I spent a few minutes at this website recently, www.freerice.com, that seems like an intriguing way to help fight hunger. Essentially, the site presents a vocabulary test which rewards each correct answer with a donation of 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. The cost of the donation is underwritten by the banner ads on the page.
The site claims to make no profit from the ads, but some have questioned whether this is the case. For example, see this article on readwriteweb.com, or this one at aftrsmedia.com. But both of these naysayers base their calculations on each correct answer netting 10 grains of rice. When I visited the site recently, the rate was 20 grains of rice per correct answer. Perhaps the site owner raised the rate because the revenue from the pay-per-click ads was averaging out to be worth more than 10 grains of rice.
In any case, it’s an interesting idea. Check it out. And for trivia buffs, try freeflour.com. Every correct answer earns a spoonful of flour. I wonder…if I visit both sites enough times, will I be able to say I helped feed the hungry rice cakes?