FAQ's

How do I know that the lottery winners are real?

Signing up as an angel is not as simple as signing up as a regular member, if someone cannot provide tangible proof that they won the lottery either in the form of the ticket itself or a verifiable check stub from their regional lottery claims office, we do not accept them as an angel. We do not accept bank statements as proof of winnings because that does not prove willingness to fund the causes that they say they will. It would only take one of our lottery angel members to be exposed as a fraud to ruin our reputation as a company and drive us out of business from the negative publicity. Rather than risk the entire company by letting even one bad apple slip in, we take extra precautions to make sure that the winners are real by verifying that they actually did win the lottery.

What is the difference between a grant and a gift?

Even though a grant does not have to be paid back, it often comes with expectations for how it should be used. For example, when you receive a grant, the giver often later wants you to demonstrate that you are using the money for the purpose it was given whereas a gift is usually given freely without further obligations to the recipient.

Why do I have to pay a fee to make a direct request from an angel?

There are three basic reasons why we charge a request fee:

1. After an angel decides to provide funding for a member, we do not get a finders fee or a brokers commission for bringing the member and the angel together through the site, our work is done and we are no longer in the picture by that time, so all the money goes to the member. Unless we charge the $3.00 request fee upfront, this service becomes free, even though we are continuously investing our own time and money for the work it takes to find angels who are willing to join the network.

2. Proceeds from the fees go towards finding as many eligible angels to join our network as possible. This is done by traditional advertising in various media, sending out endless emails and old fashioned letters (requiring postage, etc.) and then following up with numerous phone calls as we try to establish professional relationships with both potential angels and lottery claims office personel wherever and however we can find them. All of this requires a real budget, which we are using as best we can to improve the odds that more and more of our members will get funded over time.

3. At any given time each angel is considering a large number of requests for money, not only from members of this site, but as you well know from family, from friends who they haven’t seen in years and cousins five times removed who they had never heard of until they won the lottery. Even if everyone making a request sticks to our suggestion that the request be no longer than one page long, (which many people do not) and an angel has to go through for example 500 hundred requests, that is no different to reading the equivalent of a 500 page book. When was the last time you read a 500 page book? Exactly, it takes time and concentration to consider each request carefully, so much so that we have to work with the angels in making sure that each request is not only given the proper consideration, but receives a timely response within 3 days or sooner as we guarantee with the service, all of which takes a great deal of time and hard work.

Can I get a refund of my $3.00 if I am not happy with the service?

The only time we give refunds is when an angel fails for any reason to get back to you within three days with a response to your request. There are generally no refunds granted otherwise because whether or not a member receives funding, we still have to put in the hours of work to make sure that their request is reviewed carefully and they receive a timely response to their request. We actively encourage angels to return the request fee for as many of those people who they decide not to fund as possible. It is then in their interest to do so because that leads to positive feedback from requesting members and a good reputation which leads to better opportunities for them to be asked to participate in.

Am I limited to requesting funds from certain angels by region?

That is the beauty of this service, you can contact any angel in any part of the world to request funding. Once an angel expresses interest in helping you, we then assist in establishing further contact with the angel so that they correspond with you by phone, email or even through a third party such as the angel’s attorney in order that you can finally meet them in person and get funded.

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