The Rainforest Site is a "click-to-donate" website, launched in May 2000, that uses ad-based revenue to conserve land in Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay and other locations worldwide. In addition, a portion of funding goes to preserve old-growth forest in the state of Washington United States. The Rainforest Site is owned and operated by Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg, co-owners of the for-profit company, CharityUSA.com, LLC.
Overview The Rainforest site is paid by its sponsors each time someone visits a page with one of the sponsor's ads. The money is then donated to one of several charitable organizations and used to help conserve or preserve rainforest land important to helping sustain biodiversity worldwide. The sponsors will only pay the rainforest site once per click, per person, per day. The site claims that each unique click on The Rainforest Site currently saves of land. While The Rainforest Site is not a non-profit website, it claims that 100% of money raised through ad revenue is donated directly to charities. This holds true for all of the click to donate websites operated by CharityUSA, which apparently earn their profit from the sale of merchandise from their websites.
The site raises funds for several charities; The Nature Conservancy, The Rainforest Conservation Fund, The World Parks Endowment, and The Friends of Calakmul.
CharityUSA operates a number of charity-themed advertising and shopping sites, including The Alzheimer's Site, The Autism Site, The Breast Cancer Site, The Child Health Site, The Diabetes Site, The Hunger Site, The Literacy Site, The Veterans Site, The Animal Rescue Site, and The Ecology Fund. CharityUSA is a for-profit company. Although some of the revenue generated by these websites goes to non-profit organizations, a majority of it is claimed by CharityUSA.
Total land conserved
Year Clicks "Area saved" 2015 24,266,061 2014 25,904,774 2013 24,529,451 2012 28,175,300 2011 39,456,096 2010 39,914,869 2009 43,944,379 2008 45,392,545 2007 30,562,147 2006 27,745,996 2005 28,115,235 2004 26,522,578 2003 23,916,601 2002 21,526,818 2001 12,688,459 2000 15,559,026
Affiliated pages
Charity USA (GreaterGood Homepage) GreaterGood site The Hunger Site The Alzheimer's Site The Autism Site The Breast Cancer Site The Diabetes Site The Literacy Site The Veterans Site The Animal Rescue Site Click for Paws
See also
Freerice Ripple (charitable organisation) The Non Profits (free donations directory) Free Kibble (click-to-donate-site for dogs and cats)
References
External links
Will's Web Watch: 'Charity' sites raise user concerns