The Big Give has returned for a seventh year seeing millions of pounds of public donations matched by charitable foundations until Saturday

A unique fundraising event currently taking place is seeing donors have their donations matched by charitable foundations and major charity donors.

Nearly 400 charities have signed up to take part in The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge at thebiggive.org.uk.

Members of the public log on to the site and select the charity they would like to donate to and their donation is then doubled from a pot of money set up by the foundations and major donors.

The scheme works on a first come first served basis however, so when the money runs out that’s it.

Donations can be made from 10am each day with the final matching funds released on Saturday.

A spokesperson for The Big Give, which was founded in 2007 by Sir Alec Reed CBE, founder of Reed Specialist Recruitment and the Reed Foundation, said: “Last year, the Christmas Challenge raised over £11m and saw almost 13,000 online donation being matched on theBigGive.org.uk. The Challenge also attracted a lot of social media attention as #TBGchallenge was trending on twitter, with Stephen Fry and Sir Paul McCartney tweeting to support their favourite charities in the Challenge!”

Charities taking art this year come from across the UK including those working in Scotland. For a full list visit theBigGive.org.uk.