15 million in vital funding for good causes across the country, matching donations pound for pound until the funding pot was empty.
Matched funding was provided by over 20 funding champions, including Reed Foundation, The Childhood Trust, Four Acre Trust and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with charities raising additional match funding through their own network of philanthropists and funders.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Alec Reed CBE, founder of The Big Give, says:
“The public’s generosity to this year’s Christmas Challenge has been phenomenal. It demonstrates just how much the public values the work of UK charities and the services they provide.
“Match funding has proved yet again to be an incredibly powerful incentive to give, enabling the public to maximise their impact on good causes. We’re deeply thankful to our funding champions for their crucial role in this campaign and inspiring the nation to give.”
To find out more, visit biggive.org.uk
* Please note that due to The Big Give campaign guidelines, donations collected through our bucket collections and BDW Homes were not eligible for match funding in this campaign, with the exception of those donations collected at Grow Coffee House.
