Making Our Work Possible: The National Postcode Lottery of the Netherlands

The National Postcode Lottery of the Netherlands has awarded Rocky Mountain Institute a gift of €1.4 million (US$1.6 million) for general support at its annual Goed Geld Gala (Good Money Gala). RMI Managing Director Marty Pickett accepted the award last week in Amsterdam.

The Postcode Lottery is the second-largest donor in the world, after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This year, it gave out more than €376 million (US$430 million) among 123 global organizations. Nearly half of the lottery’s annual revenues goes directly to organizations working in areas such as social entrepreneurship, biodiversity, human rights, conservation, and more.

This year’s Gala featured Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in microcredit and microfinance as founder of Grameen Bank, who made an inspiring analogy about the coronavirus and climate change. Professor Yunus commented that though we know little about the cause or behavior of the virus, people everywhere are alert to it, preparing for it, and following guidelines for how to avoid it. Meanwhile, we’ve known about climate change and its real threats for decades, we have scientific facts about it, we have the solutions needed to combat it…and yet, not everyone is doing what is needed to fight climate change. Perhaps actions against the coronavirus will help us understand better about human behavior and what is needed to address the climate crisis.

Since its founding in 1989, the Postcode Lottery has given more than €10 billion to human and environmental causes. RMI is proud to be part of the cohort of this year’s recipients, which included Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, European Climate Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, The Climate Group, the World Wildlife Fund, and more than 100 other organizations working for a better world.

Image credit: Roy Beusker