So how many of us here know about FreeRice.com? I was introduced to this website by a friend last year and have recently rediscovered it.

I know, I know. With a name like “FreeRice” it is either a p*rn website or a phishing scam. Ya, well it is neither. In fact this is probably one of the best ways the modern day e-commerace business plan has been put to use.

FreeRice.com is a website where you play a game and every time you submit a correct answer to the game, 10 grains of rice is donated to the poverty stricken (interestingly enough, it us to be 20 grains per answer last year). What game is this you ask? The game is quite simple: you are prompted by vocabulary related questions and you must answer them with the click of your mouse. For example, right now the following question is displayed to me:

lag means:

give up

marvel

be behind

scam

All I have to do is pick what I think is the right answer. If I pick the wrong answer, a page loads that tells me “Sorry, not quite correct. Please try another word.” and gives me a new question to answer. If I get the question right, 10 grains of rice is donated to the needy and you are given another question to answer. The games goes on for as long as you like; the difficulty changes depending on how many questions you get correct. There is no penalty for wrong answers either. Originally when the website started, it was only English vocabulary questions. Now the website has expanded to include:

• Art questions about famous paintings.
• Chemistry questions about chemical symbols.
• English grammar (in addition to the already mentioned English vocabulary).
• Geography questions about countries and capitals
• French, German, Italian, and Spanish questions to help you learn words.
• Math questions concerning Pre-Algebra topics and the multiplication table.

If you think “man these people must be getting rich”, be assured that the website and the people running it are not making a dime. 100% of the money that comes into the website goes towards the rice they donate. Their revenue is totally dependent on how many people visit the websites because it is the sponsers that pay the bills.

By visiting FreeRice.com, not only can you help out the hungry, but also improve your IQ. Give it a try: FreeRice.com.

P.S. I love their “WARNING” at the bottom right.

Side note: For anyone really into helping the needy, there is also TheHungrySite.com where just by visiting and clicking on ads you can tunnel the money earned by sponsors to charity. However, I don’t think that all the proceeds from their online store, where you can purchase certain products, will go to charity.