Lotteries are increasingly proving to be one of the most popular ways to raise money for charities across the country.
In 2020, the National Lottery’s operator Camelot reported a significant rise in the number of people playing the lottery online as in-store ticket sales decreased due to the national lockdown.
Then, in 2021, charity lotteries saw a record-breaking year, with consumer spending reaching a £4.1 billion, forecast to reach a massive £4.6 billion by 2027.
Charity lotteries in the UK are a potentially (and increasingly) powerful fundraising tool for charities. It comes as no surprise that the Lotteries Council currently has more than 400 charities running lotteries on their books.
At Woods Valldata, as a charity lottery provider for charities both small and large, we have seen the incredible impact of lotteries on small charity fundraising initiatives for ourselves!
If you’re a small charity and have yet to try running a lottery, you may understandably be wondering: how exactly will a lottery make that big a difference?
Read on to find out…
5 ways lotteries will help your small charity win big:
1. They’ll deliver an amazing return on investment
As a small charity, making any kind of investment is an understandably daunting prospect, as there is a constant and substantial pressure to ensure every penny you spend on your fundraising endeavours makes a difference.
A huge advantage of lotteries is that they offer an easy and predictable means of fundraising. You’ll be able to see the number of players you have on the books, how often they play, and at what cost (this is typically around £1 or £2 a week).
What’s more, depending on the charity lottery provider you choose, your setup fees will be minimal. For example, at Woods Valldata, our lottery initiatives cost as little as £800 to set up.
As a result, many charities who have invested in lottery initiatives have raised more than one million pounds a year – a phenomenal return on investment alone before you compare it to the likes of other, more costly methods of fundraising.
2. Charity lotteries can save valuable time
When it comes to running a charity and setting up fundraising initiatives, being able to save as much planning and admin time as possible is ideal.
As a charity, it’s possible to set up and manage your own lottery, but with omnichannel fundraising and acquisition possibilities (from face-to-face to digital techniques), many choose to enlist the support of a charity lottery provider to relieve these time and administrative pressures.
At Woods Valldata, we’re an External Lottery Manager, meaning that we make the arrangements for a lottery on your behalf. We’re licensed by the Gambling Commission, so you can rest assured that your lottery is fully compliant from the word go without you needing to lift a finger aside from registering with your local authority.
What’s more, we’ll take care of all your player and draw admin, seamlessly enter players into your lottery through various methods (such as DRTV, telemarketing, face to face, door to door, text to play, email marketing, and social media), and ensure that your lottery runs without any issues.
Subsequently, you’ll be left with more time to focus on what you do best: building lasting and positive relationships and connections with your supporters!
3. They’ll help you to attract a whole host of new supporters
One of the things that make lotteries stand out from the fundraising crowd is that they offer something to people in return for their investment – i.e., the chance to win huge monetary prizes. Our weekly lotteries here at Woods Valldata can offer insured top prizes of up to £25,000!
Because of this potential for reward, a lottery will attract a wide range of different supporters that might not have otherwise engaged with your charity.
Plus, if you offer an online payment method for your lottery as part of your strategy, you’ll be able to access digital supporter acquisition techniques, such as email marketing and social media, giving it even greater exposure to a wider, more diverse audience!
4. You can nurture your current database of supporters at the same time
It goes without saying that, to help your small charity make it big, it’s just as important to nurture your current supporter database as it is to attract new supporters.
Lotteries have a huge role to play in this, as they offer your current supporters a new and different way of supporting your charity with the added incentive that they might win something in return.
Research has also found that charities can expect at least 10% of their current supporter database to play a lottery. Charities with a particularly strong supporter base can see as much as 20% of their current supporters signing up!
5. Lotteries are a great marketing tool all round
Lotteries offer a plethora of digital marketing opportunities for your charity, including and not limited to:
- Advertising your lottery with a social media campaign
- Promoting your lottery on Google with a Google AdWords Grant
- Emailing your supporters to let them know how their regular donations are helping/how their donations will help when they sign up to play
- Sharing stories of lottery winners on your website
They can also contribute to a multitude of other channels, such as face-to-face marketing activities by branding your charity event booths or supermarket stands with your lottery-specific promotional materials and encouraging passers-by to sign up.
DRTV has also been a successful marketing channel for larger charities running lotteries and driving people to play online, so as your charity grows and increases its budget, this will also be a great option to consider for your lottery.
In summary…
Lotteries bring small charities huge potential for growth; not only do they offer a fantastic omni-channel approach to raising funds, but they are an exceptional marketing and PR tool, offering you the chance to nurture your current supporters and attract a whole host of new and diverse supporters that you might not have otherwise recruited!
Thinking of setting up your own lottery?
We’re proud to be a successful charity lottery provider here at Woods Valldata, offering fully managed, Gambling Commission-compliant weekly lotteries that inspire long-lasting and rewarding connections between the small charities we work for and their supporters.
Just one example of the impact our lotteries have had is our work with the charity Guide Dogs, who increased player numbers by 55% and exceed new supporter targets by 25% with our lottery initiatives - discover how by reading this case study!
If you are considering setting up your own charity lottery and would like our support, get in touch with our team today to discuss the different options we have available.
