Click-to-donate site

For websites where people donate their own money, see crowdfunding.

A click-to-donate site is a website where users can click a button to generate a donation for a charity without spending any of their own money. The money for the donation comes from advertisers whose banners are displayed each time a user clicks the button.[1][2] While not directly contributing (though many sites offer additional ways of support), visitors are making a difference in the sense that, had they not visited, no donation would have been given.

In most cases, the donation generated by each user only amounts to a few cents, but the goal is to accumulate enough clicks to add up to a significant amount.

Many charities launched this style of program in the late 1990s. However, the constriction of online advertising spending around 2001 following the dot-com collapse caused many sites to be closed. Yet there are still many in operation, notably Freerice,[3] The Hunger Site, and Por Los Chicos.[4]

Flattr and CentUp (now defunct) used click-to-donate technology on many sites instead of being centralized on just one.[5]

  1. ^ "Ask Andy: Click-to-donate sites". WMC TV Action 5 News. Memphis, TN. March 18, 2009. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  2. ^ Stonesifer, Patty; Stonesifer, Sandy (April 8, 2009). "Do "click to give" sites actually do good?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  3. ^ "FreeRice: Totals." FreeRice. 2009. 4 May 2009 Archived 27 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "They give food for each click". La Nación. 11 May 2002. Retrieved 23 January 2020. (in Spanish)
  5. ^ "Pirate boss to make the web pay". BBC News. February 12, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2010.