Supporting Civil Society Under Pressure

Civil society is certainly under pressure in many countries, with a tough fundraising landscape, extra demands on many charities and frequent occurrences of government funding reducing or being cut altogether. A new report, launched at Philanthropy House in Brussels in November and published by the Association for Charity Lotteries in Europe (ACLEU) and Civil Society Europe, entitled ‘Supporting Civil Society Under Pressure: How charity lotteries can help reshape the funding landscape in Europe’, brings together many indicators of the situation. For example, 65% of civil society organisations responding to a Fundamental Rights Agency consultation reported difficulty in finding funding, while 44% of civil society organisations reported a cut or freezing of funding due to government cuts.

These sorts of statistics back up the anecdotal reports many funders will no doubt be aware of; with more applications than ever for available funding, and supported charities reporting reduction in their income streams, increasing dependence on remaining avenues of funding.

But the report doesn’t just highlight the problem, it also suggests a solution: the growth of the charity lottery sector. It points out that charity lotteries, also known as society lotteries or social lotteries, now raise over 1.5 billion euros a year for charities. They fund a very wide range of civil society, everything from small community groups to national and international charities. And in terms of charitable causes, everything from youth groups and sports clubs to animal welfare and nature conservation, to hospice care and air ambulances and many other deserving areas. As President of ACLEU, I regularly hear from our 17 member organisations about the amazing work that their players are funding in all sorts of areas.

Yet this success is limited to a small number of European countries, with only the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Germany and Norway having any sizeable charity lottery sector.

But if 1.5 billion euros a year can be raised across just five countries, think how much could be raised if the model was extended to more European countries. Analysis based on using the Netherlands as a case study, and extrapolating to cover 30 European countries, estimated that 10 billion euros could be raised for civil society.

And that is not a one-off win, that is 10 billion euros each year! One of the beauties of charity lotteries is that they can create an ongoing income stream for civil society.

They also tend to specialise in awarding unrestricted funding, allowing charities to use the funds as they see fit, helping them to cover core costs, or using them to act flexibly, responding to developing scenarios in the context of their own work.

At the report’s launch, I was honoured to chair a great panel, including Philea’s Chief Executive Officer, Delphine Moralis and Civil Society Europe Director, Caroltta Besozzi, who both gave a European overview of the challenges facing civil society and the need for new sources of funding.

Laurence de Nervaux, Director General of French charity Destin Commun, in turn spoke about the French context, and the opportunities for French civil society if the charity lottery model was available there. John Fleming, Chief Executive of Irish charity, the St John of God Foundation, which supports people living with intellectual disabilities, explained the situation in Ireland, and how the establishment of a charity lottery sector could open up a much-needed stream of long-term unrestricted funding, which would help charities like his.

So, what’s next? How do we make this a reality? That is where section three of the report comes in, where it provides governments with some dos and don’ts to help establish a successful charity lottery sector in their country as a way to support civil society. One of the great attractions for governments is of course that it is a policy decision which doesn’t cost them one euro, but which can support civil society which in turn supports communities in every corner of their country.

The dos and don’ts include:

• Do create a dedicated legal framework for charity lotteries – but don’t overcomplicate it
• Do enable them to thrive alongside state lotteries
• Do understand that what matters to civil society organisations is the amount of funds raised, not percentages
• Don’t treat charity lotteries like betting and casinos
• Don’t place limits on growing income
• Don’t tax them the same as profit-driven operators

To find out more about these dos and don’ts, as well as more details on the current challenges facing civil society, and the potential of the charity lottery model in Europe, I encourage you to read the report!