Community lottery: launch event for community groups
A lottery to raise much-needed funds for voluntary and community groups in St Albans District is to be launched this month: https://www.stalbansdistrictlottery.co.uk/ .
Organisations which may benefit are being invited to a presentation from 2pm to 3.30pm at the Civic Centre on Tuesday 22 February.
They will be given detailed information on how they can get involved and apply for funding.
Lottery tickets, which will cost £1 each, go on sale from Tuesday 22 March with the first draw being on Saturday 23 April.
Groups can book a place at the good cause launch event by emailing lottery@stalbans.gov.uk.
St Albans City and District Council has set up the community lottery with operator Gatherwell for the benefit of local people.
Good causes will receive an estimated £80,000 to £134,000 a year, 50% of the proceeds.
Councillor Jacqui Taylor, Chair of the Housing and Inclusion Committee, said:
Our community lottery has the potential to raise substantial sums for local groups to help them with all the great work that they do.
However, for this to be a raging success, we need their assistance to promote the lottery to our residents and explain how it can provide some much-needed finance for their activities.
I would urge as many charities and community groups as possible to send a representative to our good causes launch event where they will be given valuable information about how they can get involved in this initiative.
Gatherwell, an ethical lottery provider, runs community lotteries for around 80 other councils, raising in excess of £5 million a year for grassroots groups.
Only causes that benefit the District will receive help and the lottery will be paperless to promote sustainability and keep costs low.
There will be a dedicated website where people can buy tickets and get information about the causes that will benefit.
For each £1 spent, 50p will go to good causes and 10p to the Council’s community grants scheme and its licensing costs. The prize pot will get 20p with weekly draws on a Saturday and the remaining 20p will go to the operators to cover their costs.
The Council’s community engagement team will consider applications for funding in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Inclusion.
Cllr Jacqui Taylor added:
The setting up of the lottery demonstrates our commitment to supporting the voluntary and community sector.
Someone choosing to play will be able to select the local cause they wish to support when buying a ticket.
Our community and voluntary groups have suffered financially during the pandemic and I hope this will help with their recovery in the years ahead as well as adding some fun into fundraising.
Councillor contact:
Councillor Jacqui Taylor, Chair of the Housing and Inclusion Committee, cllr.j.taylor@stalbans.gov.uk, 07971 906343.
Contact for the media:
John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer: 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.