- Apply for match funding, or line up your own match funder, as early as possible: it usually takes one to four weeks to hear back, and up to eight for some funders (Sport England among them), so don't leave this until the week of Giving Tuesday
- Set a specific, tangible target (around £10,000 is a good figure to aim for) and know exactly what it will fund; get this right before going live, since it can't easily be changed once the project is on the site
- Switch on Gift Aid if eligible, so it accrues automatically without needing a separate ask
- Prepare your asks (emails, comms plan, audience, social posts, WhatsApp messages) in advance, so nothing needs to be written on the day itself
Raise £10k more this Giving Tuesday with Crowdfunder
Giving Tuesday falls on 1 December 2026 this year: the UK's biggest single day of collective giving, and one of the few dates in the calendar where donors are actively primed to give. For charities already planning a Christmas appeal, it's a natural moment to build in a dedicated push, whether or not you've taken part in the day before.
Crowdfunding means raising money publicly, from your own network and beyond, rather than through a small number of large asks, and it's one of the most effective ways to make that one day count. It's also worth noting that money raised this way is unrestricted: unlike a lot of grant funding, there's no funder-set purpose it has to go toward, so charities can direct it wherever it's needed most, as Bristol Community Sauna's story shows. This guide walks through how it works, how it differs from a standard multi-week campaign, and what to think about in the run-up to the day itself.
Why crowdfunding suits a day like Giving Tuesday
Crowdfunding isn't just a way to collect donations, it's a way to mobilise a wider network than your usual donor base, which matters on a day designed around collective momentum rather than one-to-one asks.
Giving Tuesday itself sees a real spike in activity: pledges are up 71% compared with an average day, and 34% compared with an average Tuesday.
Crowdfunding also tends to bring benefits beyond the money raised: 36% of projects report an increase in volunteering as a direct result of running a campaign, and more than half report building new partnerships or collaborations along the way, both worth bearing in mind given Giving Tuesday's own focus on all forms of generosity, not just financial ones.
Prepping for the day
Most of the work that makes Giving Tuesday go well happens before the day itself:
- Set a clear target. Be specific about what the money will fund; a tangible, single outcome (e.g. "10 emergency food parcels" rather than "help vulnerable people this winter") tends to convert better than a general appeal, especially when there's limited time for supporters to weigh up a bigger ask.
- Apply for match funding, or line up your own match funder, as early as possible, ideally with approval already in place before the campaign goes live at all. It usually takes one to four weeks to hear back, though some funders (Sport England among them) can take up to eight, so this isn't something to leave until the week of Giving Tuesday.
- Soft-launch a few days out. Get the page live and the first pledges in from friends, family and close supporters over the days beforehand, so the campaign already has pledges and momentum before Giving Tuesday arrives; aim for around 5–10% of the target beforehand. A campaign that already looks like it's working attracts more support than one starting from zero.
- Schedule your asks in advance: emails, social posts, WhatsApp messages, segmented by audience (see below), so nothing needs to be written from scratch on the day itself.
On the day
- Share the main ask widely before midday. Crowdfunder's own data shows pledges build steadily through Giving Tuesday: afternoon (roughly midday to 6pm) is the single biggest window for both pledges and money raised, evening close behind, morning a distant third, and overnight negligible, so get the ask out early enough to be fully in circulation before that afternoon surge.
- Lead with any match funding in the messaging once it goes out to a wider network.
- Keep an eye on comments and messages on the page throughout the day, and reply as they come in: a charity that's visibly present and thanking people in real time encourages more giving as the day goes on.
- Post an update once an early milestone is hit, to build social proof ahead of the afternoon and evening surge.
- Say thank you publicly and quickly.
Match funding: making every donation go further
"Donate today and your gift will be doubled" is one of the most effective messages in fundraising, and it's especially powerful on a day when donors are choosing between multiple causes asking for their attention at once. The effect shows up clearly in the data: the average donation on a standard campaign is around £35, rising to around £80 when a match fund is attached, doubling what a typical supporter gives, on top of the match itself.
Most fundraisers already know the big, well-publicised match funding pushes that appear once a year around this time. They're genuinely useful, but they're also just one date on the calendar, with one fixed application window and a limited pot to go around. Match funding doesn't have to work that way: new match funding partners are added throughout the year, so there's no single date that decides whether a charity gets support this year, and no need to build an entire campaign around one funder's timeline.
Beyond those big, well-known schemes, charities can also:
- Bring on their own match fund on Crowdfunder: ask a local business, trust or existing supporter to pledge an amount, from as little as £2,500, that gets matched against public donations in real time as the money comes in. This can run alongside a Crowdfunder-sourced match fund too, not just instead of it: Brighton Table Tennis Club combined a Sport England match fund with match funding brought on through its own network on its biggest campaign, raising £109,340 from 168 supporters, £77,913 of that through match funding, more than either route would likely have achieved alone.
- Apply to a match funder directly through Crowdfunder, where eligibility and terms vary by funder, and new funds open throughout the year rather than on one fixed date.
Know your audience, and tailor the ask
Different parts of a charity's network respond to different messages, so it's worth segmenting rather than sending one generic ask to everyone:
- Trusts and major donors tend to respond well to being asked to become a match funder: even a modest £2,500 pledge, once doubled against public donations, becomes tangible impact evidence they can point to, and it's a message that positions the ask as an investment rather than a straightforward donation request
- Individual donors and loyal supporters respond well to a reward offer, a chance to give feedback on the campaign, or being asked to convert a one-off gift into a regular monthly donation; the campaign becomes a natural opening for that longer-term conversation
- Local businesses often respond best to an exchange: a donated reward in return for visible promotion and thanks on the campaign page
- Everyone: individual donors and businesses alike are well placed to share the campaign into their own networks, which is one of the most effective, lowest-cost ways to grow the crowd, especially for charities without a large network of their own to start from
Choosing the right channels
The channel matters as much as the message. A personal phone call, or a direct WhatsApp message or email, tends to land better than a mass newsletter blast; over half of festive pledges come through exactly that kind of direct, personal contact. Email is generally the highest-converting channel overall too, but it performs best as a sequence rather than a single send: a pre-launch teaser, a launch email, a mid-campaign momentum update, and a final push in the last 48 hours. Social is better suited to reach and sharing than to direct conversion, useful for putting a campaign in front of new people.
It's also worth activating more than one or two channels: campaigns that go on to raise six-figure sums typically pull in pledges from around six different channels, while those raising under £1,000 usually rely on just three. Every extra channel is another route for someone to find the campaign, which is exactly why encouraging supporters and local businesses to share into their own networks is so valuable too.
Other ways to cut through the noise
Giving Tuesday is a crowded field: every charity a supporter follows is likely to be asking for something on the same day. A couple of ways to elevate a crowdfunding campaign specifically:
- Offering rewards: something tangible in return for a donation (merchandise, an experience, vouchers) typically boosts average pledge size by 30%.
- Regular giving: using the day to convert one-off donors into monthly supporters, which extends the value of the day well beyond 24 hours.
- Gift Aid: if a charity is eligible, switching this on early means every eligible donation accrues Gift Aid automatically, adding a bit more to the final total with no extra ask required of supporters.
A prize draw is a different route entirely, run and promoted separately rather than combined with a match-funded campaign; a prize draw itself can't carry match funding, though plenty of charities run one alongside a crowdfunder like this. If that's a better fit, our other guide, "From £1k to £1 million: how to run an online raffle-style charity prize draw", covers it in full.
One of our favourite success stories
Coexist Community Kitchen, is a cookery school and community kitchen in Bristol. They've run festive Crowdfunder campaigns repeatedly, building on their success each year. They're a great example of using crowdfunding as a reliable revenue stream, centring each campaign around the season of giving. Across six successful campaigns, it has raised just shy of £200,000, almost £120,000 of that through match funding, while also offering rewards (from butcher's vouchers to spa days) and, separately, prize draws. It's a genuinely blended approach, rebuilt and refined each year rather than starting from scratch.
Guiseley Cricket Club is another good example of the same idea: six campaigns over six years, raising over £100,000 in total. Along the way they've grown their membership through crowdfunding too, treating Crowdfunder as part of the club's yearly toolkit rather than a last resort.
Further success stories
Himmah, a Nottingham-based charity, raised £29,936 through its Urgent Food Bank Winter Appeal, with match funding from Aviva Community and Solus.
The Porch, an Oxford charity supporting people experiencing homelessness, raised £29,546 through its Christmas and Winter Fundraiser, matched by Aviva Community.
Sonning Common County Primary School Association raised £29,558 to save its school swimming pool, matched by Sport England, a reminder that you don't need to be a registered charity to access match funding; school PTAs and associations can benefit too.
St Luke's Advice Service, a Brighton-based advice charity, raised £15,665 to fund cost-of-living support, matched by Aviva Community, showing the model works well for smaller targets too.
Chinley Buxworth & Brownside Community Association raised £28,812 towards its community centre, matched by Sport England.
Tattenhall Tennis Club raised £15,707 for new floodlights, matched by Sport England, proof the model works for small sports clubs as well as charities.
Checklist: getting ready for Giving Tuesday
- Soft-launch to your closest supporters: friends, family, existing donors, so the campaign already has pledges and momentum before Giving Tuesday arrives
- Aim to hit 5–10% of the target beforehand
- Share the main ask widely before midday, so it's already in circulation ahead of the afternoon pledging surge
- Lead with any match funding in the messaging once going out to a wider network
- Keep an eye on comments and messages, and reply as they come in
- Post an update once an early milestone is hit, to build social proof ahead of the afternoon and evening surge
- Say thank you publicly and quickly; visible momentum encourages more giving as the day goes on
If you'd like to talk to the team, email projects@crowdfunder.co.uk
For more on planning a campaign from scratch, Crowdfunder's Knowledge Hub is worth a look too.
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