African Parks, a conservation non-profit that manages national parks and protected areas across Africa, was among the charities that participated in the 2017 Dutch Postcode Lottery’s Goed Geld Gala, where they announced a record total of €341 million in donations to 110 charities and good causes this year. African Parks is delighted to be one of those 110 charities, and to have received an incredible contribution of €900,000 in aid of its conservation of protected areas across Africa.
The support received by African Parks from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and its generous players contributes towards the restoration and protection of critically important nature reserves managed by African Parks across the continent, and most recently to three reserves in Malawi. These funds enable African Parks to overhaul law enforcement, curb poaching and restore the parks as healthy ecosystems replete with wildlife.
“We are tremendously grateful for the incredibly important support of the Dutch Postcode Lottery and its players,” said Sophie Vossenaar, African Parks’ Director of Fundraising in Europe. “Which to date has granted African Parks a remarkable total of €9.5 million to secure the long-term protection of threatened wildlife and life-giving resources for communities in some of Africa’s most critical conservation areas.”
Just last year their generous grant of €2.6 million paved the way for and continues to facilitate a pioneering translocation of 500 elephants in Malawi, undertaken to safeguard the future of the country’s elephants in Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, Liwonde National Park and Majete Wildlife Reserve. With 261 elephants already successfully relocated and the remaining 250 set to be moved this year, the Dutch Postcode Lottery and its players are helping to secure three globally iconic nature reserves and boost local economies in Malawi.
The record reaching donations were announced at the annual Goed Geld Gala held at the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam on the 6th February 2017. Thanks to its 2.8 million members buying more than four million tickets, the Dutch Postcode Lottery’s revenue grew to more than €682 million in the past year, growing its contribution to charities by almost €14 million.
The Dutch Postcode Lottery has been raising funds to support charities and good causes since 1989, and since then has donated more than five billion euros to its beneficiaries. Giving 50 percent of its annual turnover to charity and supporting 99 non-governmental organisations, the lottery is the largest charity lottery in the Netherlands.
To view the Postcode Lottery film “African Parks’ Amazing Journey: The 500 Elephants Campaign”, please click here
###
About African Parks: African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. With the largest counter-poaching force for any one NGO in Africa, more than 800 rangers on staff, and the most amount of area under protection for any one NGO in Africa, African Parks manages 10 national parks and protected areas in seven countries covering six million hectares: Malawi, Zambia, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Chad. Visit www.african-parks.org and www.500elephants.org to learn more.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
Contact for African Parks, Fran Read, [email protected] //
Johannesburg, SA: +27-82-3837558
New York City, USA: +1-646-568-1276