One of the Best Income Generation Ideas for Small Charities: Launch a Weekly Lottery with Affinity and Woods Valldata

For smaller charities in the UK, the pursuit of stable, reliable income can feel like a constant uphill struggle. Traditional fundraising methods are valuable, but charity leaders know that diversifying regular income is vital for sustainability and growth.

That’s why Affinity Lottery is one of the best income generation ideas for small charities. Prize-led fundraising is an area of individual giving fundraising that’s booming, with weekly lotteries quickly becoming a go-to route for charities looking to boost supporter engagement and attract new donors. But with additional compliance requirements and Trustee skepticism, is launching a lottery realistic for smaller organisations? And how easy is it in practice?

If you’ve ever wondered whether a lottery could work for your cause, you’re not alone. Insights from our Woods Valldata Affinity Lottery: RG Made Easy webinar, featuring honest stories from both our team and our Affinity charity partners, show just how accessible a weekly lottery can be—even if you’re just starting out.

Busting the Myths About Launching a Lottery

Before we look at the pathway to launching your charity’s lottery, it’s worth addressing a few common myths that often hold small charitable organisations back.

• “Lotteries are only for large charities.”
• “The compliance, admin and regulations will be a nightmare.”
• “We don’t have enough supporters to get started.”

Sound familiar? You’re not alone in thinking this way. But as Gemma Ward, Lottery Partnerships Director at Woods Valldata, explained during the webinar, these barriers aren’t so daunting with the right partner.

“You can get started with one player, and then you can recruit further players as and when your time and investment allows.” 

Affinity Lottery, a pooled lottery platform from Woods Valldata, can be launched by any charity of any size. It takes care of the backend complexity, compliance, and administration, letting you focus on growing your cause and your supporters.

Affinity Lottery - Making it Easy

What exactly makes Affinity Lottery so accessible for small charities? Let’s take a whistle-stop tour of the features and process.

Easy Set-Up - Woods Valldata has been supporting charities for over 40 years and understands the unique pressures faced by smaller teams. With Affinity, setup is swift—sometimes within a week of signing the contract.

Customisable & Professional - You get a microsite tailored to your branding, with your own colours, imagery, and text. This becomes your charity’s lottery home, giving supporters a seamless digital journey. The microsite includes all the key information, sign-up forms, and is optimised for desktop and mobile.

“We put together a microsite for you… an extension of your website, so it has your brand colours, your logos and your imagery, and it has customisable text throughout so that your supporters are in no doubt where they're giving to.” says Gemma.

Real-Time Reporting & Support - Affinity’s user dashboard provides you with real-time stats, so whether you want to check on a campaign, see your weekly entries, or monitor winners, you have instant access with no waiting for reports to land. You can even UTM track your campaigns for genuine marketing insight.

Focused on Compliance - One of the biggest worries for most charities is compliance and regulation. With Affinity, you don’t have to be an expert in Gambling Commission standards—Gemma and the Woods Valldata team are here to help.

“Compliance is at the heart of what we do. We ensure that we exclude any sign-ups who are registered as a problem gambler and also anyone who may be classified as a vulnerable person. All our staff are fully trained... and we provide an annual Gambling Commission Seminar to help your internal training too.” 

No Player Minimums - You don’t need a minimum number of supporters lined up on day one to hit to GC 80-20 ratio which you would need with some other lottery platforms—your lottery can launch with just one player. As your programme grows, Affinity grows with you.

Success Stories from Charities Like Yours

But is Affinity Lottery one of the best income generation ideas for small charities and beyond? The answer is a resounding yes, as our expert panel attested.

Case Study: Young Lives vs Cancer

Ajay Sahota, Individual Giving Manager at Young Lives vs Cancer, shared:

“We launched the Affinity Lottery product in April of last year... we've recruited just over several hundred players, taking up an average of 1.6 chances per player. So that’s exceeded our initial targets.” He continued, “...the Affinity product is quite low risk and a real proof of concept.”

Young Lives vs Cancer have grown their lottery with a focus on digital recruitment, and despite initial nerves around launching a gambling product, clear compliance and ease of use meant both stakeholders and donors quickly got on-board.

Case Study: Retina UK

For Retina UK, the experience was equally positive. James Clarke, Head of Income Generation, explained:

“It has raised around £16,000 now in unrestricted income, and it's growing at a really good pace for us. So we're really happy with that. We've currently got about 180 players, which again is scaling up at pace.” 

James also stressed the value of Affinity’s straightforward admin:

“In terms of the actual admin side of it, for us anyway, it's been about an hour or two a week, so it's really manageable, but we see the return, and then I’d say it just ticks along in the background.” 

Impact Beyond Income

For both charities, the lottery didn’t just drive income. It introduced their brands to new audiences, increased supporter engagement—and inspired winners.

Practical Advice for Getting Started

Both Ajay and James offered up practical tips during the webinar for charities considering their own weekly lottery.

Internal buy-in matters!
Ajay explained that engaging colleagues and stakeholders from the start helps smooth the process:
“First and foremost, [get] internal buy-in, making sure that all the stakeholders are on board.”

Be ready with assets.
James suggested:
“...getting all the printed flyers and postcards and banners and getting all your marketing collateral ready in advance is really useful.” 

Leverage digital and in-person opportunities.
Both organisations saw the value of combining email, social, and events to reach as many supporters as possible.

Time Commitment
What about ongoing workload? Both were clear: minimal.

Cross-Selling and Growing Relationships

Launching a lottery isn’t just about income—it’s about developing relationships and encouraging broader support.

James told us:
“On our system, we can obviously follow the journey and when they have started with us. For those brand new off the back of the lottery: they've been donating to things like our 50th appeal that we're doing at the moment, attending our webinars, attending our conferences. So yeah, they're getting the full experience, which is good.” 

Ajay echoed,
“Some lottery players go on and give cash gifts with us, and then start to receive our appeals... which is quite exciting, because, again, it shows their connection with the cause.”

Conclusion

If your charity is looking for a sustainable way to grow regular income—and bring new supporters along for the journey—it’s time to consider launching a weekly lottery with Affinity and Woods Valldata.

You don’t need legions of staff, expert knowledge of gambling regulations, or decades of experience. What you do need is a desire to reach more people, an openness to new ideas, and a readiness to make the most of a truly accessible platform.

Want to see it in action?

• Watch the full webinar and listen to real fundraisers sharing their stories.
• Book a demo with our team to explore the platform and see how it can work for you.
• Download resources and forecasts to model success for your own cause.

Taking that first step is easier than you think.