Eight days. Eight hundred donors. One huge thank you.

Wow, we did it. 

Our supporters just helped us raise £55,014 in the Big Give Christmas Challenge–that’s £2,000 over our intended target.

While bad reporting and vaccine conspiracies threaten to hamper uptake of a cure in 2021, this funding will help us ramp up the fight against bad information and hold accountable our press, politicians and internet companies.

As this was our first Big Give Christmas Challenge, we’re especially grateful to the 809 people who donated to our campaign, and to those who spread the word on social media. 

A year of unprecedented challenges

In January, we were gearing up to continue our fight against the misinformation surrounding Brexit and to pursue our recommendations to government for a counter-disinformation strategy. 

Our own research showed that trust in politicians was dismally low following an election that saw voters manipulated on all sides. It was clear we had our work cut out from the beginning of the year, but no one could have anticipated a global pandemic. The information crisis accompanying this virus, at best, led to confusion and concern and, at worst, risked people causing harm to their health, and the health of those around them.

We all needed an objective voice of guidance, yet dangerous false cure claims and myths about the cause spread rapidly on social media and beyond.

We rely on two thousand individuals to keep us going

As independent, impartial fact checkers, diverse funding is vital. The generosity of our 2,000 monthly supporters, and thousands more one-off gifts, were a lifeline for fact checking coronavirus claims throughout the year.

They helped us debunk harmful false information about how to treat and cure the virus, and carry out research into why and how dangerous health conspiracies can be stopped.

But we have all seen how fast bad information can travel 

With vaccine conspiracies, false claims from our politicians and inaccurate reporting continue to spread, the demand for digestible, impartial and reliable information has never been higher. 

Creating a more honest 2021 through the Big Give 

In this year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge, we set out with the aim to raise £53,000 between the 1st and 8th of December.

The Big Give is a national match funding campaign–that means each charity’s target is comprised of match funds (pledged by trusts, foundations and major donors), that can be only accessed if they’re met by online donations. 

We were lucky enough to have the match pot secured early on–partly from our Chairman, Michael Samuel, and partly by the Reed Foundation, who decided to champion our campaign once we had submitted our application. 

We’d never raised money via the Big Give before, but it proved to be a great way to encourage new supporters, 37% of whom were not already Full Fact subscribers, while at least half made their first donation to Full Fact during the campaign.

Thanks to their overwhelming generosity, they've helped make sure next year we can:

• Protect millions of people across the UK from bad information
• Stop the spread of viral claims online that cause harm
• Raise the cost of lying among our press, politicians, and internet companies
• Fight for honesty and transparency in our laws and government

Here’s what some of our supporters said about why they donated to Full Fact in the Big Give Christmas Challenge: 

"To help continue the great work you do. Full Fact gives me the facts about important issues, challenging and correcting the fake news stories & misinformation spread through the various media platforms. " – Nigel, Full Fact reader

“I love what you achieve for us." – Lorna, Full Fact Reader

"I am already a regular supporter of FullFact. I can't think of anything more important to our democracy than spreading truth, rather than lies. You're providing an essential service to the country and I want you to continue doing it." – David, Full Fact Reader

"To ensure that you could carry on working. Mis and dis information is rife and it’s difficult to get to the truth. With your will and expertise hopefully, we can move towards it." – Susan, Full Fact Reader

The Christmas Challenge is now over, but we still need your help to fight bad information in the new year. Become a monthly supporter today