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Philanthropists website off to a flyer

By Emma Rigby, Third Sector Online, 5 October 2007

The Big Give website, which allows wealthy philanthropists to browse for charitable projects, has registered 243 projects asking for a total of £154m since its launch earlier this week.

The site gives UK-registered charities the chance to attract funding for projects requiring between £100,000 and £10m. It is the brainchild of Alec Reed, the founder of the Reed recruitment company and the Reed Foundation, who has pledged to give £1m to promote the site to wealthy individuals, corporate foundations, grant-making trusts and legacy advisers.

The Big Give lets major donors search for projects in their fields of interest by donation amount, geographical location, charitable sector and type of beneficiary. Projects listed so far include a £10m request to build an endowment fund for the Royal Opera House to help provide secure, unrestricted, long-term funding and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home’s request for £1m to help fund facilities including animal maternity units and rehab areas.

The Down’s Syndrome Association has asked for £10m to fund a global Down’s Syndrome bio-bank that would hold 1,500 DNA samples from individuals with the syndrome to help researchers identify the genetic characteristics of the condition.

The objective of the site is to initiate conversation between charities and donors. Charities have responsibility for managing donations and ongoing relationships. Once donors have chosen projects, they can access guidance via links to the Charity Commission and Philanthropy UK.

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