Faversham Town Councillors have agreed to set up a community lottery in order to provide financial support for local community organisations and good causes that have found fundraising difficult during the COVID pandemic.
Over eighty local authorities already run lotteries but the Town Council will be one of the first town councils to launch an online community lottery. The Lottery will be managed for the Town Council by Gatherwell, who already run lotteries for several Kent councils.
Tickets will cost £1 with 60p going towards local good causes, compared to just 28p in the pound for the National Lottery. The draw will be weekly with a jackpot of £25,000 for a matching sequence of six numbers, other prizes being £2,000, £250, £25 or three free tickets.
There will be two parts to the Faversham and District Community Lottery scheme. Good causes will be able to set up their own lottery page, and will receive 50p in every pound spent by players using this method. A further 10p in every pound will go into a general good causes fund, which will be used to give grants to local charities and community groups, with the remainder being put towards prizes, Gatherwell operating costs and VAT.
Players who do not wish to support a specific cause can still take part in the Lottery, with 60p of their ticket price going into the general good causes fund, which will be distributed by the Council.
Faversham’s Mayor, Councillor Alison Reynolds says: “The pandemic and resulting lockdown has been massively damaging to local charities, community venues, community events and voluntary groups. It has made it difficult for them to raise money, run activities and cover costs. They make a massive contribution to the local quality of life and help the local economy by attracting visitors to the town, so it is vital that we do what we can to help organisations renew themselves”.
Sarah Harvey, chair of the Abbey Physic Garden says “It has been a difficult time for local charities and we need to think creatively about how we plan for the future. We expect a Faversham lottery to raise awareness of the terrific contribution that the voluntary sector makes to the town as well as providing an additional source of funding to local community organisations”.
Graham Setterfield, Chair of the Alexander Centre says “The pandemic has been very challenging for venues like ours. Faversham residents have a fantastic record of raising money to support good causes and I am sure they will get behind a local community lottery and make it a real success”.
