Rewilding Europe has become one of the new beneficiaries of the Dutch Postcode Lottery. The announcement was made yesterday at the yearly charity event “Goed Geld Gala” in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, where President Bill Clinton was the special guest. Rewilding Europe became one of the four new beneficiaries that were announced at this wonderful event.
“We are extremely excited and happy to become one of the beneficiaries of the Dutch Postcode Lottery,” says Frans Schepers, Managing Director of Rewilding Europe. “With this support we can consolidate our achievements so far and it also helps us to further develop of our initiative in the years to come. We are looking forward to work with the lottery and use our wide outreach in Europe to showcase what a new nature conservation vision for Europe can look like in practice. Through our work we will show the important role of the Postcode Lottery for society today.”
The support is especially important since Rewilding Europe has committed itself to support and work with five, ultimately ten rewilding areas for a period of at least ten years. That is the minimum time needed to build, together with the local partners, meaningful rewilding examples at scale that can inspire others to follow. The support also allows Rewilding Europe to develop a number of new exciting cross-European initiatives at the central level.
“Rewilding Europe is also very grateful to our other key supporters, such as WWF Netherlands, ARK Nature, Adessium Foundation, Liberty Wildlife Fund and the Swedish Postcode Foundation,” continues Schepers. “Their combined support for our initiative plays a crucial role and provides a sound base for our work to make Europe a wilder place, thereby providing new opportunities for people living in these areas.”
During the event, a record 291 million euros was given to a large number of charities and initiatives in the field of conservation, health, human rights and well-being.
Since 1989, the Dutch Postcode Lottery has been raising funds to support organisations working for a fairer, greener world. Fifty percent of its income goes to charity. The lottery is the Netherlands’ biggest charity lottery and supports 85 nongovernmental organizations.
