Postcode Lottery Group
The Postcode Lottery Group unites public charity lotteries administered by the social enterprise Novamedia. The Postcode Lottery Group are funded through selling lots: 50% of gross proceeds are provided to a broad range of organisations. Of the seven 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 (UK) Postcode Lottery.
The Postcode Lottery Group provided USD 347.0 million for development in 2021 through grantmaking activities. Compared to 2020, this amount represents a decrease of 9.8% in real terms.
In 2021, the Dutch Postcode Lottery allocated USD 209.5 million for development, representing 60.4% of the Group’s total, followed by the People’s Postcode Lottery (USD 61.6 million; 17.7%), Swedish Postcode Lottery (USD 59.7 million; 17.2%), Norwegian Postcode Lottery (USD 9.2 million; 2.7%) and German Postcode Lottery (USD 7.0 million; 2.0%).
In 2021, the Postcode Lottery Group provided USD 32.4 million to the multilateral system, representing 9.3% of its development finance.
All of this financing was received by the United Nations (UN) entities, most notably UNICEF (USD 22.3 million), UNHCR (USD 8.5 million) and WFP (USD 1.6 million).
See the section on geographic and thematic focus for the geographical and thematic breakdown of bilateral allocations earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2021, the Postcode Lottery Group channelled its bilateral contributions mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society (USD 292.6 million) and multilateral organisations (USD 32.4 million).
In 2021, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 292.6 million (84.3%) of the Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance. A share of 77.7% of the Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 6.6% was earmarked to specific projects.
Given the high degree of core support grants in the Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance, 88.1% of its development finance was geographically unallocated. A sum of USD 25.5 million was allocated to Africa, USD 6.7 million to America and USD 5.2 million to South Asia, accounting respectively for 7.4%, 1.9% and 1.5% of its development finance.
In 2021, 5.3% of development finance went to the top 10 recipients. The Postcode Lottery Group’s most significant recipients included Venezuela (USD 3.3 million), Ghana (USD 3.2 million) and South Africa (USD 3.2 million). Moreover, 91.1% of development finance was not allocated by country.
Least developed countries (LDCs) were allocated USD 8.9 million (2.6%) of Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance in 2021. The Postcode Lottery Group allocated the highest share of its development finance (3%) to upper middle income countries in 2021, noting that USD 319.7 million (92.1%) was unallocated by income group.
Sectors
In 2021, almost half of the Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance was allocated to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 40.1% of the Group’s development finance (USD 139.3 million), with a strong focus on support to government & civil society (USD 58.6 million) and health and population (USD 27.8 million). Contributions to production sectors amounted to USD 26.7 million, mostly targeting agriculture, forestry and fishing. USD 59.1 was also provided for general environmental protection. Moreover, humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 98.5 million (28.4%) in 2021.
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2021, the Postcode Lottery Group provided the largest shares of its contributions to the goals of reduced inequalities (SDG 10), no poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16) and good health and well-being (SDG 3) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support for gender equality (SDG 5) amounted to USD 123.6 million. Contributions to climate action (SDG 13) totalled USD 64.2 million.
Dutch Postcode Lottery: http://www.postcodeloterij.nl/
German Postcode Lottery: http://www.postcode-lotterie.de/
Norwegian Postcode Lottery: http://www.postkodelotteriet.no/
People’s Postcode Lottery: http://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/
Swedish Postcode Lottery: http://www.postkodstiftelsen.se/
Novamedia: http://www.novamedia.nl/
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, the Sustainable Development Goal focus of private development finance, channels of delivery, unspecified/unallocated allocations, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.