Development Co‑operation Profiles: Postcode Lottery Group
Table of contents
The Postcode Lottery Group unites public charity lotteries administered by the social enterprise Novamedia. Of the six lotteries operating in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, five provide support to organisations working for development, namely the Dutch Postcode Lottery, German Postcode Lottery, Norwegian Postcode Lottery, Swedish Postcode Lottery and People’s Postcode Lottery (UK).
The Postcode Lottery Group organises and oversees charity lotteries with the aim of raising funds to support grassroots initiatives and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that work towards a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable world.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Postcode Lottery Group provided USD 327.1 million for development in 2024 through its cross-border funding. Compared to 2023, this amount represents a decrease of 6.3% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of Postcode Lottery Group’s gross disbursements.
Postcode Lottery Group provided most of its development finance bilaterally in 2024, while 8.1% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, the Postcode Lottery Group channelled its bilateral development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 288 million), multilateral organisations (USD 26.5 million) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector (USD 12.5 million).
In 2024, Postcode Lottery Group provided USD 26.5 million to the multilateral system, all of which represented non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. 100% of total development finance was channelled through United Nations (UN) funds and programmes and other UN organisations.
The UN system received USD 26.5 million from Postcode Lottery Group in 2024. The most significant UN recipients were the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (USD 20.2 million), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (USD 4.7 million) and the World Food Programme (WFP) (USD 1.6 million).
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 288 million of the Postcode Lottery Group’s gross bilateral finance, of which 0.2% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 75.9% of total bilateral development finance was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 12.1% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs slightly decreased as a share of bilateral philanthropic development finance, from 88.4% to 88%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2024, Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Europe. USD 18.1 million was allocated to Africa and USD 10.6 million to Europe, accounting respectively for 5.5% and 3.2% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 269.1 million (89%) was unallocated by region, mainly including multi-regional programmes and research grants. From this amount, USD 11.2 million was provided in support of refugees and asylum-seekers in donor countries.
In 2024, 4.6% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably South Africa (1%), India (0.5%), and Afghanistan (0.5%).
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 5.1 million (1.6%) of Postcode Lottery Group’s gross disbursements in 2024. Postcode Lottery Group allocated the highest share (1.9%) of its bilateral development finance to upper middle-income countries in 2024, followed by LDCs (1.6%), noting that USD 312 million (95.3%) was unallocated by income group.
Postcode Lottery Group allocated USD 3.4 million of its development finance to land-locked developing countries in 2024, and USD 500 thousand to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2024. The main SIDS recipients are Suriname and Haiti.
In 2024, Postcode Lottery Group provided USD 91 thousand of gross development finance to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion in the form of humanitarian assistance, a 75.3% decrease from 2023 in real terms.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 6.3 million in 2024, representing 1.9% of Postcode Lottery Group’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extremely fragility received a sum of USD 2 million.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest allocations (44.2% of bilateral contributions) by Postcode Lottery Group went to social infrastructure and services, with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 71 million). The second largest sector was humanitarian assistance (USD 79.4 million), focusing on emergency response (USD 75.4 million). This was followed by multi-sector allocations (USD 67.1 million).
In the period 2023-2024, Postcode Lottery Group committed 23.4% of screened bilateral allocable development finance to gender equality and women’s empowerment, compared to 44.2% in 2021-2022 and a private philanthropic average of 33.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 78.1 million of screened bilateral allocable contributions in support of gender equality on average per year. In addition:
The share of screened bilateral allocable contributions committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 7.5% in 2023-2024, compared with the private philanthropic average of 11.9%.
Postcode Lottery Group includes gender equality objectives in 16.5% of contributions for humanitarian aid, below the 2023-2024 private philanthropic average of 11.5%.
Postcode Lottery Group screens all bilateral allocable contributions activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2023-2024).
Postcode Lottery Group committed USD 7.3 million of contributions to end violence against women and girls and USD 7.2 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average per year in 2023-2024.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.
In 2023-2024, Postcode Lottery Group committed 27% of its total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 89.9 million) in support of the environment, down from 40.4% in 2021-2022. The private philanthropic average was 12.4%. In addition:
20.6% of total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 68.8 million) focused on climate change overall (the private philanthropic average was 12.9%), down from 36.7% in 2021-2022. Postcode Lottery Group had a greater focus on adaptation (19.5%) than on mitigation (12.4%) in 2023-2024.
20.2% of screened bilateral allocable contributions (USD 67.5 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the private philanthropic average was 4.3%), down from 22.8% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
In 2024, Postcode Lottery Group committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 1 (no poverty) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: www.postcodelotterygroup.com
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, channels of delivery, bilateral unspecified/unallocated/allocable development finance, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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