The Big Give Match Funding Campaign

The Big Give Women & Girls Match Funding Campaign

We are aiming to raise £10,000 to set up a Crisis Fund for women and girls fleeing domestic abuse, and we need your help.

Violence against women and girls has continued to rise over the past year, yet only 1.8% of UK grants from Trusts & Foundations are directed towards this cause. Domestic abuse will affect 1 in 3 women during their lifetime. More women than ever before are reaching out to First Light after experiencing domestic abuse. We support high-risk families during their most challenging moments. In 2022, 20% of children in the UK lived with an adult displaying abusive behaviours.

The funds raised from this match funding campaign will allow us to set up a Crisis Fund for women and girls fleeing domestic abuse. This will enable them to leave abusive relationships by providing travel costs, clothing, electrical goods, and moving costs. It will help support women and girls to feel safe and empowered, providing shelter, food, and clothing for themselves and any children they may have fled with.

What’s the Big Give?

The Big Give is a match funding campaign, which means they will match any money we raise within one week in October. Imagine if your donation could have double the impact. That’s exactly why the Big Give exists – to double your donation. The Big Give brings together larger donors, like philanthropists, foundations, and businesses, with the giving public and the charities who need them.

During the October campaign week (from 12pm Thursday 10th October – 12pm Thursday 17th October), any online donations made to First Light via our website will be doubled. So £10 becomes £20, and £50 becomes £100.

We aim to raise £10,000 in just one week to set up a Crisis Fund for women and girls fleeing domestic abuse. To achieve this, we need to raise £5,000 in online donations, which will then be matched by the Big Give.

Last Year’s Success

Thanks to your incredible generosity, The Big Give was a huge success last year, raising £5,000 to support women and girls affected by sexual violence. Since the campaign ended in October, we have supported 2,516 women and girls across all our sexual violence services. These include our Devon & Cornwall, and Swindon & Wiltshire Independent Sexual Violence Advisory (ISVA) Services, our Swindon & Wiltshire Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), our Sexual Violence Counselling, and our Recovery Pathways programme.

Funding from The Big Give has enabled us to provide sexual violence counselling to 19 women and girls. Each course of 6 free therapy sessions costs £270. We’ve had 317 women and girls attend our Plymouth Sexual Violence Counselling Service since October, highlighting the importance of funding like this and the difference it makes in the number of people we’re able to help.