• For the fourth year running, West London Zone participated in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023, a fundraising platform that brings charities, the public and philanthropists together to amplify their impact
• We raised our target of £100,000 in just seven days, thanks to both new and established supporters, as well as our match pledge funders The Childhood Trust and the David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust 
• This will help fund our work with 160 children and young people in four of our partner schools in Brent

For the fourth year running, between 28 November - 5 December 2023, West London Zone took part in The Big Give Christmas Challenge. 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. For one week only, every donation is doubled, and alongside our match funders The Childhood Trust and The David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust we were able to exceed our £100,000 target!

With the money raised, we will be able to fund our work with 160 children and young people in four of our partner schools in Brent. The money will help us provide each child with a Link Worker, who act as their mentor and champion, as well as sessions from our Delivery Partners, all part of a personalised programme of support for each child, from confidence-building sports and drama activities, to intensive literacy catch-up interventions. 

Thanks to supporters like you, we are proud to be working in 55 school settings this academic year, working with 1675 children to make sure they get the social, emotional and academic support they need to get on track and thrive.  

The campaign seemed like a great opportunity to talk to some of the young people on the programme –and their Link Workers – about what the programme meant to them, and what it means to positively take on life. It also features an inspiring message from super supporter and West London Zone ambassador Ben Bailey Smith. 

A big thank you to everyone who helped us reach our target, from the young people involved in the video, our ambassadors who shared our message, and of course all those who donated.