FAQ

Community Lottery

Most popular questions...

• What’s the deadline for returning our tickets and funds?

  Check out Community Lottery key dates, and add them to your organisation’s calendar.

• How do we stay informed of Lottery updates?

  The Community Lottery website is updated regularly with all the latest Lottery updates and we’ll send emails to the nominated contact person at your organisation with important info, too.

• When and where will the draw be conducted?

  Prize draws take place at People’s Choice Credit Union’s head office at 50 Flinders Street in Adelaide. If you want to come along for the draw, please report to the reception desk at level 14.

  2020 Community Lottery key dates

  Community Lottery group applications open	TBC
  Online ticket sales begin	TBC
  Online sales for Early Bird prize close	TBC
  Early bird online ticket prize draw	TBC
  Early bird prize winner advertised	TBC
  Paper tickets distributed and sales begin	TBC
  Ticket sales close 11.59pm ACST	TBC
  Prize draw	TBC
  Prize winners advertised	TBC

• How do we retrieve the funds raised?

  Your organisation will receive 100% of each and every $2 ticket you sell.
  Funds from tickets purchased online for your organisation will be paid into your organisation’s account via direct deposit, you’ll receive your fundraising payment within four weeks of the ticket sales end date.

  If your organisation returns sold paper tickets, and all funds raised, to your organisation’s nominated branch by the ticket sales end date, you’ll receive your fundraising payment within four weeks.

  Fundraising deposits received after the ticket sales end date may take up to eight weeks to be returned to your organisation.

• What about GST?

  The participating organisation will receive 100% of funds raised back to their organisation. It is the responsibility of the individual organisation to determine if they are required to be registered for GST. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the individual organisation to determine if they are liable to report and pay GST on any funds received from the Community Lottery. To assist in the remittance of funds, organisations will need to provide their ABN as part of their application to the Community Lottery.  

More questions...

• Can my organisation open an account with People’s Choice?

  Yes! People’s Choice offers an account for both incorporated or unincorporated community groups.
  If your organisation or your members would like to consider opening a Business Account, simply follow the steps by clicking here.

• Can an organisation buy tickets?

  Tickets can’t be purchased in the name of an organisation, but they be purchased in the name of a President, Secretary or Treasurer, with any prizes won going to the organisation.

• Why am I not receiving Community Lottery emails to my Gmail account?

  In case your Gmail account marks Community Lottery emails as spam, please follow the below simple steps to add Community Lottery as a whitelist in Gmail

  Step 1: Log in to your Gmail account

  Step 2: Click on the Settings cog in the top-right corner and go to Mail settings.

  Step 3: Select the Filters tab from the choices

  Step 4: Click on Create a new filter, near the bottom

  Step 5: In the From field, add ‘People’s Choice Credit Union’ and ‘Community Lottery’ so our emails never land in your spam folder, using capital OR between each address/name.

  Step 6: Click the Next Step button after you're finished entering all the information.

  Step 7: Tick the box next to Never send it to spam and then click Create Filter.

  That's it! Now you’re all set up to never miss an important Community Lottery email. Who knows you could be one of our lucky winners!

• What is the People's Choice Community Lottery?

  Community groups across Australia have raised almost $19 million through the People’s Choice Community Lottery since 1984.

  The Lottery makes fundraising easy for the sporting clubs, schools, pre-schools and other not-for-profit organisations with participating groups keeping 100% from every $2 ticket they sell.

  People’s Choice and our partners meet all the costs associated with prizes, promotional material, advertising, printing of tickets, and coordinate all administrative essentials such as distribution, licensing, and statutory requirements - leaving participating organisations clear of any cost.

• What are the prizes on offer?

  2020 Community Lottery Prize list coming soon.

• How do I know if I've won a prize?

  The Early Bird prize draw will take place at 50 Flinders Street Adelaide and winning ticket number published in the Adelaide Advertiser and on our website communitylottery.com.au.

  The final draw will take place at 50 Flinders Street Adelaide and winning ticket number published in the Adelaide Advertiser and on our website communitylottery.com.au.

  Prize draws take place at People’s Choice Credit Union’s head office at 50 Flinders Street in Adelaide. If you want to come along for the draw, please report to the reception desk at level 14.

• How many tickets are available in the Community Lottery?

  There are 900,000 Community Lottery tickets. With each ticket priced at $2, that’s a potential  $1.8 million returned to the community.

• We sold tickets last year. How do we sign up again?

  You’ll receive an email to your organisation’s nominated address with login details to apply for the lottery again this year. Here, you can login to review your profile, set up your online fundraising page and request paper ticket books.

• How many tickets can we apply to sell?

  With 900,000 Community Lottery tickets to be sold, we ask that each participating organisation sells a minimum of five books, or 50 paper tickets.

  All requests for Community Lottery paper tickets are capped at 1,000 books, or 10,000 tickets, per organisation.

  Sales of online tickets, however, have no limits per organisation and do not affect your allocation of paper tickets. Upon registering to participate in the Lottery, your organisation will automatically be signed up to sell tickets online.

• Where do we pick up and return paper tickets?

  Collection and return of your Community Lottery paper tickets will be from your nominated People’s Choice Credit Union branch, as specified upon application. 

• Is there any cost for participating in the Community Lottery?

  No, there is no cost whatsoever to participate in the People’s Choice Community Lottery. With the support of our business and media partners, People’s Choice meets all costs associated with the Lottery, including the provision of prizes, printing of tickets and display material, point of sale opportunities, administration, advertising and promotion.

• Is my organisation eligible to participate?
  • Is your organisation a not-for-profit sporting club, registered charity, school, pre-schools, kindergarten or community group?
  • Are you located in South Australia, Victoria, the ACT or the Northern Territory?
  • Would all money raised in the Community Lottery be returned for the sole benefit of the organisation?

  If you answered yes to all of the above, then you could be eligible to participate.

  Groups that are ineligible to participate include individuals, private enterprises and corporate social clubs.

• How can my organisation apply to sell tickets?

  If you’re new to the Community Lottery, just complete an online application to sell tickets.

• Who can sell paper tickets on behalf of my organisation?

  You can nominate ticket sellers for your organisation on your application, and we’ll provide certificates of authority for them to sell Lottery tickets on behalf of your group.

  Sellers of Community Lottery tickets must be 15 years or older, unless they are accompanied by, and under the supervision, of an adult.

• What do we do about unsold paper tickets?

  With hundreds of groups and higher demand for tickets than we are able to supply, it’s important that any unsold tickets are returned to People’s Choice as soon as possible, so that we can distribute them to organisations that might be able to benefit from their sale.

  Please be realistic about your organisation’s selling potential, and only apply for the number of tickets that you believe your organisation can sell. Not only is it unfair to prevent other organisations from benefitting from the Community Lottery by selling more tickets, but unsold tickets returned too late to redistribute might affect your organisation’s participation in the Lottery next year.

• Does People’s Choice promote the Community Lottery?

  Each year, the Community Lottery is broadly advertised on a variety of media channels including television and online media.

  People’s Choice also publicises the Lottery and its participating organisations wherever possible, so if you’ve got a great story to share about how the Community Lottery has helped your organisation, what you’re fundraising for, or your quirky way to sell tickets, let us know.

• What are the key dates of the Community Lottery?

  2020 Community Lottery key dates

  Community Lottery group applications open	TBC
  Online ticket sales begin	TBC
  Online sales for Early Bird prize close	TBC
  Early bird online ticket prize draw	TBC
  Early bird prize winner advertised	TBC
  Paper tickets distributed and sales begin	TBC
  Ticket sales close 11.59pm ACST	TBC
  Prize draw	TBC
  Prize winners advertised	TBC

  Check out Community Lottery key dates, and add them to your organisation’s calendar.

• How do we deposit funds raised?

  Yes, your organisation is required to deposit the equivalent funds for all sold paper tickets so we can then process a 100% refund.

  We don’t accept cash, but we’ll accept a cheque in-branch for the total raised, made payable to ‘People’s Choice Community Foundation.’

  Alternatively, you can deposit the funds by EFT to the People’s Choice Community Foundation account:

  Account Name: People's Choice CF
  BSB: 805 050
  Account Number: 63497228
  Narration/Reference: Your Organisation ID and Name

• What details must buyers provide on the ticket stubs?

  We need to be able to contact winners after the Community Lottery draw, so we need the name and address of the ticket purchaser on every paper ticket stub and when tickets are purchased online.

  This info is collected so we can notify winners, and won’t be used for any other purpose.