Lusaka, Zambia. Solomon Zulu is a director in a primary school and he invests in livestock to be able to fundraise for his students’ school fees. It is quite a struggle and Solomon spends loads of time tending to the animals to help the Zambian pupils in getting best education possible. My interview with Solomon here :
The same time, Warsaw, Poland.
- I turn on the Internet and check e-mail. If there is nothing urgent, I tend to my flock – says 35-year-old Paul, an employee in one of Warsaw's largest companies. Although he started with soya beans his farm has now apple trees, oranges, strawberries, rabbits, sheep, pigs and a tractor. All online.
The farm Paul is talking about is an online game on Facebook - a social networking website, which accounts for over 500 million users. Paul is one of 63,370,436 Farmville active users worldwide this month and over 20 million today. The game, developed by Zynga since its launch in June 2009 has become the most popular game application on Facebook and was later released on for the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
Many have questioned Farmville users and the Farmville developer’s ethics. This, I think, is the most popular example quoted all over the world:
(See an American girl on webcam talking to an African boy)
However, if you search a little bit deeper and discover that the World Food Programme’s projects are supported by Zynga, your perception may change.
How does it work?
In order to exchange virtual goods for aid relief, all you need to do is to get extra stock or plants in your game application. You buy some FV cash with your credit card and you buy some, let’s say, Sweet Seeds for Haiti. Zynga.org reports now that (contrary to some of the material posted previously on the internet) 100 percent of the proceeds are being donated to Haiti relief being headed by the World Relief Programme. This way "Zynga players have made real change by raising millions for several international nonprofits since Zynga.org launched in October 2009".
Thinking outside of the box
If not for today’s global economy and the struggle of many charity organisations across Ireland and the UK to meet their commitments in the developing world, I would probably be the first to criticise Farmville. It is a highly addictive game and in Poland where I come from the two words ‘commercial’ and ‘charitable’ never go together.
Working part-time for one of the Irish development agencies, Bóthar which sends livestock to the developing countries, as an officer in the Programmes Department my job has been to continuously seek novel and exciting forms of fundraising. I was surprised to discover Bóthar’s innovative methods of fundraising like: Zambia Horse Trekking, Rugby Rocks Fashion Show or Golf with Stars.
“The old traditional ways to fundraise were great for your grandmother but now is the time to look for change” argues Shauna Hanus, an American developer of fundraising websites.
A fundraiser needs to be up-to-date with the new technologies and new media (Sylwia’s posts). There are many possibilities: from Twitter (find here a book by Howard Luke from UK Fundraising on 50 ways to fundraise with Twitter) to games, from 1Procent Club to Kiva.
What do you th!nk? Should we nowadays use sexier ways of appealing to people's emotions? What risks does it pose? Do new ways of fundraising mean less humanity in human beings or is it just using modern means to be current?
Credits: Interview with Paul: gazeta.pl, image: Farmville
Think farmville is an interesting phenomenon and I bet many charities are trying to tap into their network. I find the Farmville thing quite strange but lioads of people are committed to it so there must be potential to use it for some good…..
Ian, thanks for your comment. Incorporating social gaming as a tool of fundraising for projects in developing countries is quite interesting, how ethical is it to you as Oxfam Campaigner?
If I’d compare it to donating 10 cents to a good cause for every cigarette I smoke, I would say this is higly ethical
My point is I am afraid if we are not spoiling the donors, Hieke.
With such fundraising they become every time less sensitive and it requires less genuine intentions, more dealing with remorse that you haven’t helped and mere attempt to have a free mind!
Hi Helena,
Ok I guess that I get what you mean. I don’t see it as a bad thing that games like farmville are involved in raising money. To inform him/herself, the potential donor has enough other channels to get his dose of daily third world misery. Plus, you might reach a target group that is actually not that interested in donating money in the first place (farmville addicts?)!
Hi Hieke, so what you’re saying is it doesn’t really mean HOW you get the money (via Farmville or any other addicts) as long as you get your share for - in one’s opinion - good development activities?
I don’t think you should generalise addictions, but in this case: yes. Smoking: also yes :p
I think that it is sad that we have to use gimmicks to persuade people to want to help one another. People should want to give out of their hearts, not because it will gain them perks on an online game. It does say something for the overall compassion of humanity. However, by using these new tools, non profits are able to reach people that they would otherwise not reach.