Mr. Breen’s Donation Machine
Mr. Breen’s Donation Machine
How many people have played a word game or some card game like poker online? I know I have. What did that accomplish? I can attest that it did nothing more than alleviate some boredom and fritter away some time. Well, now you can play a word game, of sorts, or more like a word quiz online and generate donations of food for the hungry while you increase your vocabulary.
Free Rice is another program started by John Breen, the American computer programmer and the founder of The Hunger Site, a “click to donate” site where visitors’ clicks generate donations from corporate sponsors.
FreeRice.com was established in the fall of 2007. Visitors to the site are encouraged to take part in an English vocabulary quiz in which they are given words of increasing difficulty and asked to choose the correct meaning from four choices. Each correct answer generates the equivalent of 20 grains of rice through the support of corporate sponsors. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) started distribution of these donations in Bangladesh in earlier this year. In that short time the website generated over $200,000 in aid for the WFP.
20 grains of rice may not seem like much, but by taking part in this online vocabulary quiz for only a few minutes can generate the equivalent of a serving of rice for a malnourished child. Play a bit longer and you may be able to feed an entire family. Now, imagine if several hundred or several thousand people played each day. Those 20 grains of rice can add up!
“Click to Donate” sites are a creative way to generate interest and provide aid to those in need, however, they should not be a substitute for donating time, effort, goods, services or cash, if you are able, to help feed the hungry or help the impoverished to develop sustainable communities. Whether you click to donate, assist in your local food drive during the holidays or travel around the world to help victims of natural disaster, your support is needed and appreciated.
Mr. Breen has done it again! Creating a method for corporate sponsors to reach his audience through advertising, while at the same time generating support for the hungry, FreeRice. was selected as one of Time.com’s 50 Best Websites 2008.
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Helping Those in Need
Thanks to my mystery readers! I'm happy that you enjoyed this article and I hope that you will support this program and/or another cause that you are passionate about.
Every little bit counts!
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Free Rice
You asked me about the free rice site.. personally I don't bother with sites like that because I think there are better ways. The sponsors donates directly to the WFP but they are not directly affiliated with the WFP. But as long as such sites supports quality aid like the WFP I don't see anything wrong with that.
Free Rice
Thanks, that's all I was asking. I wanted your opinion because of your comment that people could give directly to the WFP. Which is a great idea.
Of course there are many better ways, but not everyone can or will make that extra effort. Giving those people the option of at least doing something like this or getting the word out to others who, even though they may spend time and effort directly contributing to humanitarian efforts, can spend a few moments clicking as part of their online routine, contributes to the greater good.
Everyone seems to want to concentrate on how much John Breen or CharityUSA is making off of these site, but what they fail to compare are the salaries of the executives of non-profits. There are always costs associated with humanitarian efforts. Now, I do not begrudge a high salary for a director of a humanitarian aid organization, they have an incredibly difficult and demanding job and they do it for much less than their counterparts in a large corporation with the same amount, or even less, responsibility. But, you still have to consider that there are always costs involved.
If these sites didn't exist, there would be that much less aid for these programs to give. So, if Mr Breen or CharityUSA make $2,000,000 which produces $1,000,000 in aid, that is $1,000,000 more aid than would be available if their sites did not exist. (I just used those round figures as an example. I have no idea how much they make. All I know is that SOME profit is made and SOME aid is generated.)
Personally, I would give the lion's share of the income generated from the site to charitable causes, because I have no need for $1,000,000 a year. I like to live comfortably, but I don't believe in excess or waste.
Thanks again for your response.
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