The Dutch Lottery Is a Surprisingly Huge Donor. Here’s How It Stands Against War Profiteering

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When you think of the largest private funders in the world, names like Gates and Wellcome probably spring to mind. One you’re not likely to come up with is the Dutch Postcode Lottery.

Postcode lotteries are played throughout Scandinavia, Germany and the U.K., and are especially popular in the Netherlands, where more than 3 million Dutch households participate each month. Players’ postal codes serve as their lottery numbers, so neighbors win or lose together—creating both a bonding opportunity and a fear of missing out. The result has been a philanthropic windfall. Last year alone, grants from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, the largest of them, totalled $423 million, a level of giving that ranks it among the world’s largest private donors. 

The Dutch Postcode Lottery (Nationale Postcode Loterij) recently announced the renewal of its three-year, $3.2 million support for The Sentry, an investigative and policy team that disrupts the financial networks that allow bad actors to benefit from corruption and profiteering. Co-founded by the actor George Clooney and American human rights activist John Prendergast, the group also leverages efforts to support human rights, good governance and peace-building. 

It’s a significant grant, and an opportunity to take a closer look at the Dutch lottery, a fresh approach to philanthropy that’s channeling surprisingly large sums of flexible funding toward charities. Here’s how the lottery works and how its partnership with The Sentry helps ensure that war crimes don’t pay in some of the most vulnerable parts of the world: East and Central Africa.    

Betting on a better world

The Dutch Postcode Lottery aims to put the “funds and collective power” of its players “at the heart of positive change.” It has dual missions. It raises funds to support charitable partners that work toward a greener planet and fairer world. And it shines a light on their programs through a full range of communications that reach millions each day, from television to social media. 

As may be expected from a country that hosts the ICC and the International Court of Justice (IJC)—the court tasked with investigating and adjudicating crimes against the global community, from war crimes to genocide—the lottery approaches grantmaking as a global citizen, advancing its goals both in and outside the Netherlands.

At least 40% of lottery proceeds are granted each year to organizations like the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Médecins Sans Frontières, the World Wildlife Fund, Oxfam and Amnesty International. Decisions are made by the lottery’s charity team, management, and supervisory board through an approval process that includes interviews, internal assessments and alignment with guiding principles.  

Best practices that mainstream American philanthropy is only now embracing—long-term, flexible funding with limited reporting—are baked into the lottery’s approach. To stem bureaucracy, it does not have a set format for reporting, and instead lets grantees communicate policies, developments, and impact however they prefer. In most cases, grants are evaluated in the final year of a three- or five-year agreement; 104 of its beneficiaries are considered permanent.

The lottery is organized around the ideas of trust, modesty, curiosity and courage, and doesn’t shy away from supporting independent and activist projects that may not otherwise accept funding from institutional funders. 

Managing Director Dorine Manson said that, for them, courage means actively looking for “innovative and daring ways to solve global and local challenges.” The lottery seeks partners that challenge the status quo and leadership that’s “willing to try, and be honest about the risks.” 

The idea of trust extends to the way it funds. The lottery considers its partners experts in what they do, and trusts them to spend dollars where they’re needed most. Its relationships are long-term and flexible, enabling grantees to “start something that ordinarily wouldn’t get off the ground,” and to react in real time. 

The nature of The Sentry’s work aligns well with that mindset. 

Standing Sentry

The Sentry’s investigative and policy teams work across international organizations, independent media, banks and governments to tie actions to consequences. Its teams represent a diversity of disciplines, from intelligence officers and investigative journalists to financial investigators and human rights lawyers.  

The organization’s work has garnered core support from heavy hitters like the Annenberg Foundation, Capcon Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Humanity United and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). Individual supporters include prominent members of the human rights community and other Hollywood actors.

While separate entities, The Sentry also has a “strategic partner” arrangement with the Clooney Foundation for Justice on specific efforts like The Docket, which holds offenders to account and provides survivors with redress. 

Following the money

The Dutch Postcode Lottery has been a leading partner of The Sentry since it launched in 2016. The recent $3.2 million grant specifically helps the group follow the dirty money tied to African war criminals and profiteers in high-conflict zones like South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central Africa Republic.

Dorine Manson said the lottery is attracted to The Sentry’s goals of effectively shutting “warlords, politicians, and their international business networks” out of the international financial system, and benefiting from the fruits of corruption, violence and human rights abuses.

The Sentry’s proven results have also inspired trust. In the five short years since its founding, the group’s holistic approach has resulted in real financial consequences for kleptocrats and other bad actors. The Sentry has helped freeze assets slated for illegal transfer, sanctioned predatory companies, and spurred bank investigations that shut down money-laundering routes. 

“In some cases,” said Manson, “The Sentry has exposed how funds intended for development instead disappeared into the pockets of corrupt and violent actors and their networks.” The vital nature of that work, she said, has deepened its partnership and the lottery’s commitment to help the organization “significantly contribute to altering the entire system that fuels conflicts and stopping the illicit flow of billions of dollars.”

Trusted partner 

 John Prendergast said that the Dutch Postal Code Lottery’s unrestricted, multi-year funding structure has allowed The Sentry to “set its own course and allocate capacity where we think it will have the greatest impact, without a constant need to navigate budget adjustments and varying project grant objectives.” 

Prendergast believes that kind of trust has been particularly important in the past year, when “the whole world experienced an unpredictable system shock.” Funding from flexible core donors helped The Sentry “keep our team on staff, shift to remote working, adjust to the new normal, and pivot to new opportunities and needs in this unprecedented environment.”

As a result, The Sentry was able to examine cases of corruption and fraud associated with the pandemic response, uncovering evidence of stolen medicine, fraudulent contracts and the embezzlement of public health funds.

Unrestricted funding also gives The Sentry the time and space to adapt its ongoing work in real time. Said Prendergast, “Unrestricted funding lets us follow the money—and being able to do so without restrictions is crucial. Our investigations cross borders and often showcase complex global problems that require out-of-the-box thinking and innovative approaches.” 

A case in point is the recent situation in Sudan. When governance shifted, The Sentry’s policy work moved from pressuring the Bashir regime to seeking ways to support the civilian transitional government. “We were able to be a leader in the NGO community and with lawmakers on Capitol Hill,” said Prendergast, racking up wins that helped open new avenues of investment and financial support for the fledgling regime.

The Dutch Postcode Lottery is comfortable backing cutting-edge work to achieve a fairer world. Dorine Manson said it's a matter of balancing the equation: efforts that may trigger resistance, raise political sensitivities or generate debate will challenge vested interests, power structures that “often need to make way when it comes to change in society.”