14 DAY TRIAL // This past April 7, environmental group Sea Shepherd went public with the news that it had received a €900,000 ($1,234,660) donation from the Dutch Postcode Lottery. According to the organization, this money will allow it to carry on with its work to protect aquatic wildlife and marine ecosystems.
Writing on its website, the green group details that the money was awarded to Sea Shepherd during this year's Goed Geld Gala of the Dutch Postcode Lottery. The event was held in the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The person to offer this donation to the environmental group was the current Managing Director of the National Postcode Lottery, Michiel Verboven. The award was accepted by Drs. Geert Vons, the general director of Sea Shepherd Netherlands, and Captain Alex Conerlissen, Sea Shepherd global executive officer.
By the looks of it, the Sea Shepherd organization has been friends with the Dutch Postcode Library for quite a while now – seven years, to be more precise – and has until now been awarded funds amounting to an impressive €6.3 million (approximately $8.64 million).
Besides, the green group says that, this year alone, the Dutch Postcode Lottery donated a record €302 million (about $414.29 million) to as many as 101 charities. Of these charities, Peace Parks and the World Wildlife Fund received €14.4 million (roughly $19.75), which they are to spend to saving African rhinos from going extinct.
As reported on several occasions, African rhinos risk falling off the biodiversity map sometime in the near future due to the fact that they are targeted by illegal hunters who kill them, chop off their horns and then attempt to sell this body part on the black market.
In case anyone was wondering where the Dutch Postcode Library gets its funds from, the explanation is very simple, and it has nothing to do with alchemy. Thus, the organization functions as a charity lottery, meaning that 50% of the cost of every ticket that is sold gets donated.
“Currently, 2.5 million Dutch nationals play the lottery, and each month they can win hundreds of thousand in prizes. At the same time, the participants are supporting important causes because half of all ticket sales get divided amongst more than 90 charities,” Sea Shepherd explains.
“The 2.5 million participants who play the Dutch Postcode Lottery make the charitable donation of millions by the lottery possible,” the organization wishes to stress.
Since it was established back in 1989 until present day, the Dutch Postcode Lottery has donated over €4 billion ($5.48 billion) to various causes having to do with promoting conservation efforts, supporting human rights, or both.