The Times and The Sunday Times have launched their Christmas Charity Appeal for 2026, backing three charities working in women's health research, school food and wildlife conservation. The appeal was unveiled on Monday 9 November and will run through to January, with readers invited to donate online or by telephone.

The three charities were chosen from more than 200 applicants. They are Wellbeing of Women, Chefs in Schools and the Whitley Fund for Nature. Each will be featured in dedicated reporting in both newspapers over the coming weeks, including investigations, dispatches from the front line, personal stories and interviews with celebrity supporters.

Wellbeing of Women is described as Britain's only charity funding research, education and advocacy across the whole range of female reproductive and gynaecological health. Its work covers conditions including endometriosis and menopause, as well as maternal complications and cancer. The charity says it is tackling a historic funding gap that has left women's healthcare overlooked, and that its research funds breakthroughs that transform and save lives.

Chefs in Schools takes on childhood hunger and poor nutrition by changing school food from the kitchen up. The charity, launched in 2018, places restaurant-trained chefs in schools to train catering staff, replaces ultra-processed food with fresh meals cooked from scratch, and teaches pupils practical cooking skills. Since it began, it has worked with more than 700 chefs in about 600 schools, reaching almost 250,000 children. Its transformation programme is an intensive year-long scheme that helps a school move from externally prepared meals to in-house catering.

The third charity, the Whitley Fund for Nature, is backed by Sir David Attenborough. It gives direct funding to grassroots conservationists working to protect fragile ecosystems, equipping local leaders in 84 countries with the resources to safeguard endangered species, from Amazon river dolphins to Bornean elephants. The fund's work follows another year of record-breaking heatwaves and habitat loss.

The appeal builds on a strong record. Last winter's campaign raised £870,000, taking the total raised by readers of The Times and The Sunday Times to more than £12.4 million across 18 charities since the joint appeal began in 2020. The editors of the two papers, Tony Gallagher of The Times and Ben Taylor of The Sunday Times, said readers had shown extraordinary generosity year after year, and that the Christmas appeal was a direct chance to back pioneering, grassroots leaders delivering real, lasting change.

Readers can support the appeal online at thetimes.com/christmasappeal or by calling 0151 286 1594. The organisers say every pound donated will go straight to helping people on the ground.