The team behind currency the Brixton Pound launched community lottery the Brixton Bonus this week.
The monthly draw is the very first to operate in a complementary currency and costs 1 Brixton pound to enter, with the winner taking home the handsome sum of B£1,000.
Entry is open to all members of the public – not just Brixtonites – through the Brixton Pound website.
Proceeds raised by the scheme will be used to fund small businesses in Brixton through the Brixton Fund, an initiative to support projects that struggle to attract funding through traditional means.
Max Wakefield, Brixton Bonus and Fund manager, explained that there a few different motivations behind creating the bonus.
He said: “There’s the desire for the Brixton Pound to be able to continue contributing to the community of Brixton, and this is a new way that it can do that by helping the Brixton Fund.
“It’s also a new way to engage people with the currency.
“When you play, you either already have Brixton pound account or you get one automatically, so it’s a good way of introducing people to the scheme.”
The Brixton Fund aims to use profits from the lottery to offer micro-grants of up to £1,000 to small businesses to help them get on their feet.
“We’re aiming at groups that are just getting off the ground and for whom more traditional applications and funding procedures are onerous and possibly off-putting,” said Mr Wakefield.
“In the longer run we’d like to make it more participatory, so people who are playing the Brixton Bonus, Brixton Pound members, and others from the general public can get involved in deciding where the money goes.”
The first Brixton Bonus victor will be announced on July 19 at the Lambeth Country Show, where a further 11 runners up will scoop a prize.
You can enter at brixtonpound.org/brixton-bonus
Picture courtesy of Charlie Waterhouse, with thanks
