Last year, ME Research UK participated in The Big Give Christmas Challenge and raised over £38,000 of much-needed funds to invest in ME research globally. This year we would like to increase the amount of research we can fund by raising even more through The Big Give.
The first step is to ask supporters to become Pledgers. No Pledge money will be collected until after the Big Give Christmas Challenge ends and the maximun amount asked will never be above the sum pledged.
This year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge will be from midday Tuesday 1st December to midday Tuesday 8th December 2026.
Our goal is to secure £12,500 in Pledges. If we achieve this we may even attract a Charity Champion who will step in and match up to the next £12,500 donated when the Big Give Christmas Challenge goes live on Giving Tuesday.
Pledgers will not be asked to fulfil their promise until after the Big Give event closes and can be paid from noon 8th December 2025 to 5pm 5th January 2027.
£100 is the minimum pledge permitted by The Big Give. We appreciate that this is a large sum but Pledges are key to the campaign’s success and are being collected until 5pm Friday 28th August 2026.
Pledgers’ funds are key in 2 ways –
- Other supporters are more likely to contribute to ME Research UK during the 7 days of The Big Give if they know that their donation will be matched by a Pledger. One pledge, twice the impact. Conversely, donors may look elsewhere if they see their donation will not be doubled.
- If we secure sufficient pledges then we may be chosen by a Big Give Champion who will contribute even more to the pot. Last year £14,100 was received from the The Big Give Charity Trust who chose ME Research UK to support in this way.
How were Big Give 2025 funds used?
Funds are allocated to fund PhD-level research and an announcement is due soon. 27 applications were received in response to our Funding Call and have been assessed, peer reviewed and a recommendation as to funding will be made by the Science Committee in July.
How were Big Give 2024 funds used?
Thanks to the generosity of Pledgers, donors, and The Big Give Charity Trust, ME Research UK received a total of £56,732 (excluding GiftAid) – which was 101% of our campaign target!
Every penny received was invested in ME research and has enabled us to fund a project with Dr Sarah Annesley at La Trobe University in Australia looking at microRNA profiles and their impact on platelet function and energy production in women with ME/CFS.
As Dr Annesley explains, “In this new project, we’ll study blood samples from women with ME/CFS and compare them to healthy controls to look for differences in microRNA profiles. We’ll also test whether these changes in microRNAs can actually cause changes in platelet activity and energy production using cellular models …. If our hypothesis is correct, it could open the door to new treatment possibilities – including therapies based on microRNAs, which are already being explored for other illnesses.”
