2.5 million Dutch raise €270 million for charity

Amsterdam, 9 February 2011

The Dutch Postcode Lottery will distribute a record €270 million to 83 charitable organisations this year. The Netherlands’ largest charity lottery announced the figure at its annual Goed Geld Gala (Gala Good Money) at the Singer Laren museum. Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands attended the Goed Geld Gala as a special guest and spoke to the charities about the importance of their work.

Through playing the Postcode Lottery, 2.5 million Dutch donate money to charity each year. Half of the lottery’s revenues go to charitable organisations working on behalf of humanity and nature in the Netherlands and abroad. The Postcode Lottery’s growth in 2010 has enabled it to support more charitable organisations and distribute extra money to existing multiyear beneficiaries this year.

Funding of Dream Projects
A big surprise was given to the organisations Stop AIDS Now!, the DOEN Foundation, and the Natuur- & Milieufederaties at the Goed Geld Gala. Each received a contribution of several million euros from the Postcode Lottery’s Dream Fund, which makes it possible for charitable organisations to realise innovative, groundbreaking projects.

Breakthrough in the fight against AIDS
The dream of Stop AIDS Now! is to completely wipe out AIDS. Leading scientists say that if almost everyone is screened for HIV and then treated if necessary, transmission of the virus will have nearly stopped within five years, and the epidemic will be wiped out within forty years. Stop AIDS Now! will receive €8.8 million from the Postcode Lottery’s Dream Fund to finance a project in Swaziland that will put this theory into practice. Stop AIDS Now! will HIV-test the population of Swaziland on a mass scale and then prescribe drugs to prevent the disease from spreading. If the project is successful, it will constitute a breakthrough in the fight against AIDS.

Establishment of We Generate power company
DOEN Foundation and the Natuur- & Milieufederaties will use a €13.5 million Dream Fund contribution to found the power company of the future. We Generate will be the first power company to enable its customers themselves to generate green electricity as well as save energy.

Financial contributions for existing and new beneficiaries
In addition to the funding of the two Dream Projects, new multiyear financial support will be awarded to eight charities, including Right2Play, Wilde Ganzen and the Elders. Six organisations receiving one-time contributions include Vereniging Kust en Zee, for its Schone Noordzee project (project which supports a clean North Sea). Twelve existing beneficiaries will receive extra donations for specific projects; they include Plan Nederland, for its missing child alert programme in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The precise distribution of monies among the charities and a description of the allocations is contained in the document ‘Allocations Dutch Postcode Lottery 2010’, available for download at http://www.postcodelottery.nl/pers.