Nova Scotia Firefighters 50/50 Lottery: Sustaining Momentum for a Community-Driven Fundraiser

It was early May 2025, and a fire captain serving as a member of the volunteer fundraising team at the Amherst Firefighters Association, a fire service organization in Amherst, Nova Scotia, had just completed the annual meeting to plan the upcoming fundraising season for the Nova Scotia Firefighters 50/50 online lottery. The initiative was the most successful weekly fundraiser in Canada, financing important causes across the 290 volunteer and salaried fire departments in Nova Scotia. However, the captain’s biggest challenge was still before him: positioning the initiative for future viability and growth. To that end, he had to answer three questions about the initiative’s future: (1) whether it could be sustained as a volunteer-led effort, (2) whether it should focus on its core customers or expand its customer base to include Generation Z, and (3) how it could preserve its brand appeal to loyal supporters amid growth and diversification.