VMFC Sell Lottery Tickets To Raise Revenue

“Our main concern was around financing a lottery without taking money away from the club. Your Lottery meant the upfront risk is taken away as there’s no set-up fee and we don’t need to cover the prizes each week.”

Vauxhall Motors Football Club was formed in 1963 when the car factory opened growing into the largest semi-professional community focused football club in Cheshire, based in the heart of Ellesmere Port and South Wirral.

The club works tirelessly in order to deliver an effective and beneficial Community programme that will have a positive impact on the lives of the people in the local area and wider afield.

Each year 40,000 children, boys, and girls from aged five right through to open age enjoy our Five Star facilities including our two full-size all-weather pitches.

Vauxhall has around 50 qualified coaches who are supporting 47 Football teams as well as a development group on Saturday mornings helping children from age 5 to enjoy the game of football whilst delivering personal development. They also have our weekly Walking football for seniors.

Vauxhall Motors FC know their supporters well. Following a review of their fundraising activities, they identified some gaps in their portfolio that might appeal to both their existing supporter base and new supporters.

They have a strong and loyal following who are currently not financially supportive. They know that prize-led fundraising engages their supporters, but how could they connect with their base to encourage more incentivised giving?

After significant research, a lottery offered the perfect fit:

• a mix of digital platform driven, regular giving,
• and a prize-led giving focal point

AUDIT

Once the decision was made to progress with a lottery, Vauxhall researched the market and found our lottery product was the perfect fit. Compliant, easy to use, no up-front investment and high potential returns. Plus, additional support from the friendly team and guide-based resources meant that questions could quickly be answered.

“Our main concern was around financing a lottery without taking money away from the club. Your Lottery meant the upfront risk is taken away as there’s no set-up fee and we don’t need to cover the prizes each week.”

IMPLEMENTATION

Once the contract had been signed and the microsite had gone live, Tony Woodley, the chair of the club, recorded a video of himself speaking directly to the camera. In the video, he spoke of the costs of running the club and why the brand-new lottery would be such a help by providing a monthly revenue stream.

The video was then distributed to every manager in every age group so they could upload to their teams WhatsApp group with information on how to sign up online. Tony personally made sure every manager signed up and also held an internal competition. The winning manager who had more parents signed up than any other manager won a prize!

Tony continued to produce a few more videos giving updates on the lottery and thank people who had already joined. Every parent was handed a couple of paper forms each with the new season’s registration forms and the relevant manager was in charge of collecting them back and handing them in to the club.

Everyone who was connected to the club knew the importance of the lottery and the club saw growth from 0 to 200 members in only three months.

Continued promotion was conducted by having posters designed and displayed in and around the pitches and the club house. There was one large sign displayed in the main stand, all advertising the lottery and the website address. Recently QR codes, taking people directly to the microsite, appeared on posters around the club. Any winners had their photo taken holding a big promotional cheque that the club had made and then distributed on social media and all of the WhatsApp groups.

Finally, all lottery results were distributed every time a draw was made with a reminder on how to sign up.

With such a promising start they are now looking at an income generation plan for the future including donor journeys and looking at how to present their new offering with our ideas for acquisition and retention.

The lottery is a completely new product for Vauxhall. This has given them the opportunity to work collaboratively across the organisation, particularly with communications, to ensure a strong future push for the lottery for new and existing audiences. And it’s got their creative juices flowing, relishing the opportunity to have some fun and be a little more light-hearted with their messaging.

What’s more, once we had launched the product it took minimal training to get them up and running on the platform which is super intuitive to navigate and use.

Over 200 players recruited 12-weeks from launch without any ad spend.

Strengthened collaboration with fundraising activity bringing such a strong product to market.

Simple and straight-forward delivery of platform to the club

“Teamo aims to continue to provide the solutions faced by modern clubs.

Fundraising is a constant necessity so by bringing a simple, effective means that creates opportunities for clubs and members alike is a win-win for everybody”

John Nurse, Teamo CEO

Get in touch with The Clubhouse Project to see how you can boost your revenue through fundraising.