Sports betting giant DraftKings has pledged to donate up to $350,000 to nonprofit organizations across the United States which promote female-owned small businesses and female entrepreneurs.
This initiative is part of the company’s free Women’s History Month Sports Popularity Pool, designed to highlight the greatest athletes and moments in women’s sports.
After an initial donation of $150,000, the money will increase by $10,000 for every 25,000 entries into the pool – up to $350,000.
DraftKings co-founder, CEO and chairman of the board Jason Robins said: “DraftKings is committed to empowering and advancing women at our company and in the communities where we live and work,
“We are intentional in our efforts to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging within DraftKings and focused on supporting women entrepreneurs and small business owners to help them launch, build and grow their own companies.”
Several businesses are set to benefit from this donation.
One of which is Ladies Who Launch, which connects women who start their own businesses with other entrepreneurs to help grow their companies.
“Ladies Who Launch empowers all women globally to follow their dreams and launch their companies. We are thrilled to see the commitment shown by DraftKings to celebrate women both within and outside their organization,” said Julie Kikla, executive director at Ladies Who Launch.
“This donation will greatly aid us in growing our education resources, allow for more accessible funding programs like our 2021 Launch Program, and continue to bring female founders together through our events and programming.”
Another is the Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs (AMSE) which is a group for military spouses to start and grow their own businesses.
“Military spouses face one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and we are out to lower that through entrepreneurial programming and education,” AMSE co-founders Flossie Hall and Moni Jefferson said.
“This donation from DraftKings will allow AMSE to not only continue our work, but to expand our program by creating more education and resources to help us further our mission of supporting our nation’s military spouses as they build financial stability by starting, scaling and sustaining their own businesses.”