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SPECIAL
REPORT: Charity sites are fast becoming the most successful advertising medium on the web. By appealing to people's consciences they can generate high 'click-through' rates usually earning 1p everytime a user 'clicks' on a banner advert on their site or even by just visiting their site directly. But do the web owners and advertisers profit from their 'charity'? Firstly, how do they make money? A lot of people enjoy just wasting time online randomly looking for the next bit of fun. Visiting charity sites along the way lets you feel you've done something worthwhile. What can be an easier way to donate than a simple mouse click? Money is usually paid directly to the good cause by the company sponsoring the site. They pay up everytime someone logs on to the charity homepage - usually around 1p a click. You are usually only allowed one visit per day, per person to register a charity donation. But in the case of Rainforest.net there's a hell of a lot of extra money-earning links you can visit as well... So just visiting a charity website generates money? Actually no, you occasionally have to click a button once there or click on an advertisers link. Money is generally raised by charity sites in two ways: Directly
by sponsorship Sites can have loads of sponsors or in the case of Wateraid just one. They can also have as many advertiser links as they like. So do they make a profit? Several charity websites make a profit as in the case of Rainforest.net which as well as having sponsors raise money through banner adverts - and can take a cut of the profits. How much the owners make themselves is difficult to say. Charities such as Solve Poverty are totally non-profit organisations In what other ways do sites raise revenue? In the case of Rainforest.net you can raise money by "registering with us, checking the weather, doing internet searches, visiting sites and registering to receive email. You can also plant-a-tree..." Hang on, why don't companies just give the money to charities? This is an important point. It's an opportunity to educate. Wateraid explains how.. "it has the beneficial effect of raising the profile of our work and encourages individual donations" They go onto say "We are in full agreement with this approach and have benefited from it." So why don't all websites become charity based? Good point. The Rainforest.net says that "to have the most impact, click and donate to every project once per day. If you visit the sites of our sponsors and advertisers, their contribution will at least double!" If you want to raise a bit of cash you could offer to give 50% (for example) of all you banner click-through profits to charity. If you're not bothered about the cash just provide links to the charity sites themselves. What kind of people run these sites? Hardworking ones. The Rainforest.net group was set up by Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg who met at the University of Michigan in 1976. Tim Kunin is a life long lover of wilderness, who has canoed and hiked for thousands of miles in the United States, Canada, and Patagonia. He started working for environmental causes at University, where he walked 200 miles across the state, to publicise the need for recycling. Greg Hesterberg enjoys finding innovative ways to make the world a better place after 20 years running a successful publishing firm.... So are charity sites ethical? Definitely. A lot of site owners work tirelessly for charity and raise a lot of money. Perhaps some of the advertisers have other motives but what's important is that useful money is being raised. To sum up It's a good way for sites to make money, it raises awareness of humanitarian issues, it encourages us if not the companies to have a conscience and finally someone might make some cash out of the web. Our advice is build your charity links... anyone can do it and you might make some cash ©spaceruk 2000-2002      
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9 top charity links Website owners promise to pay a percentage of their revenue to charity. Just visiting these sites could be doing good... FACT: Giverwater.org has received 2 million hits since 28 February 2001 and as a result Thames Water donated £150,000 to WaterAid |
