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 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).
Development Co-operation Profiles
Report
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Postcode Lottery Group
Introduction
Private development finance
The Postcode Lottery Group provided USD 341.5 million for development in 2022 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2021, this amount represents an increase of 4.9% in real terms.
Bilateral and multilateral allocations
In 2022, the Postcode Lottery Group channelled its development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society (USD 307.1 million) and multilateral organisations (USD 27.8 million).
Multilateral channels
In 2022, the Postcode Lottery Group provided USD 27.8 million to the multilateral system, representing 8.1% of its development finance. All of which were earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes. All of these contributions were allocated to the United Nations.
The United Nations (UN) system received USD 27.8 million from the Postcode Lottery Group in 2022 in support of activities of UNICEF (USD19.8 million), UNHCR (USD 6 million) and the WFP (USD 2.1 million).
Civil society organisations
In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 307.1 million of the Postcode Lottery Group’s gross bilateral finance. Of this, 77.5% was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 17.3% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. A share of 5.1% was in support of activities in high-income countries, such as development awareness raising and support to refugees and asylum seekers in donor countries.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
Geographic and thematic focus
In 2022, the Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Asia (excluding the Middle East). USD 45.9 million was allocated to Africa and USD 8.7 million to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 13.4% and 2.5% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 280.9 million (82.2%) was unspecified by region in 2022, mainly including multi-regional programmes and core support. USD 13.2 million was provided in support of refugees and asylum-seekers in donor countries.
Figure. Bilateral private development finance by recipient country
In 2022, 4.8% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Afghanistan, South Africa, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received USD 14.9 million (4.4%) of the Postcode Lottery Group’s gross disbursements in 2022. USD 318.9 million (93.4%) was unallocated by income group.
Notes: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.
Furthermore, the Postcode Lottery Group allocated USD 11.1 million of its development finance to land-locked developing countries in 2022.
Fragile contexts
Support to fragile contexts reached USD 13.7 million in 2022, representing 4% of the Postcode Lottery Group’s development finance.
Notes: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral contributions that are allocated by country.
Sectors
In 2022, 40.4% of the Postcode Lottery Group’s contributions were allocated to social infrastructure and services and 22.7% to multi-sector and cross-cutting issues. In terms of sectors, the Postcode Lottery Group’s largest allocations went to general environmental protection (USD 72.6 million), support to government and civil society (USD 53.5 million), health and population policies (USD 30.3 million), education (USD 18.5 million) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (USD 11.2 million). Humanitarian aid amounted to USD 87 million, accounting for 25.5% of the Postcode Lottery Group allocations in 2022.
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2022, the Postcode Lottery Group committed the largest shares of its contributions to reduced inequalities (SDG 10), gender equality (SDG 5) and no poverty (SDG 1) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support to gender equality and women’s empowerment amounted to USD 168.5 million, and contributions to combatting climate change totalled USD 126.7 million.
Additional resources
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, the Sustainable Development Goal focus of private development finance, channels of delivery, unspecified/unallocated allocations, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.