West London Zone joins the Big Give Christmas Challenge and raises £100,035

• For the third year running, West London Zone participated in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022, a fundraising platform that brings charities, the public and philanthropists together to amplify their impact.
• With a target of £100,000 and our match pledge funders The Childhood Trust and the David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust at the ready, we raised a whopping £100,035.21 in just seven days – which will help fund 160 children on our programme over the next term
• We also enlisted the help of one of our young people, Chiara, who shared her story of how our programme impacted her

Starting on Giving Tuesday (29 November), and for the third year running, West London Zone participated in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022. This is an annual match funding campaign where for seven days hundreds of charities and philanthropists come together to amplify their impact and raise money to tackle some of the biggest challenges. With our highest ever Big Give target of £100,000, we were excited to take on this challenge alongside our match funders The Childhood Trust and The David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust.

With the money raised, we will be able to fund the work of four Link Workers in four different schools across our Zone – meaning 160 young people will get the support they need to thrive socially, emotionally and academically. 

The campaign seemed like a great opportunity to call on the help of one of our young people, Chiara, and her Link Worker, Harrison. We wanted to produce a video of how the programme has impacted her, and because we wanted it to be authentic to Chiara’s West London experience,  she was fully involved in the planning. The result – a fast-paced social media-style video also featuring our West London Zone ambassador Ben Bailey Smith.

YouTube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgYy8x7Pl0w

The spring term is a crucial time for the young people on the programme. Their Link Workers will be building on relationships established in the previous term, and the delivery of more specialised support (such as tutoring, therapy, or confidence-building activities) will be rolled out.   

We are thrilled with the results of our fundraising; this year we received the highest number of donations since joining the Big Give Christmas Challenge and raised £100,035.21. Combined with the backing of our pledge funders The Childhood Trust and The David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust, who together matched funds raised to pledge an additional £50,000, our Link Workers will be able to continue supporting young people to build the skills and relationships and opportunities that they need to help them to thrive in adulthood.

A big thank you to everyone who shared and donated in this year's Big Give Christmas Challenge, and a special thank you to our pledge funders The Childhood Trust and The David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust for their continued support.