Charity lotteries

Local, national and international charities in a number of EU Member States benefit from revenues generated by privately operated charity lotteries. Although there are differences in the way they operate, charity lotteries share the following characteristics:

* Fundraising for (national) charities is their principal aim
* They donate a substantial part of their income to their beneficiaries and make no private profits
* Their funds are allocated and distributed by an independent body without political interference
* They operate under national legislation

Financing civil society

For non governmental organisations as Amnesty International, Unicef, WWF and many others, the quest for core funding to sustain their good work is a constant challenge, occupying an inordinate percentage of their time and efforts - again and again - project by project, year by year. In a time of governments withdrawing, and fierce competition for scarce philanthropic and public resources, even the most popular and highly qualified organisations struggle to sustain their funding. Without adequate resources no organisation can do its job.

Non-earmarked funds

In some European countries lottery revenues come indirectly from the state and there is an obligation to apply it to a particular purpose. In Sweden, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands, non-earmarked funds come straight from the lotteries (private organisations); it is a source of funding that has grown considerably in recent years and now accounts for a substantial proportion (sometimes as much as twenty or thirty per cent) of the beneficiaries’ budgets. Back...