Philanthropist Alec Reed helped raise £50,000 for Asia-Pacific emergency appeals this week through a matched funding scheme that doubled £25,000 of donations made on theBigGive.org.uk.

Three naturals disasters in just five days have left parts of the region devastated and in desperate need of aid. More than 1,000 people have been killed and an estimated four million people have been affected.

All individual donations of between £5 and £1,000 made to the emergency appeals on theBigGive.org.uk were doubled until Reed’s £25,000 was used up. The seven participating aid charities included the British Red Cross and Oxfam.

Reed, founder of theBigGive.org.uk, said, "Matched funding challenges are a really effective way of doubling support for projects and charities. This scheme has encouraged much-needed donations for those affected by these terrible disasters."

Reed, entrepreneur founder of Reed Recruitment, has created several matched funding challenges in the last year. He recently won the Third Sector Excellence Award for Innovation for his online challenge last December, which raised £2m in just 45 minutes.