Double your donation to Lancaster charity in the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge 2021

Birchall provide trauma informed counselling and wellbeing support to people affected by rape and sexual abuse – these donations will fund their core work across Cumbria and Lancashire.

Donations to Birchall will be generously matched by Big Give supporters and championed by The Reed Foundation during the campaign meaning your money can support twice as many survivors of rape and sexual abuse.

Vanessa Dixon, CEO at The Birchall Trust, said: "This year is the first time we’ve been involved in this amazing campaign and we’re looking to raise a total of £2,000.

"In order to access the £2,000, we have in the matching pot, we need to raise and additional £2,000 in online donations.

"We hope everyone will give this Christmas generously to help us reach our target and enable us to carry on the work we all feel so passionately about."

You can get involved by visiting theBigGive.org.uk and donating from noon on #GivingTuesday (November 30).

The campaign will close at noon on Tuesday December 7.

Birchall is 30 years old this year and was established by Christine Birchall in 1991 as a community response to the lack of support for rape and sexual abuse victims in the local area.

It originally operated as an entirely volunteer based organisation supported by community fundraising. The organisation has successfully developed into an established service provider, whilst still retaining its original ethos and local identity.

Following a competitive application process, The Birchall Trust has been selected to take part in the Christmas Challenge 2021.

The Christmas Challenge 2020 raised £20.1m and is the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign. 765 charities participated in the campaign this year which supported a huge variety of causes – from small local organisations to large international charities, helping those that need it most, including refugees, children, older people and animals.

Match funding is provided by a range of philanthropic organisations, called ‘Champions’, including the Reed Foundation, the EQ Foundation, Candis, The Childhood Trust, The Hospital Saturday Fund, The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, and many more.

The Big Give is a registered charity whose mission is to promote causes and inspire people to give through theBigGive.org.uk, a crowdfunding platform for charities specialising in match funding.

Since being founded by the entrepreneur and philanthropist, Sir Alec Reed in 2007, the Big Give has helped to raise more than £156m for UK-registered charities through online match-funding campaigns.

The Big Give’s annual flagship campaign, The Christmas Challenge, is the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign. The Big Give has also run several cause-focused match funding campaigns, including raising £2.6m following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 and £1m to support vulnerable children in London during the summer holidays in 2018.

The Big Give has been awarded the 2015 Third Sector Award for ‘Best Charity Partnership’, 2014 Charity Times Award for 'Fundraising Technology' and the 2013 Digital Giving Technology4Good Award and was nominated for ‘Best Use Of Digital’ in the National Fundraising Awards 2018.

The Big Give is supported by reed.co.uk which helps to provide a cost-effective service for both charities aiming to raise funds, philanthropists wishing to leverage their giving and individuals wishing to donate money online.

#GivingTuesday is a growing global movement now spanning five continents. But while the movement has an international reach, its beauty remains in its local appeal.

The UK joined the movement in May 2014. The simple idea behind #GivingTuesday is to encourage people, charities and businesses to donate time, money or their voice to help a good cause.

#GivingTuesday, led in the UK by the Charities Aid Foundation, will take place on Tuesday November 30 this year.