Fundraising Events
Posted: 5th February 2026
We’re thrilled to share some exciting news: Mission Direct has won the Newcomer Award at the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2025 Awards.
The award celebrates first-time participants who made a lasting impression during the campaign. Mission Direct was recognised for its “fresh ideas and enthusiasm” and for balancing “creativity with capacity as a small team.”
This was Mission Direct’s first Big Give Christmas Challenge, and the results exceeded expectations. The charity:
The campaign focused on Mission Direct’s work empowering children to rewrite their future through education. With a small team we created compelling video content featuring partners in Zambia, made creative promotional materials (including a giant pencil that travelled to events), and ran coordinated communications across email and social media.
“The Big Give Christmas Challenge seemed to be the perfect solution to our challenges with organising a successful Christmas fundraising campaign,” explained Wil Horwood, Mission Direct CEO. “The structured timeline helped us stay on track, the match funding element proved attractive to donors, and the credibility of the Big Give platform helped attract new supporters. Thank you to everyone who supported us.”
An added bonus – Mission Direct has received £1,000 in unrestricted funding from Big Give to support our ongoing work.
Following this success, we now plan to participate in the Big Give Christmas Challenge again in 2026 with an even larger target. Watch this space!
