Big Give Christmas Challenge: help to give children the best start in life
Donate to ¹ú²úÊÓƵ during The Big Give Christmas Challenge and your money will be doubled to support our Best Start in Life projects.
The early years of a child¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s life are the crucial building blocks that will help them survive and thrive. But so many children around the world are missing out.
You can help to change that by supporting ¹ú²úÊÓƵ¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s work to give every child the best start in life.
¹ú²úÊÓƵ has been selected to take part in a special week of fundraising called The Big Give Christmas Challenge. It¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s the United Kingdom¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s biggest match-funded campaign, which has raised more than £280 million for more than 15,000 charity projects since 2008.
The challenge starts today on Giving Tuesday and runs until December 10. Every donation during the next week could be DOUBLED – thanks to generous funders agreeing to match every pound or dollar raised. To unlock the matching donations, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ must reach its target of £40,000 – which will then be doubled to £80,000.
All donations and matched funding will be split among four of ¹ú²úÊÓƵ¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s Best Start in Life projects in Ukraine, Kenya, India and the UK.
If you need any more inspiration, watch these special messages from celebrity ¹ú²úÊÓƵ supporters Matt Lucas, Bill Nighy, June Sarpong, Joan Armatrading, Arabella Weir, Kathy Lette and Audley Harrison.
Play/span>VideoThe Big Give Christmas Challenge
Christianne Cavaliere, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ Director of Development, said: “We know the life-changing impact quality early years care and education can have. Your donation today will reach around the world and change a child¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s life.”
The donations will support these four projects.
Ukraine
More than 1,000 early childhood schools have been damaged or destroyed during the conflict. We¹ú²úÊÓƵ™re building a local team of experts to support the Ukraine Ministry of Education and Science to set up high-quality preschools. ¹ú²úÊÓƵ¯
Kenya
¹ú²úÊÓƵ is working with local community partners to raise the profile of early years education – conducting research, building relationships and helping them win life-changing government investments in education.¹ú²úÊÓƵ¯¹ú²úÊÓƵ¯
India
Donations will help to directly fund three early childhood development centres for children living in urban slums, supporting children aged two to six with learning, play and nutritious meals.¹ú²úÊÓƵ¯
United Kingdom
For more than 20 years, the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory – created by ¹ú²úÊÓƵ – has pioneered research into the causes of, and treatments for, premature babies. As part of that work, The ¹ú²úÊÓƵ Edinburgh Birth Cohort is studying 400 children from birth to age 25 to identify the key factors affecting a child¹ú²úÊÓƵ™s brain development in the early years.¹ú²úÊÓƵ¯
We¹ú²úÊÓƵ™ve already raised funds for The Big Give Christmas Challenge by auctioning off a signed script from the classic Christmas film Love Actually.
The script – including deleted scenes and secret plots – was signed by writer and director Richard Curtis. The winning bid of £3,660 also received stills from the film signed by stars Kiera Knightly and Andrew Lincoln.