Because of You
Celebrating the extraordinary power of National Lottery players to change lives every day across the UK
Introduction
Because of You
Celebrating the extraordinary power of National Lottery players to change lives every day across the UK
NLPU: Who they are and what they do
The National Lottery Promotions Unit (NLPU) raises positive public awareness of National Lottery funding towards good causes, thereby contributing to the overall health of The National Lottery brand.
Through the One National Lottery approach – an agreed internal protocol within The National Lottery family to ensure consistency of messaging and promotion – the NLPU delivers campaigns that encompass traditional and digital media, uniting the National Lottery family, raising public awareness, and thanking National Lottery players for funding thousands of incredible projects across the UK.
The NLPU is a joint venture between the 12 National Lottery distributors, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the current operator, Allwyn. Six of the 12 Distributors and The Gambling Commission also sit on the NLPU’s Management Board to make decisions and steer strategy.
At the heart of the National Lottery family, the NLPU is uniquely placed to lead and drive programmes of work forward in a way that nobody else in The National Lottery family can.
Introduction
A message from the Chair
Because of You: A year of connection, collaboration, and impact
As Chair of the National Lottery Promotions Unit (NLPU) Management Board, it is a privilege to introduce this Annual Review and Accounts covering 2025/26.
Every week, National Lottery players raise over £33 million for good causes across the UK. Since the first draw in 1994, their participation has raised more than £53 billion for good causes and supported over 680,000 projects nationwide. The work of the NLPU exists to ensure that this extraordinary contribution is seen, heard and celebrated - that the people whose participation makes so much possible understand the difference they are making, and that those who receive funding are given the platform to tell their stories. 2025/26 has been a year in which the NLPU, working in close partnership with Allwyn and the 12 National Lottery distributors, has done exactly that across an ambitious programme of campaigns.
The context in which this work sits is also worth acknowledging. The cost-of-living continues to put pressure on communities and on the good causes that support them - arts venues, heritage sites, sports clubs, foodbanks, and community organisations across the UK are being asked to do more for more people, often with less. In this context, the role of National Lottery funding, and the work of making its impact visible to those who make it possible, feels more important than ever. Every story told in the pages that follow reflects a project, a person or a place where National Lottery players have made a tangible difference at a time when that difference matters.
A year of breadth and ambition
Three extensive campaigns and two major pieces of media activity carried National Lottery good causes to audiences in every corner of the UK, from early summer through to spring 2026. Each was designed to put the impact of National Lottery funding in front of audiences who might otherwise never have considered the connection between their participation and the projects, people and places that funding makes possible. Alongside the campaigns, the NLPU’s three year-round priorities - data, public affairs and grant acknowledgement - formed the framework through which the unit delivered its work.
Data, public affairs and grant acknowledgement
Off the back of the public-facing campaigns, the NLPU’s public affairs work has continued to deepen. The introduction of a bi-annual briefing
Introduction
A message from the Chair
Because of You: A year of connection, collaboration, and impact
pack programme, tailored to MPs by constituency and to Members of the devolved governments in each of the nations, has given elected representatives throughout the UK the evidence and stories they need to champion National Lottery funding in their own communities. A Westminster drop-in event to mark the National Lottery’s 31st Birthday provided a valuable moment to welcome newly elected representatives, and a visit by Baroness Twycross to the Foundling Museum during National Lottery Open Week demonstrated how targeted political engagement can translate into visible ministerial support for the good causes National Lottery funding makes possible.
Grant acknowledgement - ensuring that organisations funded by The National Lottery clearly credit that support - also remained one of the three priorities the Management Board agreed for the period, with National Lottery Open Week 2026 as the centrepiece, alongside grassroots clubs through the Summer of Sport campaign and Great British Castle Rescue on Sky HISTORY extending acknowledgement to a wider audience. The data workstream completed two stages of family-wide workshops and developed an outline business case for the Research and Development (R&D) Incubator project, alongside the full launch of STARS (Stories of Transformative and Remarkable Success) for Good Cause Summaries.
Closer alignment with Allwyn
Underpinning all of this has been a deepening partnership with Allwyn as the operator of The National Lottery. Shared measurement, shared priorities and a genuinely collaborative working relationship have brought the NLPU and Allwyn onto a consistent footing. This will serve as a firm foundation for the year ahead.
Thanks and acknowledgements
A year of this breadth and ambition does not happen without the commitment of many. On behalf of the Management Board, I extend my sincere thanks to the NLPU team for their dedication and creativity throughout the year; to colleagues at Allwyn for a genuinely collaborative partnership; and to the 12 National Lottery distributors, DCMS and The Gambling Commission for their support and guidance. Most of
all, my thanks go to National Lottery players – whose participation, week after week, makes every project, every campaign and every story in the pages that follow possible.
Darren Henley CEO, Arts
Council England
Chair, National Lottery Promotions Unit Management Board
2025/26 Objectives and impact
Measuring what matters: The reach, resonance, and real-world difference of the NLPU’s campaigns
The NLPU’s 2025/26 objectives
1. To increase awareness of the breadth, scale, and impact of National Lottery funding across the UK.
2. To promote the values of The National Lottery and increase positivity towards the good causes The National Lottery supports at a local and national level.
3. To reach as many people as possible in the UK in telling that story.
4. To champion One National Lottery best practice across The National Lottery family.
5. To grow consideration to play The National Lottery amongst players and non-players.
Update on the Strategic Framework – see Appendix (page 29)
The NLPU’s 2025/26 activities were underpinned by the Strategic Framework for 2024–27, which sets a clear vision: that by 2027, working alongside the whole National Lottery family, the NLPU will showcase the extraordinary positive impact of Good Causes funding across every corner of the UK, driving consideration to play, awareness of good cause funding and positivity towards the brand.
The framework is built around seven strategic perspectives: Strategic Planning, PR Campaigns, Digital, Data, Impact, Grant Acknowledgement and Public Affairs - with the agreed One National Lottery priorities for the period being Data, Public Affairs and Grant Acknowledgement.
2025/26 in numbers:
Summary of overall impact
2025/26 was a year of significant reach and audience engagement for the NLPU. Across three major campaigns and additional media activity, the NLPU’s communications activity connected National Lottery good causes with audiences across the full breadth of the UK. The headline measures are summarised below, with full detail on traditional media coverage, digital performance and evaluation methodology set out in the sections that follow.
10,731
Pieces of media coverage
3
Major campaigns plus two media activities
7.5M
Social media impressions (owned channels)
863,214
Total social media engagements
National Lottery brand positivity
Tracking brand impact and public sentiment
Public attitudes towards The National Lottery are tracked on Allwyn’s behalf through a large-scale brand survey of adults aged 18 and over. The table below sets out the average results across the full calendar years 2024 and 2025, covering the four measures most relevant to the NLPU’s remit: public recognition that The National Lottery contributes to good causes; recognition that it funds good causes relevant to the respondent; recognition that it funds good causes close to them; and overall positivity towards the brand.
The 2024 figures marked a new baseline under Allwyn’s tracking system, with measures from 2024 onwards on a consistent footing - enabling a like-for-like year-on-year comparison for the first time.
Measure
Source: Allwyn brand tracking, calendar years 2024 and 2025. Base: UK adults aged 18+. 2024 base size 12,000; 2025 figures supplied to the NLPU in April 2026.
All four measures moved in a positive direction between 2024 and 2025, with the strongest gains on brand positivity (+1.3 percentage points) and on the recognition that The National Lottery funds good causes close to the respondent (+0.9 percentage points). The NLPU’s campaigns throughout 2025 contributed to these positive shifts.
Media coverage and reach
A year of campaigns and coverage
The NLPU’s traditional media activity in 2025/26 delivered 10,731 pieces of coverage across national and regional outlets, spanning the year’s campaigns and media activity, collectively reached audiences across every part of the UK.
The NLPU has moved from Reach to Opportunities to See (OTS) as its primary measure of audience exposure, aligning with the operator and adopting joint media monitoring provision through UNICEPTA. OTS more closely aligns with Allwyn’s KPI framework and the NLPU’s objective of shifting awareness, positivity and consideration. The NLPU also aligns its own brand-level indicators with Allwyn’s KPI framework of Consideration, Trustworthiness and Awareness of Good Causes Relevant to Me – meaning campaign impact is now reported against a common set of measures across the family. Alongside this consistent core, the NLPU continues to explore best-practice evaluation methodology in dialogue with distributor bodies, including the principles set out in the UK Government’s Government Communication Service (GCS) Evaluation Cycle.
10,731
Total pieces of coverage (earned and paid)
3 Campaigns
Social media performance
Digital channels: Reach, engagement and growth
7.5M
Total impressions (1 A pril 2025–31 March 2026)
863,214
Total engagements (1 A pril 2025–31 March 2026)
Digital channels performed strongly in 2025/26. A consistent content strategy, delivered in close collaboration with distributors and external partners, drove year-on-year growth in engagement. Crossed Finger Selfie Day was once again a highlight of the annual calendar, delivering standout visibility and appearing among the Top 10 trending topics on X. Instagram’s collaborative posting features were used to amplify key messages through partner accounts and significantly boost reach.
Although headline impression figures appear lower than in the previous year, this reflects restrictions on platform analytics rather than a true reduction in reach – actual audience impact is acknowledged to be significantly greater than the figures indicate.
Digital audit
The NLPU is working with an external agency on a digital audit across its social media, website and newsletter presence. Interim findings confirm that the NLPU’s channels play a distinct role within the National Lottery ecosystem – able to operate across nations, funding areas, and topics not always accessible to other family channels. Full findings will be presented later in 2026 to inform future digital strategy.
Four-year digital performance comparison
The table below sets out the NLPU’s owned social media impressions and engagements across the past four financial years. Figures are not always directly comparable year on year, as changes to social media platforms and the availability of analytics data have affected measurement across this period. In 2024/25 and 2025/26, platform restrictions mean that reported impressions are an undercount of true reach.
*Data sourced from Meta Business Suite (paid Instagram and Facebook advertisements) and Sprout Profile Performance analytics. Figures for 2024/25 and 2025/26 are acknowledged to be underreported due to changes in social media platforms and restrictions on available analytics data; true reach and impact in both years are greater than the figures indicate.
Part two Campaign delivery 2025–26
Because of You: Telling the story of what National Lottery players make possible
Summary of campaigns 2025–26
Every week, National Lottery players raise over £33 million for good causes across the UK. The NLPU’s campaigns in 2025/26 set out to make that extraordinary contribution impossible to ignore – connecting players with the projects, people and communities they make possible, through a diverse and ambitious portfolio of activity.
This year’s headline theme, ‘Because of You’, places the player at the very centre of the story: not just as a contributor, but as the reason that so much of what enriches UK life is able to exist at all.
The NLPU’s cross-distributor campaign programme in 2025/26 delivered two integrated activities under a single creative umbrella. ‘Next Generation Game Changers’ carried the momentum of the 2024 30th-birthday campaign forward for a younger audience, and ‘Because of You’ launched as the year’s unifying creative thread – a durable narrative platform that the wider National Lottery family can continue to build on.
The campaigns and pillar updates that follow set out how the NLPU strategy was delivered in 2025/26, and how alignment with Allwyn has brought campaign impact onto a consistent footing for reporting going forward.
Next Generation Game Changers Campaign launched May 2025
Carrying the game changers story forward for a younger audience
Building on The National Lottery’s 30th birthday ‘Game Changers’ campaign, the NLPU launched ‘Next Generation Game Changers’ in May 2025, carrying that thinking forward with a renewed focus on a younger audience. The campaign explored how 18-30-year-olds define inspiration today and where they are finding it, reinforcing The National Lottery’s role in backing positive change rooted in real lives and real communities.
New research commissioned for the campaign revealed a powerful shift away from online influence towards everyday role models. Young adults across the UK are increasingly inspired by those closest to them – parents, grandparents, friends, colleagues and even bossesproving that meaningful influence comes from lived relationships rather than digital personas. Crucially, this audience is not only looking for role models but actively becoming them.
Next Generation Game Changers
Campaign launched May 2025
Bringing the insights to life through storytelling and partnerships
The campaign brought these insights to life through impactful storytelling and partnerships. A collaborative Instagram partnership featuring Layton Williams and case study Simisolaoluwa Akandesupported by the British Film Institute - achieved more than 60,000 views, outperforming Layton Williams’ average Reels tenfold. A wider digital partnership with KOMI Group extended the conversation further, with content based on the research generating more than 3 million views.
225 Pieces of coverage generated
3M+
Views via Komi Group digital partnership
Campaign reach and resonance
The work delivered significant national visibility. Four national print and online pieces were secured alongside 221 regional and consumer titles, reaching more than 115.6 million people. Broadcast coverage included 10 regional placements and two national features, adding a further 2.6 million reach. In total, the campaign achieved a reach of over 118 million, demonstrating strong resonance with a younger audience and reaffirming real-world inspiration as a catalyst for change.
118M+
Total campaign reach
60K+
Views on Layton Williams Instagram partnership
Because of You: Synopsis, impact and evaluation Campaign delivered Autumn 2025
Placing the player at the heart of the story
Campaign overview
In 2025/26, the NLPU evolved its traditional birthday and cross-distributor activity with the launch of ‘Because of You’. Building on the 30th anniversary ‘Game Changers’ activity, the campaign shifted focus from celebration to connection - reminding players across the UK that life-changing community projects exist because of their play. Its two priorities were to champion the individuals and organisations transforming communities with National Lottery funding, and to emotionally reconnect players to that impact through authentic, human-led storytelling.
The central creative idea - ‘Capture Surprise. Spark Delight. Make Impact Unmissable.’ - came to life through five hero films. Each captured an unscripted ‘surprise and delight’ moment as trusted cultural figures revealed funding to beneficiaries across The National Lottery’s key sectors: Film, Heritage, Art, Sport, and Community. The campaign was anchored by Chief Storyteller Claudia Winkleman, whose reveal in the role became the campaign’s defining launch moment.
4,266
Pieces of coverage generated
Combined audience reach
Ambassadors joined Claudia, each chosen for their connection to the cause they represented: Celia Imrie surprised Warwick Arts Centre with British Film Institute funding; Beverley Knight delivered a surprise grant to a Windrush-focused National Lottery Heritage Fund project during Black History Month; Jordan Stephens visited Appetite in Stoke-on-Trent, an Arts Council England Creative People and Places programme; Chloe Kelly surprised South London schoolgirls at a Sport England-funded grassroots football initiative; and AJ Odudu visited Taff-Ely Foodbank in Wales, supported by The National Lottery Community Fund.
The campaign was delivered through a fully integrated ecosystem spanning owned, paid and earned channels, with influencers and micro-creators playing a larger role than in previous years. A digital partnership with JOE successfully connected with younger audiences through human-interest storytelling.
Because of You: Synopsis, impact and evaluation Campaign delivered Autumn 2025
Stand-out moments
A standout additional moment came via Allwyn’s partnership with Chris Evans and Virgin Radio, where a live on-air surprise awarded £20,000 to the Wonder Foundation on the anniversary of the first National Lottery draw. Activity concluded by reuniting ‘Traitors’ co-stars Claudia Winkleman and Celia Imrie at the British Film Institute (BFI) Southbank for a social-first moment, as they revisited and reacted to film content from the campaign.
The annual Crossed Finger Selfie birthday activity generated 8.5 million potential impressions, 732 posts, 12,360 engagements and 100% positive sentiment, with ‘National Lottery’ trending on X in the UK and participation from iconic National Lottery-funded venues including the National Theatre, Roman Baths, Exeter Cathedral and Wales Millennium Centre.
Findings of the campaign evaluation
Earned media delivery was strong, combining regional depth with high-impact national visibility. Coverage spanned broadcast, print, online and radio, with neartotal inclusion of key campaign messages and assets. In total, the campaign generated 4,266 pieces of coverage with a combined audience reach of 81 million. National placements in titles including BBC News, Good Morning Britain, Dazed and Stylist positioned The National Lottery in influential cultural spaces, while regional storytelling grounded the campaign locally.
Influencer and micro-creator content generated almost 500,000 views with above-average engagement rates of 2.4%, while the JOE digital partnership achieved 5.1 million views, connecting authentically with younger, non-traditional National Lottery audiences. The Crossed Finger Selfie Day activity returned 100% positive sentiment. Taken together, ‘Because of You’ made impact visible, emotional, and shared - demonstrating not just what The National Lottery funds, but why it matters, and how it can only happen because of National Lottery players.
NLPU Sports Campaigns 2025-26
The NLPU’s sports campaigns focus on major events in the sporting calendar, using them as powerful platforms to demonstrate how National Lottery funding makes a tangible, positive difference to sport at all levels – from grassroots clubs to the elite athletes who represent Team GB on the world stage. Allwyn, as operator of The National Lottery, aims to change lives every day by increasing funding for National Lottery-funded projects – and these campaigns put that ambition into vivid, human relief.
A summer to remember: Women’s Sport 2025
UEFA Women’s Euro 2025: 2–27 July 2025 (Switzerland) | Women’s Rugby World Cup: 22 August – 27 September 2025 (England) | World Athletics Championships: 13–21 September 2025 (Tokyo)
4,318
Pieces of coverage generated
55 Influencers, creators & digital platforms engaged
85%
Content shared via partner, ambassador & influencer channels
70 High-quality national broadcast hits
33.6M
Estimated coverage views
NLPU Sports Campaigns 2025-26
The summer of 2025 saw three major sporting tournaments take place in close succession: the UEFA Women’s Euros in Switzerland, the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The NLPU’s campaign across the three tournaments set out to connect National Lottery players with the £6 billion invested in grassroots sport over 30 years - telling that story through powerful, credible voices at moments of genuine national excitement.
The Women’s Euros in Switzerland generated 1,501 pieces of coverage and content, reaching a combined TV audience of 54 million and a social reach of 78 million. The standout moments came at National Lottery-funded grassroots clubs across the UK: a live outside broadcast from Gwalia United ahead of Wales’s historic first major tournament campaign, landing on ITV Wales, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 5 Live; a takeover of the Coronation Street cobbles with seven National Lottery-funded clubs, featuring in ITV’s Saturday night pre-match build-up; and the unveiling of a mural dedicated to Alessia Russo at Bearsted FC, the Lionesses striker’s first grassroots club, which secured coverage on BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Sky Sports News and This Morning.
The Women’s Rugby World Cup, hosted in England, was as close to a home tournament as it could be for all four nations - with Scotland, Wales and England all competing, and players from Northern Ireland
representing Ireland. The tournament generated 2,801 pieces of coverage, reaching a TV audience of 33.6 million and a social reach of 50.7 million. Simultaneous activations at National Lottery-funded clubs in Enniskillen, Cardiff Quins, Reading Abbey, and Bishopton gave the campaign a genuine all-nations presence, landing on Sky News, BBC Radio 4 Today, ITV Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. For the final, rugby legend Maggie Alphonsi was paired with Lionesses star Lucy Bronze at Richmond Rugby - securing coverage on Good Morning Britain, BBC Radio 5 Live and ITV News. The World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, fronted by two-time 400m World Champion and Olympic gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu, contributed a further 16 pieces of coverage, reaching a TV audience of 2 million and a radio listenership of 7.29 million.
Across the three tournaments, the Summer of Sport was also the NLPU’s first campaign to deploy influencers at scale: 55 influencers, creators and digital platforms across the three sports, more than double the original target of 25. Football influencers generated 157,000 views and 4,100 interactions: rugby influencers 300,000 views and 5,700 interactions. Content that felt native to creators’ own feeds consistently outperformed more straightforward messaging - a learning that will inform all future campaigns.
Going for Gold: Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games 2026
Winter Olympics: 6–22 February 2026 | Winter Paralympics: 6–15 March 2026 (Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy)
261 Pieces of coverage
278M Broadcast OTS
4 High-quality lifestyle media features
18 High-quality national broadcast hits
7.78M Estimated coverage views
11 Influencers engaged across the campaign
Going for Gold: Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games 2026
The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games campaign delivered results well more than target on every metric - a significant achievement given that budget had been deliberately redirected towards the Women’s Rugby World Cup, in recognition of the unique opportunity of that tournament being hosted in England. Working within a leaner budget, the campaign’s fully integrated approach combining ambassador placement, athlete lifestyle features, targeted influencer content, and a live community activation, proved highly effective. Every KPI was exceeded: 261 pieces of coverage against a target of 200; 18 national broadcast hits against a target of five; four highquality lifestyle features against a target of two; and six digital assets against a target of five.
Ambassadors Lizzy Yarnold and Kelly Gallagher anchored the media strategy. Yarnold secured 11 national media placements and 78 regional pieces including in-studio features on BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky News and a written feature in The Sun. Gallagher generated six major coverage pieces reaching a broadcast audience of 21.9 million, with interviews from the morning of the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Reactive medal-moment coverage delivered a further 12 pieces reaching 17.3 million TV viewers and 29.6 million radio listeners. Lifestyle features placed winter athletes in Women’s Health, OK! Magazine, the Mirror, and Enable Magazine - taking the National Lottery story beyond sports audiences and delivering all four targeted lifestyle features against a target of two.
Two flagship activations anchored the campaign. The WIN-ter Challenge - an influencer event at the University of Bath with the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association, fronted by Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas – engaged four influencers from different fitness niches, generating ten pieces of social content and reaching 1.1 million people. The Curling in Stirling community activation at the National Lottery-funded National Curling Centre generated 80 pieces of coverage and five national broadcast hits including BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky News. GB Snowsport’s postGames feedback confirmed significant increases in bookings at home-nations snowsport centres, with at least two taking on additional staff to meet demand. Team GB reported a 205% uplift in earned media mentions during the Games period, with National Lottery content receiving 2.67 million impressions and 916,000 views across Team GB’s Instagram and Facebook channels.
YouGov research conducted in March 2026 found that The National Lottery was the second most recalled brand associated with Team GB at the Milan-Cortina Games – behind only adidas, and ahead of all International Olympic Committee (IOC), TOP (The Olympic Partner) programme sponsors and British Olympic Association (BOA) official partners.
National Lottery Open Week 2026
Saturday 7 – Sunday 15 March 2026
Opening doors, connecting players to the good causes they make possible
National Lottery Open Week 2026 positioned a National Lottery ticket as a passport to discovery, unlocking the UK’s hidden gems and thanking players for the more than £33 million they raise every week. Actor Joanna Page served as campaign ambassador. The campaign ran simultaneously alongside Great British Castle Rescue on Sky HISTORY – with both benefitting from the overlap.
National Lottery Open Week 2026
Saturday 7 – Sunday 15 March 2026
756
Offers uploaded from over 320 organisations
11/12
Distributors represented across the UK
20
Broadcast pieces (2 national)
50% Of participating organisations new to National Lottery Open Week
1,152
Pieces of total media coverage (459 earned + 693 paid)
128.7M
Earned-media OTS
The campaign generated 1,152 pieces of total coverage of which 459 was earned media, including 380 print and online articles and 20 broadcast pieces (2 national broadcast). Eleven per cent of earned coverage appeared in lifestyle titles such as House Beautiful, OK! Magazine and Amateur Photographer, reaching audiences beyond the traditional National Lottery demographic. Ninety-five per cent of articles (436 of 459) mentioned partners and projects taking part, with 49 partner organisations featured by name. Earned coverage generated 128.7 million OTS, of which 112 million was generated for partners.
Digital performance
The NLPU’s digital team partnered on 20 collaborative posts with participating venues, generating more than double the views of the equivalent activity in the previous year. Thirty-five pieces of influencer content from nine partnerships, alongside Joanna Page’s own posts, achieved a total organic reach of more than half a million. New paid partnerships with Reddit and Acast both exceeded industry benchmarks and returning partnerships with Virgin Radio and Time Out further extended the campaign’s reach.
The NLPU’s data journalism also supported the campaign, with a first-of-its-kind place-based deep-dive published for National Lottery Open Week, drawing on five site visits to National Lottery-funded venues across Greater Manchester and combining interviews, exclusive audio recordings, original photography and data visualisation to tell a single, connected story of funding’s impact across a major UK city region.
National Lottery Open Week 2026
Saturday 7 – Sunday 15 March 2026
In their own words: Voices from the participating venues
Feedback from participating venues across the UK reinforced the campaign’s impact on the ground. Quotes below are drawn from the NLPU’s post-campaign survey of participating organisations and have been selected to represent the experience of venues across all four nations.
ENGLAND Glenside Hospital Museum, Bristol
It was incredibly successful and surpassed our wildest dreams in terms of paid visitor numbers. When we’ve participated in open days in the past, we’ve had up to 400 visitors in a day, but our second Lottery open day we hosted over 500 paid visitors.
SCOTLAND The National Trust for Scotland
National Lottery Open Week is a terrific opportunity for us to thank the National Lottery and every Lottery player for the tremendous support they provide to our projects, places, and people. Just as importantly, it’s a moment for our properties to open their doors wide – to welcome and thank Lottery players in person, to encourage local communities to visit, and to build new relationships with people who may not yet know the NTS well.
It is a really easy way of increasing awareness, and it also helps acknowledge the Lottery in a more fun way than a plaque or sign. WALES Hay Castle
It really made people think about the difference that Lottery money can make, and how the projects like us are having a major impact on people and places.
Broadcast – Great British Castle Rescue
Three-part series on Sky HISTORY, from Monday 9 March 2026
National Lottery funding on the nation’s screens
Great British Castle Rescue brought National Lottery heritage funding to mainstream television through a three-part series on Sky HISTORY, exploring some of the most complex and ambitious heritage restoration projects undertaken across the UK in recent years, and the critical role of National Lottery funding in saving them. Great British Castle Rescue is the first national broadcast series the NLPU has successfully created – and the first major delivery against a broadcast strategy designed to establish whether there was a credible, editorially sound place for National Lottery good causes stories on mainstream television.
Working in partnership with independent production agency FirstLook TV, the NLPU developed a concept built around the restoration of well-known castles made possible through National Lottery funding. Sky HISTORY committed to acquire the series. BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Rick Edwards was confirmed as the onscreen lead, and six National Lottery-funded castles were selected with approval from both the NLPU and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The three-part series explored the complex restoration projects that have taken place over the last decade and the role National Lottery funding played in shaping and saving them. It aired on Sky HISTORY from Monday 9 March 2026. Alongside the broadcast, a comprehensive PR campaign ran in parallel with National Lottery Open Week 2026, with each campaign extending the reach and resonance of the other. Rick Edwards served as the principal spokesperson, alongside contributors from the series including Simon Thurley, Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The PR campaign generated 29 pieces of coverage carrying National Lottery key messages, with a further 89 pieces arising from interviews arranged by Sky HISTORY that referenced the show without National Lottery key messages. Consolidated broadcast viewing figures from Sky HISTORY were still awaited at the time of this Review, and full evaluation of the campaign’s PR impact remains ongoing.
Bradford City of Culture
UK City of Culture 2025 – year-long programme, January 2025 to early 2026
With £15.6 million of National Lottery funding invested into Bradford’s UK City of Culture programme, the NLPU led a bespoke crossdistributor media activation to highlight that investment during the city’s celebratory year and to connect players with the good causes their contributions make possible.
The campaign took a digital-first approach. Four films commissioned for NLPU and distributor channels featured projects supported by Arts Council England, the BFI, The National Lottery Community Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. A Komi digital media partnership saw four further films, covering seven community projects, viewed more than eight million times across TikTok, Facebook and Instagram - over-delivering on forecasted views by 9.8%. The campaign drove a six percentage point increase in understanding that playing The National Lottery funds good causes, and a five percentage point increase in likelihood to consider playing.
It was great to be spotlighted through The National Lottery – it felt like the right fit, and we wanted to elevate our work at this important time.
Maria Thelwell, Executive Producer, Mind the Gap
The traditional media campaign was anchored by Mind the Gap - a National Lottery-funded Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation in Bradfordwhose premiere of new theatre production ‘The Invite’ gave the campaign extended reach beyond the autumn timeframe. Regional media coverage of 484 pieces reached 21.1 million people in total (20.6 million in print and online and 489,000 via broadcast), with broadcast highlights including the BBC Radio Leeds Breakfast Show and ITV Calendar. Local influencer Irene Kaali, the BBC’s former Voice of Bradford, further amplified the campaign. Editorial pick-up and earned coverage followed in regional and local media, supported by dataled stories produced by the NLPU’s Data Journalist to give the funding story added depth and reach.
484
Pieces of regional media coverage
21.1m
Total media reach
8M+
Komi film views (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram)
Stakeholder engagement and public affairs
Delivered throughout 2025/26
Strengthening political understanding of the National Lottery across all four nations
In 2025/26, the NLPU’s public affairs function delivered a structured, year-round programme of engagement with elected representatives across all four UK nations, focused on putting evidence and stories of National Lottery funding’s impact in front of those who shape policy and champion communities.
A central pillar of the year’s work was the introduction of a bi-annual briefing pack programme. MPs receive constituency-level data on local National Lottery impact; Members of the Senedd, the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly receive nationfocused updates. Alongside the briefing packs, the NLPU developed and rolled out a Public Affairs Toolkit, providing ready-to-use messaging, local grant data, and guidance on how to celebrate project success online and how to engage with funded projects.
The National Lottery’s 31st Birthday provided another significant moment for parliamentary engagement. A Westminster drop-in event brought National Lottery distributors, The Gambling Commission and MPs from across the UK together to mark the milestone, with the opportunity to welcome newly elected representatives into the National Lottery fold.
The function also took a more proactive role in communicating National Lottery campaigns directly to elected representatives. Briefings on campaigns including National Lottery Open Week and Great British Castle Rescue created pathways for parliamentarians to engage with funded projects in their own communities. During National Lottery Open Week 2026, a targeted communication to all elected members resulted in over 30 positive interactions, with several representatives amplifying the Open Week message through their own channels.
Baroness Twycross, Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling, visited the Foundling Museum in London during National Lottery Open Week, witnessing first-hand the impact of National Lottery investment on heritage and communities. The visit was well received by both the venue and DCMS.
“The powerful stories that the Foundling Museum tells of people who have been in care are both poignant and empowering - and it’s thanks to the National Lottery, raising over £33 million each week for good causes, that these important histories can be told. It was a pleasure to visit, just as all National Lottery players are enjoying free entry, discounts, and special offers in sites like these across the country this week. The National Lottery has helped more than 680,000 projects across the UK, and I encourage everyone to make the most of one local to them.
2025/26 marked a shift in the NLPU’s public affairs work from reactive, moment-led activity to a yearround, structured discipline across Westminster and the devolved nations. By the end of the year, the NLPU’s Public Affairs 2026/27 plan had been completed and shared with the Public Affairs Forum, and one-to-one sessions had begun with distributors and nation representatives to align plans, share feedback and identify opportunities for collaboration across the year ahead.
Speaking at the visit, Baroness Twycross said:
Data project updates Delivered throughout 2025/26
Transforming the National Lottery’s data landscape
2025/26 saw significant progress on two fronts: developing the long-term data strategy, and launching the platform for creating, managing, and sharing Good Cause Summaries across the National Lottery family. The headline achievements were the launch of STARS (Stories of Transformative and Remarkable Success) - the central database for Good Cause Summaries - and the development of technical solutions to long-standing barriers to better data sharing and use.
Developing the data strategy
Working with the Data Forum, the NLPU led a consultancy project to tackle three long-standing challenges with grants data: grant taxonomy, recipient identification, and grant location. Once addressed,
these solutions will enable far more accurate analysis of National Lottery funding impact by thematic area, place, and recipient. Teams across the family were also consulted on their data needs, informing the next stage: a Research and Development (R&D) Incubator project to prototype state-of-the-art data analysis and visualisation. Procurement was under way by the close of the financial year.
Good
cause summaries and STARS
The STARS system, developed as a prototype in 2024/25, completed testing and launched fully in 2025/26, enabling distributors to supply a regular monthly flow of Good Cause Summaries to Allwyn. Governance through a Memorandum of Understanding and Data Sharing Agreement was progressed throughout the year, with family-wide agreement close to finalisation by year-end.
Responsible stewardship of resources in service of the National Lottery’s mission
Financial Report 2025–26
The NLPU Management Board determines the budget on an annual basis. In 2025/26, the NLPU worked to a total budget of £4 million. The operator is liable for one third of the budget, with the remaining two thirds deducted from the contribution payable to the Secretary of State. Payments to the NLPU which the Licensee is required to make are covered under Condition 13.6 of The Fourth National Lottery Licence.
Total income:
£4,069,049
Total expenditure: £3,925,006
Underspend: £144,043
As part of its strategic planning during 2025/26, the NLPU worked with stakeholders to optimise resource allocation and demonstrate clear return on investment. The NLPU returned an underspend of £144,043 against the annual budget, reflecting responsible stewardship of resources whilst maintaining a full and ambitious programme of campaign delivery across the year.
Campaign budget breakdown
Game Changers (‘Because of You’ campaign):
£935,000
Sport (Summer of Sport and Winter Games):
£835,000
National Lottery Open Week: £194,000
Broadcast (Great British Castle Rescue): £400,000
Channels and digital: £70,000
Evaluation and data: £360,000
Staffing, operational & administration costs: £1,111,563
Total expenditure: £3,925,006
Looking to the future
2026/27 and beyond: Building on what the NLPU has achieved
Looking to the future: 2026/27 Objectives
Target objectives 2026/27
1. Grow consideration to play The National Lottery amongst players and non-players, through delivering compelling campaigns
2. Increase awareness of the breadth, scale, and impact of National Lottery funding at a local and national level.
3. Increase positivity towards The National Lottery brand.
Enabling objectives 2026/27
4. Reach defined target audiences in the UK in telling that story at scale.
5. Align with the operator and distributors on specific consumer campaigns to support One National Lottery’s business objectives.
The Strategic Framework: Ambition and plans for 2026/27
Planning for 2026/27 has drawn on the Allwyncommissioned ‘Better Ways of Working’ review, campaign evaluations, strategic guidance from the Management Board, and the shared priorities agreed across the National Lottery family. A defining feature of the plan is closer alignment between the NLPU and Allwyn, with the NLPU’s ‘Because of You’ campaign serving as the connecting thread between NLPU-led communications and wider National Lottery good causes storytelling.
From 2026/27, campaign effectiveness will be measured consistently against three agreed brand KPIs (Consideration, Trustworthy, and Awareness of Good Causes Relevant to Me), bringing the NLPU and Allwyn onto a shared measurement footing. The NLPU continues to explore best practice evaluation methodology alongside distributor bodies, working collaboratively with the operator to ensure consistent measurement across all campaigns.
Campaign delivery in 2026/27 is built around three connected moments. ‘Because of You’ will return as the cross-distributor campaign, continuing the narrative platform established in 2025/26. The year’s major sporting moment is the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games (23 July to 3 August), where the NLPU will lead a PR and digital campaign linking National Lottery funding to athletes from all four nations and to communities in and around Glasgow. National Lottery Open Week will return for its next edition, drawing on full evaluation of the 2026 campaign, and continuing the approach of
integrating with other NLPU activity where it adds value. Alongside these moments, ‘Always On’ launches as a new, properly resourced programme to sustain National Lottery good causes visibility between major campaigns through strategic partnerships across media, talent and content creators, governed by a Social Editorial Board established with Allwyn.
The three One National Lottery priorities - data, public affairs and grant acknowledgement - will continue to underpin the NLPU’s work. On data, the Research and Development Incubator project will move into its next phase to prototype state-of-the-art analysis and visualisation of family-wide grant data, alongside expanded use of STARS for Good Cause Summaries and a continued programme of data-led journalism across all four nations. Public affairs activity will remain year-round, structured around regular briefing packs to elected representatives, stakeholder engagement around Glasgow and other moments, and a unified Public Affairs Toolkit across the family. Grant acknowledgement will be re-established as a focus for the Communications Forum, supported by training, with work also under way to explore a ‘ready to use’ toolkit for beneficiary organisations. The NLPU will also review the opportunities presented by the Fourth National Lottery Licence and complete a SWOT analysis of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s approach to identify best practice that can be embedded elsewhere across the family.
Appendix
The National Lottery Promotions Unit Strategic Framework 2024–27
Vision
Mission
Objectives
Guiding one national lottery principles of NLPU
Stakeholders & external audiences
By 2027, working alongside the whole The TNL family, we will showcase the extraordinary positive impact Good Causes funding has across every corner of the UK, to increase overall levels of consideration to play, awareness of good cause funding and positivity towards the brand.
The National Lottery Promotions Unit (NLPU) raises positive public awareness of National Lottery funding, thereby contributing to the overall brand health of The National Lottery. We do this through storytelling by demonstrating where National Lottery funding has been delivered and showcasing the impact, particularly at a local level, across the UK. We champion One National Lottery best practice and play a lead role in co-ordinating data insights across the National Lottery family.
Target objectives: 1. Grow consideration to play The National Lottery amongst players and non-players, through delivering campaigns (e.g. 30th Birthday). 2. Increase awareness of the breadth, scale and impact of National Lottery funding at a local and national level; 3. Increase positivity towards The National Lottery brand; Enabling objectives: 1. Reach defined target audiences in the UK in telling that story at scale and; 2. Align with the operator and distributors on specific consumer campaigns to support One National Lottery's business objectives.
Inclusive - Diverse - Positive - Trustworthy - Solution Focused - CollaborativeCreative - Equitable
Stakeholders: All TNL funding distributors - TNL Projects And Beneficiaries - Gambling Commission - DCMS - NLPU Management Board - Operator External Audiences: TNL Players - Non-Player Consumers - Media - Wider GovernmentDevolved Governments
Strategic Framework and Plans 2023–27
Further develop family-wide planning cycles (working with Strategy Directors)
Align with Allwyn and distributor good cause priorities
Gain intelligent insight of impact of NLPU campaign work on behaviour & attitudes
NLPU business as usual activity to be delivered during this period
TNL30 & Birthday moments across family
Sport—Olympic & Paralympic and other major events
National Lottery Open Week
Deliver ambitious digital strategy through high impact partnerships aimed at hard to reach younger audiences
Grow content creation of owned channels across TNL family to increase reach, particularly of new and hyperlocal audiences
Innovate and share best practice
Work alongside TNL family to enhance data insights and data storytelling
Create an effective flow of data across the family
Continuously improve mechanisms across the family to supply Allwyn's CRM-based comms with content
Evolve The National Lottery database to provide a coherent and insightful aggregated view of grants data
Help to showcase the value of TNL funding to external audiences through better data storytelling
Strengthen the use of impact assessment across the family
Establish an impactbased framework of One National Lottery value-formoney KPis
Champion One National Lottery & support internal communications across the family
Work with family & operator to strengthen brand acknowledgement by grantees
Optimise value of Allwyn's CRM-based comms for grant acknowledgement
Raise awareness amongst political stakeholders about the money raised by players, the return to Good Causes, TNL funding, and the distributors who distribute it
Develop The National Lottery family's political stakeholder strategy to facilitate for more engagement with elected representatives across the UK
Work alongside distributors to identify policy/legislative issues of shared strategic importance