Dog lottery charity fundraiser launched by West Yorkshire woman wins small business award

Lisette van Riel, from Ackworth in West Yorkshire launched the 'DoggyLottery' with Lee Brown after the pair recognised how shelters were struggling during lockdown.

It operates like a regular lottery with tickets costing £1.50 and every month, members of the public nominate five different dog rescue centres for 60 per cent of the sales to be shared between.

The lottery launched in July 2020 and by the end of January had raised £10,000 so far for dog charities in the UK.

--> READ MORE: West Yorkshire woman raises over £10,000 in 'dog lottery' for UK charities after losing job to Covid

Last Sunday, Lisette tweeted retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis about her business during ‘Small Business Sunday’ and was one of six weekly winners to gain a retweet by Theo to his 500,000 Twitter followers.

After the retweet, DoggyLottery gained a huge amount of new followers and sold extra tickets for their lottery which raises valuable funds for dog rescue centres in need.

The weekly initiative, set up by Theo in 2010, now has over 3,000 #SBS winners and supports small businesses across the UK.

Lisette said: “We’ve only been in business for 7 months and it was probably the most difficult year to start a business in.

"It is great to have support from Theo because it’s been tough trying to raise our profile and Theo has recognised our hard work and helped spread the word about what we do to his following.”

Small business champion Theo Paphitis, said: “We are thrilled to welcome new #SBS members every week and highlight just how important it is to support our small businesses here in the UK.

"My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings.

"The website will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish DoggyLottery every success.”

DoggyLottery has already been profiled on Theo's site that is exclusive to all Small Business Sunday winners.

Each week, the DoggyLottery site features 'stars of the week' which are connected to that week's five participating rescue centres.

A game on the site allows users to vote for the 'star' dogs to help their charity receive a bigger share of the raised funds.

More information about the DoggyLottery can be found here.

Anyone small businesses looking for a retweet from Theo should tweet him about their business on Sunday between 5.00pm and 7.30pm and include the hashtag #SBS.

Six lucky businesses are retweeted every Monday at 8.00pm and are then invited to enter their profile on the new website, attend the annual #SBS networking event and take advantage of the networking opportunities.