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Meta-search engines let users avail of multiple search tools from a single Web site, and the new charitable meta-search at (http://www.searchtofeed.org) has been set up by Christian group SearchToFeed. Every time a search is made via the site, a cup of food is donated to impoverished areas around the world. SearchToFeed has established a relationship with aid organisation Mercy Corps to distribute the food "where it is most needed".
"SearchToFeed is a tremendously exciting idea, and the funds raised will make a real difference for families and children in the world's poorest countries," said Matthew De Galan, chief development officer at Mercy Corps. "If you need to find something on the Internet, why not help a hungry child at the same time?"
The SearchToFeed site is the latest in a series of Internet ventures established by charities and aid organisations designed to generate food and money for countries suffering from draught, famine or natural disasters.
One of the originals was The Hunger Site (http://www.hungersite.com). Started in 1999, the site donated a cup of food every time a person clicked on the site. Sponsors paid for the cost of the food in return for their logos being displayed on the site's homepage and, although visitors were limited to one "click" per day, over 250 million cups of food were donated, which amounted to around USD3.4 million worth of aid.
Unfortunately, even charitable organisations couldn't avoid the dotcom crash and in July of this year its parent company GreaterGood.com went out of business when its directors decided not to invest any more money in the venture. However, in mid-August The Hunger Site was bought by Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg, co-owners of EcologyFund.com, and is now back on-line.
In Ireland, Barry McDonagh of Concern was inspired by the idea of The Hunger Site and launched The Good Spider (http://www.thegoodspider.com) in June, 2000. It originally followed The Hunger Site's "click and donate" model, but following the fall-off in on-line advertising McDonagh decided to alter the concept and in May of this year changed it to a "Tip to Charity".
Developed in associated with Bank of Ireland, "Tip for Charity" invited content-led Web sites to host a "Tip for Charity" button, which allows visitors to these sites to "tip" them in appreciation of their efforts. All the "tips" are donated to the Good Spider Web site and then channelled to Concern. Among the sites with tip buttons are www.online.ie, www.wow.ie and www.p45.net.
Before the introduction of Tip for Charity, The Good Spider had raised the equivalent of over 70,000 kilos of staple grain. However, in the months after its debut, the tipping venture has raised just IEP150. "It has been slow starting, but is picking up as more sites accept a button," McDonagh told ElectricNews.Net.
McDonagh, who also works on developing Concern's other on-line presences such as www.concernchallenge.org and www.concern.net, was awarded with the Irish Internet Association's Net Visionary Award for 2000 for his work in establishing The Good Spider.
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