Luxembourg's Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte and the National Lottery (Loterie Nationale) have published their annual reports for the year 2020.

Marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was an unusual year bringing many challenges for the Œuvre and the National Lottery. The fact that 2020 was the 75th anniversary of the two institutions became secondary.

The distribution of the National Lottery's products were the most strongly affected by the health crisis during the months of March and April 2020, leading to a significant decrease in sales during this period. However, as a result of the development over several years of a secure and quality digital offer, the Lottery succeeded in rapidly adapting its offer and encouraging players to make greater use of this complementary channel.

Overall, the National Lottery achieved a turnover of €111 million in 2020, slightly lower than that of 2019.

The Lottery transferred all of its revenues (i.e. €22,215,034.78) to the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte, which in turn used 98% of this amount to finance various philanthropic activities last year. The total amount of aid (all beneficiaries combined) allocated by the Œuvre during the 2020 financial year was €21,675,842.39, which represents an increase of €730,472.84 (up 3.49%) compared to 2019.

This amount breaks down as follows:

  • legal quotas for a total amount of €11,107,517.39 paid to the National Solidarity Fund (Fonds National de Solidarité - €7,405,011.59) and to the Social Welfare Offices (Offices Sociaux - €3,702,505.80, i.e. 50% of the net result);
  • recurrent aid for a total amount of €5,250,285.00 (i.e. 23.2% of the net result) allocated to six beneficiary institutions as well as to the relief fund for victims of the Second World War (Fonds de secours des Luxembourgeois victimes de la guerre 1940-1945) and to the relief fund for Luxembourgers in Brussels (Fonds de secours pour les Luxembourgeois à Bruxelles);
  • one-off aid for a total amount of €5,318,040: allocated to 130 projects spontaneously submitted by various players in the non-profit sector; following calls for projects / initiatives launched by the Œuvre; following recurrent initiatives of the Œuvre in the field of culture.

In the context of the health crisis, the promoters of the Œuvre immediately felt (on the ground and personally) the negative effects of containment measures aimed at fighting the spread of the virus. Beyond the consideration of COVID-19 emergencies as part of the assessment of all ad hoc aid requests, and in accordance with its original mission of being a “national relief” actor, the Œuvre set up an emergency plan for specific COVID-19 aid from the end of March 2020. In 2020, a total amount of €589,950.05 was paid to 22 projects aimed at responding to new urgent needs arising from the crisis.

In addition, the Œuvre launched an open competition to acquire three works of art reflecting artists' COVID-19 experience for an amount of €100,000.