Minutes of the Regional HLA Meeting held at LOROS, Leicester
on Wednesday 16th May 2013
Those Present
Carla Hind / Ashgate / Christine Vorres / St David’s FoundationDonna Adams / Douglas Macmillan / Julie Hughes / St David’s Llandudno
Paul March / East Cheshire / Ian Jones / St John’s Wirral
Peter Wright / Ellenor Lions / Caroline Tatum / St Nicholas
Sophie Batchelor / Ellenor Lions / Jane Webber / St Nicholas
Carmel Hudson / Havens Hospices / Eric Russell / St Rocco’s
Belinda Ellis / HLP / Carl Bayliss / TLC
Tom Barratt / HLP / Dawn Scott / HLP
Chris Routley / Hospiscare / Chris Crabtree / Willow Wood
Colin Martindale / Katherine House / Kirsty McCaig / Ty Hafan
John Davies / Katherine House / Susan Wade / Tuckwell Chase
Dawn Walker / Kirkwood / Chris Billingsley / Queenscourt
Marie Peacock / Kirkwood / Jane Taylor / LOROS
Liz Singleton / LOROS / Jas Dosanjh-Sidhu / Rainbows
Charlotte Cameron / Mary Stevens Hospice / David Pitt / Rowcroft
Dee Lightfoot / Nottinghamshire / Anthony Lord / St Ann’s
Liz Hammond / Nottinghamshire / Liam Rawlings / St Barnabas
Holly Swinckels / Nottinghamshire
1. Simon Proffit, Chief Executive of LOROS welcomed all in attendance to LOROS, and thanked the HLA for the work they do and raising funds throughout the year. The money raised by hospice lotteries equates to the employment of 700 nurses for a year!
2. Chris Routely introduced himself as the new Chair of the HLA and the rest of the other Directors. He is honoured to take over from Garth Caswell. All attendees then introduced themselves.
3. The Minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a correct record.
4. Matters Arising – Garth Caswell now works on behalf of the HLA, and the HLA will continue working with him on a consultancy basis as the HLA wanted to keep his knowledge etc – this relationship will be reviewed late September/October. With the moving on of Garth, the new Board want to make sure that the HLA moves in the direction that the members wish to go.
5. Treasurer’s Report:
Colin Martindale gave an update to the meeting – details of which are on the website. There are 2 accounts (General & Conference). From advice from our auditors there is £30k contingency in the account in case the Annual Conference does not go ahead.
All but 5 subscriptions have come in – CM stressed the importance of paying by SO, to ensure that payments are made, and he does not spend unnecessary time chasing outstanding amounts. Later this year CM will be sending out a reminder to all non SO payees that this is the preferred option (especially if personnel at hospices change, therefore ensuring membership to the HLA continues), and if a cheque is not received within 28 days of notice, then their membership will be put on hold, and they will be removed from having access to the website.
The Standing Order Mandate will be placed in the Documents Section in the Secure Members website.
6. Lotteries Council: The HLA Board met with Clive Mollett from the Lotteries Council, as we want to keep in contact with them especially using them as an association for lobbying issues i.e. – DCMS 80%/20% review. As long as we are happy with the LC and what they are proposing we will support them with the option of opting out of decisions as and when appropriate. It is believed that the LC and Help the Hospices are better placed to put messages/lobbying across as they are larger organisations.
7. Secretary’s Report: Jas and Carmel introduced themselves as the new joint Secretaries and gave a ‘BIG Thank You’ to Chris Crabtree who has done a fantastic job in this position over the years.
8. Conference Report: Liz gave an overview of the latest details for the conference which is booked 11-12th September. As reported previously £30k has been allocated as a contingency in case the conference has to be cancelled and costs incurred. There has been agreement made with the hotel that if necessary they will transfer the booking to another date.
The Conference Team was introduced:
Susan Wade – Responsible for Speakers – there are still a couple of space that need to be filled, so if any hospice has a suitable person that is available, please let Susan know.
Caroline Tatum – Exhibitors. It was stressed that all delegates should take time to visit the exhibition as without them the conference cost would increase. Any ideas for additional exhibitors should be fed to Caroline.
Sarah Vincent – Bookings. BACS payments can be made, please contact Sarah Vincent at Cornwall Hospice Care for details.
The agenda is being finalised, and as the workshops worked so well last year, they are looking to add more time for this as well as Networking (as per the feedback from the post conference evaluations)
9. Website Update: Anthony advised that the website has been improved; the broken links to downloads and presentations are currently being reviewed. The SO mandate is being uploaded.
Forum – It was stressed that before asking any questions on the Forum all members are to look at the history of each category to see if the question as been asked previously. This will hopefully ensure duplication is eliminated. Please keep questions short and targeted i.e. don’t ask questions that require long winded answers!
Change of Staff/Personnel Form – please update this regularly. The information will not be immediately uploaded due to Anthony’s commitments.
Logos – Anthony will put the most up to date logos on the website. It was raised that the GamCare telephone number has been changed – all to be aware of this.
News Items – any news information that is to be added to the website should be forwarded to Anthony.
10. The Future of the HLA: Anthony gave the background of the HLA and how it became a Limited Company with a Board of Directors. Going forward, as the political aspects that have taken up a lot of HLA time in the past has died down, it is important to discuss what the members want from the HLA. The meeting was divided into small groups, and the outcomes of the discussions will be reviewed by the Board and circulated to the members.
11. Mid Week Draws: Caroline Tatum raised this issue – as the NL are raising their ticket price to £2, thought it could be an option to have an additional draw. Consensus was that this was not a viable option, and that more emphasis should be on the ‘£1’, and that our lotteries are for local causes.
It was suggested that we could work with Help the Hospices in putting a press campaign together highlighting this point.
12. Scratch cards: Eric Russell was looking for advice in moving away from single tickets which sales are declining to scratch cards. Feedback from the meeting regarding this is as follows:
* Can give to supporters to sell – as long as a procedure relating to winning prizes is in place.
* Outlets i.e. shops can be set up
* Get the Hospice Shops involved
* Sell at Hospice Fundraising Events
* Team of volunteers to be recruited to sell at as many venues/events as possible
* Gala/Christmas Dinners – ideal as favours
* Promote as wedding favours – put on website & attend wedding fayres etc
* Pubs Clubs – get a volunteer to go a round and recruit venues for sale. Get 2 designs printed with promotional poster – have them on sale for a month, then take them away – then revisit with the second option. Although it is the same game, it looks different and members of the public could be persuaded to buy again!
* ComBase/Insight is looking to develop a scratch card database within 9-12months.
* Dougie Mac have a number of collecting/display boxes for sale – please contact Donna if interested.
* Reported numbers of scratch cards purchased:
LOROS – 50,000 – over 2 years (2 different colours/style)
Dougie Mac – 35,000
Tuckwell Chase – 20,000 ((2 different colours/style) – 18-24 months
* ? Offer other prizes instead of cash
* Using Day Hospice volunteers to sell
* For sale on Reception
* Don’t forget to advise the GC 28 days before they go on sale and complete a GC return up to 3 months after the last date of sale.
* Should be sold from a booth/stand. At a ‘closed’ event, it is ok to walk round and sell them.
* Collection of data of purchaser can be made (on rear of card), and can be contacted at a later date to promote the hospice lottery.
13. Recruiting ‘one off’ Sales Team/Kiosks: Colin Martindale asked for help in this area – are volunteers or paid staff used?
Feedback :
*The majority use paid canvassers/staff, as they need to be experienced/pro-active
* X-Selling approach – canvassers can be used for regular giving as well in case the member of the general public does not want to gamble.
* Aldi has been good supports and possible contact for a venue.
* Local Markets – paid stall at a reduced rate could be a possibility.
* B & Q on a Wednesday offers 10% off for OAPs – has proved to be successful for a number of hospices.
* Sharing a stand with Fundraising Team could dilute income? (depends on how the lottery & fundraising teams operate)
* Events should be researched – if selling raffle tickets and single tickets or scratch cards then do not sell together or sell at different times – clash of ‘asks’.
* Seller should be appropriate to the event i.e. Young lads/ladies at younger focussed events.
*U3A – University of the 3rd Age – always looking for speakers to come along to their meetings, and as this age group has available time/funds this could be an ideal group to make contact with.
14. Sharing Strategies for similar sized lotteries:
Many hospices still use teddies as an incentive (Annual Membership), however a number are slowly phasing these out over the next couple of years due to cost implications. It was fed back that some members have complained when the teddy is changed in size, style or quality! So highlighting that there are still loyal supporters who value receiving their teddy.
Loyalty cards are used with some hospices – whereby local businesses are recruited to join the scheme which gives a discount to lottery members.
Refer A Friend – if a member refers a friend/family member, then they can receive a complimentary gift voucher as an incentive/thank you.
15. Good Ideas:
* Bumper Draws were discussed, and it was agreed that no more than 2 bumper draws should be held each year.
The number of raffle tickets sent out varies from hospice to hospice from 5 (for cold data) to 20 for donors who have historically purchased in the past.
LOROS, Dougie Mac & St Ann’s are working together in conjunction with Bright Source to put a mailing campaign together which reduces the overall design costs as the same agreed format/design is used for all 3 hospices.
It was raised that an extra page could be added to the ticket book sent to the cold mailing to capture data with a Direct Debit Ask.
* Gift Vouchers – a lot of hospices have these available, and these work well – an additional ‘add-on’ product.
16. AOB
Future meetings – the following hospices have offered to host Regional meetings:
St Anne’s
Rainbows
St Barnabas – Lincoln
St Rocco’s
East Cheshire
HLP – Berkhampstead
St David’s
Dougie Mac
Kirkwood
Havens Hospices
It was suggested the following timings of meetings:
February – Local regional hospices – 1 day meeting
May/June – Larger regional meeting - 1 day meeting
September – Annual conference – 2 day meeting
To be discussed by the HLA Board and advised at the conference in September.
Flutter Week – this is a week that was set up a number of years ago to be used to promote hospice lotteries. It has not been registered as a designated week; therefore Dawn Walker has agreed to investigate this to be done for the 2nd week in May. A Lord was given an advertorial promoting this week to be put on the website.
Membership Statistics – Chris Crabtree advised that 56 hospices had not responded to her request for draw information for Friday 3rd May, and questions were raised as to why this information wasn’t given. It was stressed that the information shared is useful to see current trends/ peaks & troughs etc. It may be that some hospices do not want to share this information if they have had a bad year, as it may have a poor reflection on what they are doing?
The HLA are looking to get more information from the hospices to get a more national trend as it is believed this will be beneficial to all.
Chris is emailing again a request for this information to be sent to her by the end of May. It was agreed that due to staffing/other issues if there is a problem in getting the information by the date then to let Chris know and an indication as to when it can be done.
There was a strong feeling at the meeting that these statistics should not be shared to those hospices that do not provide the basic information – this will be discussed by the Board members.
Chris Routley closed the meeting and thanked all attendees for contributing to the items discussed. The next meeting will be the Annual conference 11/12th September.
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Chairman Vice Chairman Treasurer Directors
Chris Routley David Pitt Colin Martindale Helen Elliott, Anthony Lord, Liz Singleton, Eric Russell, Carmel Hudson, Jas Dosanjh-Sidhu