The Big Give appeal to raise funds for those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire has raised a staggering £2.6m - its biggest individual appeal to date. We were delighted to work with the Big Give to support the processing of the donations.

Set up in the hours following the fire with The K&C Foundation, the appeal offered to double public donations through match funding commitments from local companies and philanthropists including The Cadogan Estate, Julia and Hans Rausing, Monsoon Accessorize, DMGT Plc, Reed Recruitment and The Bjorgolfsson Family.

The appeal raised £1m in the first 48 hours and hit £2m a week after the fire, a testament to the generosity of the UK public. Over 12,000 people donated to the campaign. A total of £1,184,032 public donations were matched with a further £244,582 being contributed in unmatched donations and Gift Aid, raising a total of £2,612,646.  

The appeal contributed to a total of £5.75m raised by The K&C Foundation. Over 50% of all of the funds raised have now been committed:

• £120k within days of the tragedy to six local organisations working on the frontline. This money was given out to meet the immediate needs of people who had lost their homes or been displaced.
• £1.2m to a joint charity initiative (with the British Red Cross and and The London Community Foundation/Evening Standard, coordinated by the Charity Commission) to pay grants of £40k to the next of kin of people who have lost their lives or are missing and up to £20k to support each seriously injured person.
• £1.6m for ‘Fresh Start’ grants of £10k for each household from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk to help them rebuild their lives.
• The remaining £2.9m will focus on the medium to long term response. The K&C Foundation is committed to talking to the relevant groups to identify the evolving needs of the people at the centre of this tragedy and acting on them. 

Thanking everyone involved for their incredible generosity, entrepreneur James Reed, a trustee of the Big Give, said: “We have been humbled by the incredible response of the public to our appeal, and are grateful to our partners at The K&C Foundation for ensuring that the funds raised are being used to best effect. We’ve seen incredible acts of generosity throughout the past twelve weeks. The whole concept of match funding is that giving together is better, and there has certainly been a sense of ‘coming together’ to support the North Kensington community.”