February 24, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
GreaterGood.com has purchased the Hunger Site, a popular Web site where corporate sponsors make a donation to the United Nations World Food Programme every time a visitor clicks on the site’s “Donate free food” button.
Since its founding in June, almost 34 million people have visited the site, which was created by John Breen, a computer technician in Bloomington, Ind. The visits have translated into $1.5-million in corporate contributions — enough to buy more than nine million pounds of food.
According to Jay D. Hair, executive vice president of GreaterGood.com, Mr. Breen approached the company, which runs a shopping Web site that allows visitors to donate a portion of their purchases to non-profit organizations, and said he was overwhelmed by the success of the Hunger Site and needed help running it.
The company would not say how much it spent to buy the site, which it took over on February 1. All of the money that it raises will continue to go directly to the United Nations; none of it will go to GreaterGood.com. Mr. Breen will remain involved as a senior adviser.
Mr. Hair says the company hopes that by running the Hunger Site, GreaterGood.com will be able to stand out from the “blizzard of dot-coms” it competes against.
He said the Hunger Site’s key to success has been its simplicity. It also benefited from word of mouth as visitors to the Hunger Site sent e-mail messages about it to their friends, which were then forwarded multiple times to other recipients.
To get there: Go to http://www.thehungersite.com.
