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GAME
Co-founder & CEO of TheGivingMachine, Richard Morris explains how its lottery is a lifeline for community causes 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 HOW IT COME ABOUT Icons from www.flaticon.com - Charity by Freepik; Web by Pixel perfect
I launched TheGivingMachine in 2006 with three other Hertfordshirebased 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.
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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 PLATFROMS?
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
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