One Pageview is Worth 10 Grains of Rice
FreeRice is a brilliant way of harvesting “dead time” on the web. Instead of playing Desktop Tower Defense or clubbing a penguin 300 yards, you can improve your vocabulary and “donate” free rice to the world’s poor.
The idea is simple enough: for each right answer (read: one pageview in the online economic model) the web site donates ten grains of rice to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
The site is unbelievably successful. Here is what the WFP said in a press release (emphasis mine):
Yesterday marked the one billionth grain of rice donated to WFP through an innovative, dynamic online campaign – enough to feed more than 50,000 people for one day.
Awesome!
“Every grain of rice is essential in the fight against hunger,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, adding that hunger claims more lives than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
“FreeRice really hits home how the Web can be harnessed to raise awareness and funds for the world’s number one emergency. The site is a viral marketing success story with more than one billion grains of rice donated in just one month to help tackle hunger worldwide.”
Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote about FreeRice over on Read/WriteWeb, which is where I first saw coverage. Marshall wondered about the legitimacy of the site. Well, it’s for real…and making a difference.
Now, go and donate some rice. 
tags: non-profit
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