The Big Give Christmas Challenge raised a record £33m in one week, organisers have said.
The annual match-funding event attracted more than 94,000 donations for the 1,077 charities that took part.
This year’s figure is 15 per cent up on last year’s total of £28.6m and takes the amount raised since the event was first held, in 2008, to £280m.
Big Give said almost half of the funds raised through the week-long challenge, which concluded yesterday, were for charities with annual incomes of less than £1m.
The charity said 74 per cent of participating charities met or exceeded their fundraising target, a rise of 4 percentage points on last year.
For the challenge, Big Give works with philanthropists, foundations and partners that are asked to double the donations made to participating charities over the course of the week.
There were 31 of these “champion” partners this year, including The Reed Foundation, the Julia & Hans Rausing Trust, The Childhood Trust, the EQ Foundation and the woman’s magazine Candis.
The Reed Foundation was set up by the businessman Sir Alec Reed in 1985 and the Big Give is supported by businesses in the Reed Group. Reed’s son James is chair of Big Give.
Alex Day, managing director of Big Give, said: “We have been blown away by people’s generosity this year, smashing last year’s record by £4.5m. It is quite extraordinary.
“Behind every £1 raised and every target hit are stories of incredible, life-changing, heart-warming impact delivered by our 1,077 charity partners.
“The donations they’ve received will make such a massive difference, especially as they are facing the hardships of the cost-of-living crisis.”
Big Give aims to raise £1bn for good causes by 2030.