Interested in donor lotteries? We suggest you read our in-depth page on donor lotteries to understand the concept better. Here's a quick summary:
A donor lottery gives you a chance to direct a larger sum of money while keeping your own donation amount the same. For example, you could donate $1,000 and have a 1% chance of directing a $100,000 pot.
If you win, the larger sum makes it worthwhile to spend more time deciding where the money should go. This extra time can lead to better decisions and greater impact, without changing the amount you were planning to donate in the first place.
Because of this, we believe donor lotteries are one of the most effective ways for smaller donors to give, provided you're comfortable with the approach.
Winners also get advised by our team and may be introduced to other experts or experienced grantmakers to make the most informed decisions possible.
It’s best to enter a donor lottery if you or someone you trust will actually commit time to think more about where to allocate the funds if you win.
You can enter anonymously (your name will only be shared with relevant members or our team).
Key dates
Close date: 8 January 2025 at 12:00 PM UTC. New entries will not be accepted after this time.
Lock date: 22 January 2025 at 12:00 PM UTC. Any payments not confirmed by Giving What We Can after this time will not be accepted as entries.
Draw Date: 29 January 2025 at 12:00 PM UTC. The UNIX timestamp of this date will be used to select the NIST beacon entry from which the winning lottery number is derived.
How to enter the donor lottery
Enter the lottery by making a donation to the Donor Lottery before the close date.
Providing backstop funds
We are looking for new funders to act as a benefactor and backstop funds for future lotteries. We will likely open up bigger pots if we are able to find enough funding. If you are interested in providing backstop funds please contact us.
Questions?
For more in-depth information about the lottery process (including the important terms), please see our Donor Lottery page or contact us.
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