Reservations

Luxury Travel

Reservations

Luxury Travel

A Numbers Game

A Numbers Game

Co-Founder & CEO of TheGivingMachine, Richard Morris explains how its lottery is a lifeline for community causes.

This is a feature from Issue 9 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.

What is The Giving Machine?

It’s a social enterprise and charity which has built a range of digital platforms that can be used by UK- based charities, schools and community groups to raise much needed funds.

Tell us about how it came about

I launched TheGivingMachine in 2006 with three other Hertfordshire-based dads. At the time I was enjoying some time out from a successful career in the technology industry to be a dad. When your kids start school you become more involved in local issues. I was no longer commuting to the city and suddenly became aware of the many heroes in my own community, working just as hard as anyone and doing incredibly worthy things, but not getting the support, the recognition and sometimes the income that they deserved.
Some friends and I got together to talk about how we could help small community organisations generate essential income to do the amazing things that they do, and that’s when TheGivingMachine was born.

We agreed to use our various business skills – in finance, technology and marketing – to benefit charities and schools rather than raising profits for shareholders. We’ve now been going for 14 years, we support over 10,000 causes over the UK and we’ve raised £2 million.

What are your platforms?

The first product we launched was Shop&Give, an online shopping site similar to Quidco, except that the sales commissions go to a charity you want to support instead of back in your pocket. We also have GivingVoucher. The way this works is that you make a donation to us and receive a gift voucher to give to someone, but it’s the recipient of the gift voucher who chooses which cause the money goes to. Two years ago we launched the GivingLottery, which allows charities to raise funds from ticket sales and players to do good and possibly win money at the same time.

How does the GivingLottery work?

A ticket costs £1 and you can select the charity you want to support, which will then bank 40% of that ticket price. The top prize for matching all six numbers is £25,000,
if you match five numbers you win £2,000, for four numbers its £250 and for three it’s £25. Any charity can register on our lottery platform for no fee. They get their own web page, we deal with all the ticketing and the prize funds but of course they get that revenue from the tickets sold to their supporters.
We also offer the lottery to companies, allowing them to support the charity of their choice in a corporate setting. But the best thing is that we are a national lottery platform where the players decide exactly where the money goes.

Why did you choose to start a lottery?

The lottery concept lowers the barrier to giving because there’s something in it for the person donating, and for the charities it’s easier than asking for a straight donation. What’s also great is that with our lottery, because it’s an independent platform, there’s no barrier to a charity’s own staff playing and giving to their employer in the process. The average person buys a couple of tickets a week but some people purchase more. You can sign up indefinitely or for a shorter period of time, like six months. The great thing about this is that it creates a sustainable and consistent income for charities, so it helps them to plan for the future.

What charities have you helped since you began?

All sorts! We have tended to focus on smaller community charities because that’s where we can make the biggest impact. Our beneficiaries range from community radio stations to nurseries, food banks to theatres, but we have several large national charities on our platform too. The variety of charities and great causes out there is incredible.
We have supported a charity that provides chilled cots for families who want to spend precious time with their stillborn baby, and another charity that helps people from war torn countries with PTSD heal through holistic therapy. We had a charity join this January – Mad about Schnauzers – and by mid-February they were already on track to raise £5,000 a year from 122 supporters. It might not seem like lots of money but these are life changing amounts to small organisations.

Are people more likely to donate if they get something?

I think that when you support a cause you are spreading happiness and it’s also joyful for you. Half the people who win £25 on the GivingLottery give it right back to their chosen charity rather than pocketing it, and that highlights not only that people are often just doing it for fun, but also that most people really want to make a difference.
I don’t like guilt-based giving, for example when you’re asked if you’d like to add a donation to your shopping bill at the checkout. Because if you don’t do it you feel bad and if you do it then you are disconnected from the act of giving. I think it’s important that people make proactive choices about where, when and who they give to and that they feel good about it, because if they feel good they will likely give more – and not necessarily in the form of money, they might even decide to get involved and volunteer.

What's your lucky number?

Play the GivingLottery for your chance to win up to £25,000 whilst supporting great causes. Find out more at givinglottery.org.uk

What's Next?

Our mission is to build an inclusive community where giving is a lifestyle choice for supporters, not a financial one. We want to enable companies to give back as part of their customer and staff engagement and help charities, schools and other community groups to access new and regular sources of income. We are currently investigating what our next platform or service will be so watch this space!

This is a feature from Issue 9 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.