Postcode Lottery and the British Red Cross
Find out about work supported by funds raised by players of Postcode Lottery.
Generous support in the UK and around the world
Over the past 10 years, players of Postcode Lottery have raised £23.2 million for the British Red Cross, connecting human kindness with human crisis and transforming millions of people’s lives.
Thank you to Postcode Lottery players, whose support helps people in crisis internationally from sub-Saharan Africa to the Middle East and North Africa.
This includes:
- Syria
- Yemen
- Lebanon
- Sierra Leone
- Kenya
- Chad
- Eswatini
- Burkina Faso
- Niger
- Mauritania
and many other countries.
The funding is awarded by Postcode International Trust. It funds some of our most important projects.
Working with nature to protect people
In 2023, British Red Cross and Kenya Red Cross joined forces with WWF-UK and WWF-Kenya on a nature-based solution project in coastal Kenya. Supported by players of Postcode Lottery, we are working together to restore ecosystems, which will result in the conservation of 900 hectares of marine and terrestrial habitats.
Nature-based solutions are vital to protecting the lives of those more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change., and can provide approximately 20-30% of the solutions needed to meet emissions targets under the Paris climate agreement in a cost-effective way.
Mangrove restoration project in Lamu County, Kenya
Supporting people impacted by the changing climate in sub-Saharan Africa
The changing climate means we urgently need to change how we do things – for example, the way people earn an income, grow food, or access weather information.
This is one of the key reasons why since April 2022 we have been investing Postcode Lottery player funds into climate related projects across sub-Saharan Africa.
Across the continent, periods of drought and flash flooding are becoming more likely, intense, and unpredictable with all sorts of impacts but most notably for food security. In response, local Red Cross and Red Crescent teams are supporting people in a range of places with the new tools and skills needed to cope.
This might be training people up in alternative fields of work, or giving cash grants for them to buy food for today and then invest in new ways to earn money. It might even look like financial training. This includes sharing information about how to organise and grow savings in communities that might not, for example, have access to banks.
Our partner Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and the volunteers who lead the work are also sharing new climate-smart farming techniques and drought-resistant seeds, and helping farmers link up with local markets without any middlemen, so they have a reliable place to sell their produce.
These initiatives are all life saving. They not only help people avoid hunger and malnutrition so they can survive today but also help them face the future of climate change with hope and dignity.
Responding to complex emergencies in the Middle East and North Africa
Postcode Lottery player funding directly helped thousands of men, women and children living in Lebanon and Syria. For example, in Lebanon, players helped to provide vital cash assistance to Syrian refugees and their supporting host communities.
In Syria, players helped women and girls get support through our protection project, where teams delivered training and community support on trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence. This included helping women and girls know where to go to for support, and how their communities can reduce the dangers they face in the future.
Stories of resilience and recovery at Hope Street
In 2025, the British Red Cross unveiled Hope Street, a two-day immersive installation at Battersea Power Station. Visitors explored five doors, each revealing a true story of resilience from countries including Türkiye, Eswatini, Syria, Ukraine and Bangladesh.
From communities rebuilding after earthquakes to people adapting to climate change, Hope Street showed powerful stories illustrating the resilience of communities and how, with support from Red Cross and Red Crescent teams, they can recover and rebuild, creating lasting change and hope for the future.
Stories of hope like the ones behind the doors at Hope Street have been made possible thanks to the generous funds raised by Postcode Lottery players and wider global Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement supporters.
Take a trip to Hope Street in our video.
British Red Cross Ambassador Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, at our Hope Street installation in Battersea, opening the doors to powerful stories of resilience and long-term recovery.
The transformative nature of flexible funding
The flexible nature of the funds awarded to us by the Postcode International Trust means we are able to use the funding flexibly for whoever needs our help the most and that we can invest in locally-led, innovative, and longer-term sustainable change.
Players can not only be proud of the amount they have raised for us – an incredible total of £23.2 million since 2014, but also for the way these funds empower us to do more.
Our partners
Learn more about the companies that support our work
We help protect victims of trafficking in Eastern Sudan
Women and girls forced to leave their homes can be vulnerable to trafficking and sexual violence.