We have been chosen to take part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2025, the UK’s largest match-funding campaign.
This means until 12pm on Tuesday 9 December, every donation made to The Red Hen Project via BigGive will be doubled.
One donation, twice the impact.
We need to raise £30,000 to help fund our one-to-one family support, wellbeing drop-ins and community activities that help children experiencing challenges to thrive.
We’ll also use part of the funds to provide Christmas dinner boxes for 100 families in need, enough for 600 festive meals, with the help of the Cambridge Fruit Company.
Cambridge is one of the UK’s most unequal cities. In some of our partner schools, more than half of the children grow up in poverty. Your support helps us be there when families need it most, offering early help, practical support and hope for brighter futures.
“I’ve had valuable help at Christmas in the past from Red Hen, we would not of been able to have a nice Christmas and amazing meal without them. They have helped me with my broken washing machine and are helping me to make a fresh start from domestic violence and supporting my children in school. Their help goes beyond words and I am so grateful for their support.”
Donate at theBigGive.org.uk
Please share our campaign with friends, family or colleagues. You can use the little red logo at the bottom of this page.
Ways to donate...
Donate online here.
You can use a debit or credit card, plus it’s also compatible with Google and Apple Pay. If you’re making a donation with a card, you do not need to create an account to make your donation.
Alternatively,
Pay by Bank gives donors a chance to donate to our campaign without the need for a card, making a donation using just your bank account and banking app. There is no change to the link you use, but when you reach step 3 of the donation process, you just need to select the Pay by Bank option and then follow the on-screen instructions.
Donors can donate as little as £1 and up to £10,000 using Pay By Bank. The fees for Pay by Bank are the same as the Big Give’s UK debit card fees, as listed on their Our Fees page. You can find a list of the banks that support Pay by Bank here.
Or, create a Donation Fund (BACS donation). This option is designed for donors giving £500 or more who would prefer not to use a debit or credit card. Donations are securely processed through Stripe and credited to a Big Give donor account. Full guidance and FAQs can be found here: https://biggive.org/donation-funds/
A summary of how it works:
- The donor sets up a donor account.
- You’ll need to complete a short form confirming their intended donation.
- You’ll receive unique bank details linked to their account and transfer the funds.
- You transfer their funds to those bank details. *Please note that this is a virtual bank account, so your bank may not be able to verify it. Big Give can provide a letter from Stripe to verify the authenticity of the bank details if you request it.
- Once Give Give has received the funds to the virtual bank account, your donor account will be credited with the equivalent amount in donation funds. (E.g. if you transfer £1000, then your donor account will be credited with £1000).
- During the campaign week, you then visit our campaign page and log in (you’ll be prompted to sign in at the top of the donation form), then complete the donation using your Donation Funds. You will not be asked to provide any card details.
⚠️ Important: The initial bank transfer alone does not count as the donation. You must complete your donation to us via our campaign page during the campaign for it to be eligible for match funding.
Note: BACS donations are only available to UK bank account holders. Give give cannot accept CHAPS, SEPA, or other international transfers.
So, when might you use Donation Funds instead of Pay by Bank?
- When giving over £10,000 via bank transfer
- If your bank requires dual approval for transfers
- If your bank isn’t currently supported by Pay by Bank (check the list above)
- If you’re a donor looking to donate to multiple charities during a campaign, where Donation Funds offers added convenience.
