Online Game Site Seeks to Spur ‘Maximum’ Donations for Selected Charities

A new Web site lets people play free online games and raise money for charity at the same time.

GamesThatGive, as the site is called, is now in beta testing and is expected to formally start operations next month to benefit up to 16 charities selected by creators of the site.

Here’s how it works: People play free games such as Solitaire and Sudoku on the site and earn points based on how well and how long they play. Each point, worth a fraction of a penny, is added up and a donation is made to one or more charities selected by the players.

The money charities will receive comes out of revenue from advertisers that pay to place ads on the site. Seventy percent of the ad revenue is reserved for charities, with the remainder going to pay the costs of operating GamesThatGive, which is owned by a privately held company with the same name.

The site allows people to track how much they have raised from the games they play. And to keep players interested, the company plans to offer new games and other features, such as the capability to earn extra points — and raise more money — for certain charities during opportune times such as during a beneficiary group’s annual walkathon or another special occasion.

GamesThatGive officials said they have limited the number of participating charities because they want to have more impact than other online fund-raising networks, such as Facebook Causes, which enables any charity to participate but has raised very little for any one organization.

Says Brian Reich, one of the principals of GamesThatGive: “Our goal is to raise maximum money for the charities on our platform.”