Mein Grundeinkommen (DE)

What?

Since 2014, Mein Grundeinkommen is a German crowdfunding practice in which people donate to a fund that raffles 25 unconditional basic incomes (UBI) every month in an online lottery event. If you win, you get 1.000 euro every month for one year. 

In 2021 Mein Grundeinkommen initiated Pilotprojekt Grundeinkommen with the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. It’s the largest independent academic research project into the effects of UBI in Germany. The study is the first one to be entirely financed by private crowdfunding – it does not rely on state funding. From mid 2021, 120 participants receive 1,200 € per month for a total of three years. 

“So far, the unconditional basic income and its effects have only been examined in connection to employment, but now we want to research the actions and feelings of the participants as well as their change in values, cognitive skills and their use of time.” 

How? 

Today, 180.000 people (‘crowdhörnchen’) contribute around 800.000 euro every month to Mein Grundeinkommen. They can pay from 1 euro a month, but also one time donations are possible. Half of this money is distributed every month in the form of 25 basic incomes, awarded during a monthly ‘Verlosung’: a livestream lottery event of 45 minutes. 

The other half of the collective capital is invested in the organisation itself, which engages 30 people. As a crowdfunder, you can choose to spend less to the organisation and more to the UBIs.

Who?

Mein Grundeinkommen is a Berlin based non-profit organisation, founded by Michael Bohmeyer. Everyone can register for the next lottery event, globally. And many people do. In the ‘Verlosung’ of April 2022, around 955.000 people took part (of which 226.000 children). More than 200.000 crowdfunders contributed to the amount that was raffled in this ‘Verlosung’. All ‘winners’ are presented on the website, with a nickname.

More

See www.mein-grundeinkommen.de
This magazine explains the pilot research project.