The Big Give to launch Women & Girls Match Fund campaign. The Women & Girls Match Fund is a match funding campaign for charities that are working to improve the lives of vulnerable, disadvantaged or underrepresented women and girls in England and Scotland.
All public donations made to participating charities via theBigGive.org.uk during the week of the campaign (8 – 15 March 2022) will be matched by DCMS’ Tampon Tax Fund until each organisation’s ring-fenced match funding award of either £2,500, £10,000 or £25,000 is used up.
Which charities are eligible to apply?
To be eligible to apply, charities must meet all of the following criteria:
- Charities that are led by, for and with women and girls. To assess this, we will look at whether your governing document specifically mentions women and/or girls, whether you have a majority female board, who your beneficiaries are and your web presence (if your organisation has one).
- Charities that are working to improve the lives of vulnerable, disadvantaged or underrepresented women and girls in England and Scotland.
- UK-registered charities with at least one year of filed accounts and an annual income of at least £25,000 (as per last filed accounts), or organisations with tax-exempt status for charitable purposes.
- Charities which are registered on theBigGive.org.uk (free to register).
- Charities seeking to raise either £2,500, £10,000 or £25,000 in public donations (to be doubled by the match funds).
Full eligibility criteria will be released when applications launch.
Why apply?
The Women & Girls Match Fund campaign is led by The Big Give – the UK’s leading platform for match funding – and supported by Rosa Fund, who are women and girls grantmaking specialists. I.G. Advisors, experts in social and environmental change, will also be supporting organisations that take part.
Participating charities will access:
- Up to £25,000 worth of match funding, provided by the DCMS’ Tampon Tax Fund;
- I.G. Advisors’ digital fundraising expertise and support for match funding success;
- A £375 grant to spend on digital capacity building for your organisation; and,
- The power of a collaborative fundraising campaign, bringing renewed public attention to the issues your organisation works to address.
By combining a tried and tested match funding model (proven to generate more and bigger donations) with expert digital capacity and fundraising support, the Women & Girls Match Fund will set your charity on the right track for fundraising sustainability and success.
Evidence from other match funding campaigns run by the Big Give shows that:
- 73% of charities received more donations & 60% bigger donations vs comparable fundraising
- 88% of charities reported increased confidence in digital fundraising
- 91% of charities reported donations from new supporters. On average, 33% of donations were estimated to be from new supporters
- 94% of charities wanted to take part again.
“It has been really helpful by helping us raise money, boost our profile and motivating volunteers and donors to give or fundraise by match funding their efforts. It has really helped us focus some of our messaging, experiment with what works and what doesn’t and to work with a fundraiser to help develop our presence across social media. It has also helped us remind people about our role in addressing the climate emergency.”
-Previous match funding participant
Key dates
- Monday 13th December – Applications open. Charities share details about their organisation, how funds raised will be spent as well as how much they hope to raise in total through the campaign (either £5,000, £20,000 or £50,000)
- Tuesday 11th January – Applications close. The Big Give will work with an expert panel to determine which charities will be successful in being awarded match funds and how much match funds they will be awarded.
- Friday 4th February – Notification. The Big Give will notify charities whether they have been successful in securing match funding and if so, how much they have been awarded (either £2,500, £10,000 or £25,000). The Big Give will then offer a free package of resources to all participating charities to help them market the campaign to their supporters.
- Tuesday 8th March (midday) – Campaign opens. The campaign will launch on International Women’s Day at midday. Donations will be doubled by the charity’s Champion funds until the match funds have been exhausted or the campaign has closed, whichever comes first.
- Tuesday 15th March (midday) – Campaign closes. The campaign will close and donations will no longer be matched.
How to apply for the Women & Girls’ Match Fund
- Login to your Big Give account or create one here
- Click on Big Give Campaigns
- Click on Apply Now for Women & Girls Match Fund campaign when applications open on Monday 13th December
- IMPORTANT: In the targets section of the application, please enter either £5k, £10k, or £50k depending on how much match funding you are seeking from a Big Give Champion.
