Affinity Lottery drives regular giving growth
The Charity for Civil Servants supports all civil servants, whether they’re current, former or retired. No matter what challenges they’re up against, from money worries to mental health problems, and caring for others to coping with grief and bereavement – the Charity gives them the opportunity to get the best support and thrive.
Goal
When the Covid-19 pandemic broke arresting all face-to-face activity, the Charity for Civil Servants had to find new ways to acquire new regular giving (RG) donors. Knowing their audience responds well to products with a value exchange attached, they explored what options they had, and introduced Affinity Lottery in December 2021. They haven’t looked back since.
Success
- On track to recruit 3,000 new players in the first two years. Year 2 results far exceeded expectations, with 628 new players recruited during a two-week promotional moment
- Key fundraising product in just 1 year
Our Approach
Audit
After the pandemic hit, fundraising for the Charity for Civil Servants moved from face-to-face to digital. All previous acquisition activity stopped. They needed a product that would help fill the gap face-to-face fundraising had left. And with 8% annual attrition, they had to act quickly.
Weekly lottery was identified as an ideal digital-first fundraising product. It was something the Civil Service audience was already familiar with and, at £1 per chance per week, it had a low RG entry point.
Affinity Lottery was the perfect fit for the Charity for Civil Servants. It allowed them to start small and grow without having to worry about meeting Gambling Commission (GC) 80/20 requirements. With online play functionality and all draw admin taken care of, Affinity meant they could test the product with minimum investment in time and budget.
Implementation
From go-ahead, the Weekly Lottery was up and running within weeks. The Lottery was launched in December 2021, with targeted promotion to warm audiences starting in April 2022. It has since been the main driver for new RG income and has become one of the flagship fundraising products for the Charity.
Charity for Civil Servants has big future plans for the Lottery. In 2023 they started reaching the a wider civil servant audience with a mix of online and offline presence, promoting via digital as well as raising awareness on site through posters, business cards, banners and in- person presence at events. The plan is to keep promoting the Lottery throughout the year in 2024, and have key promotional moments to attract a wider audience
of supporters.
Continuous Improvement
Since launch, the Affinity Lottery platform has gone through multiple upgrades including live reporting dashboards and source code identification making measurement even easier.
Charity for Civil Servants have also introduced a simple but clear bespoke supporter journey to help reduce attrition in the first three months of play – a key drop off period for the Lottery.
Whatever your requirements we are sure to be able to help
Services:
What our client had to say
“Affinity Lottery has been a game-changer in the way we aquire regular donors and has enabled us tto sustainably frow our numbers month-on-month. We went from recruiting a few hundred new donors per year pre-lottery, to now recruiting 2,000 in the past 12 months, only with Affinity”
Federica Ronco, Head of Individual Giving and Legacy, Charity for Civil Servants
“Affinity Lottery has a low entry point – it’s a win-win for the Charity and our supporters.”
Federica Ronco, Head of Individual Giving and Legacy, Charity for Civil Servants
“We’re really pleased with how the Lottery is progressing and Affinity has made it all so easy. What’s great is the clear migration pathway offered by Woods Valldata. When we’re ready and have enough players to sustain income and GC requirements, we can simply move over to our own lottery product on Aspire Lottery.”
Federica Ronco, Head of Individual Giving and Legacy, Charity for Civil Servants
