Bill Clinton grants interview to Ex-politician Femke Halsema
AMSTERDAM, 13 February – More than 90 good causes graced the Dutch Postcode Lottery's annual Goed Geld Gala at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The Netherlands' largest charity lottery announced it would donate a record €291 million to charitable organisations this year thanks to its 2.5 million players.
The Dutch Postcode Lottery gives half the price of every ticket to good causes working for the benefit of humanity and the environment. Bill Clinton attended the gala as the guest of honour on behalf of his Clinton Foundation, which has received support from the lottery since 2005.
Ex-politician Femke Halsema asked the former US president about his definition of leadership, the biggest challenges facing the world today, sustainability, and the role social organisations play in society. “If you have enough money to buy a Dutch Postcode Lottery ticket you suddenly become an NGO, because half of the money is given to charitable endeavors. You should be very proud of this system,” Clinton said.
Beneficiary Marine Stewardship Council
In 2012 the Marine Stewardship Council became beneficiary and receives an annual donation of 500,000 euro. The MSC’s generous funding from the Nationale Postcode Loterij will be used to support implementation of its latest 5-year global strategic plan with specific objectives of maintaining and increasing the value proposition of the MSC program for existing certified fisheries and commercial partners, expanding into the next frontiers of the MSC’s evolution and making the MSC accessible and desirable to fisheries and markets outside its current core regions.
The new plan is built around four key strategic priorities, which will drive specific work plans to 2017: assuring the MSC’s program credibility and effectiveness; cultivating and expanding markets for sustainable seafood; grow the supply of sustainable seafood; and scaling a global enterprise.
Groundbreaking dream projects to become reality
The lottery announced at the Goed Geld Gala that two organisations would receive grants from its Dream Fund.
It has awarded Doctors Without Borders €6,791,000 to develop a new cure for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
Greenpeace will receive €7,593,028 to produce the QuestionMark app, which will inform consumers about environmental damage, animal welfare, labour conditions and health aspects linked to thousands of products.
Extra support for charitable work
Four new organisations - WOMEN Inc., Rewilding Europe, PharmAccess and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation – will begin receiving fixed annual contributions from the Dutch Postcode Lottery this year.
In addition, 14 recipients of ongoing funding will get extra donations to carry out special projects. Terre des Hommes will receive €1,653,041 to scale up its successful paedophile-tracking technique in southeast Asia.
Five organisations will receive one-time gifts. They include the GAVI Alliance, whose €2.5 million award will enable it to provide vaccines for inoculating children in fragile states against the five most common deadly diseases. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match the lottery's donation.
Society Always Wins. About the Dutch Postcode Lottery
The Dutch Postcode Lottery was founded in 1989 to support charitable causes. Today, 2.5 million people in the Netherlands play every year, vying for hundreds of thousands of prizes each month. As they play, they’re supporting charitable causes: half the price of each ticket is distributed among 85 charitable organisations. Since the Postcode Lottery's founding, it has donated almost €4 billion to organisations working on behalf of humanity and the natural environment. The numerous bodies receiving support annually include UNICEF, WWF, Amnesty International, Natuurmonumenten and Doctors Without Borders. Since 2005, the Postcode Lottery has also been operating in the United Kingdom and Sweden, where the People’s Postcode Lottery and Svenska PostkodLotteriet respectively raise funds for good causes. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Postcode Lottery works with the BankGiro Loterij and VriendenLoterij under the Goede Doelen Loterijen umbrella. Novamedia/Postcode Loterijen is the third-largest private charitable donor in the world. www.postcodeloterij.nl
More information
Selma Hetharia
T: +31 (0)20 573 7677, +31 (0)6 4950 0852
E: [email protected]
Ilse Eggenkamp
T: +31 (0)20 573 7677, +31 (0)6 1274 2029
E: [email protected]
Photographic material
High-resolution photographs are contained in an attachment with this message. These photographs may be used royalty-free for publicity purposes, provided the following credit is included: Photo by Roy Beusker Fotografie.
Photo captions:
Photo 1: The Dutch Postcode Lottery awarded a record €291 million to charities working for the good of humanity and the environment at its Goed Geld Gala at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Former US President Bill Clinton attended as the guest of honour on behalf of his Clinton Foundation.
Photo 2: Ex-politician Femke Halsema spoke with Bill Clinton at the Dutch Postcode Lottery's Goed Geld Gala. The former US president’s Clinton Foundation has received support from the lottery since 2005.