Thanks to my lovely friend Betty who works at Scotia Capital (thanks Betty) I received an e-mail the other day with the link http://www.freerice.com/index.php and accompanying subject line ‘try out if you get a sec’. I was curious to see what this was about, considering a busy i-banker had the time to send me this email, I could take some of my ‘thinking time’ (since I work at a think tank – get it?) to see what this was about.

I go to the page and am greeted by this nice logo:

And an explanation of what I have to do. For each word I get right, this site will donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. FreeRice (which is a sister site to Poverty.com) argues that playing the vocabulary game will help me – and how will it do that… (From the site)

Learning new vocabulary has tremendous benefits. It can help you:

• Formulate your ideas better
• Write better papers, emails and business letters
• Speak more precisely and persuasively
• Comprehend more of what you read
• Read faster because you comprehend better
• Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school
• Score higher on tests like the SAT, GRE, LSAT and GMAT
• Perform better at job interviews and conferences
• Sell yourself, your services, and your products better
• Be more effective and successful at your job

These are reasons that appeal to people of all ages and walks of life. Who doesn’t want to do better in school, or at their job? The game, as it turns out is actually pretty fun and challenging – AND you feel like you’re learning something new. Did you know that Goober = peanut or Tubercle = nodule.

So how does FreeRice.com get rice to these people in need? The way they’ve set it up as actually quite ingenious, and is an illustration of some of the new creative ways companies are reaching out to customers. Instead of a blatant aggressive marketing ploy, companies are now partnering with a good cause, something that people are interested in. They’re showing you that they care, and with your help – can make a difference. They are showing you exactly how much progress we’ve all made, on their totals page… AND at the same time they’re getting their name out there. You’ve got to give these companies a bit of credit for trying, and I think it’s a pretty smart idea. On top of that, FreeRice.com has been completely transparent to their vocab game players and explain exactly what they’re about, how it works, where the rice comes from and how it gets there. And as Don Tapscott says in his book “The Naked Corporation” transparency leads to customer trust (obviously Don says it in a much more eloquent way than I just did – but you get the idea).

In their FAQ section they state clearly:

“The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry).”

“When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.”

Some of the companies involved (that show up each time I click on my vocab answer) are: Amex, Macy’s, Fujitsu, TimeLife, Radisson, iTunes, Liz Claiborne, Toshiba…

Looking at the usage, the game seems to be gaining popularity. On the first day this site was launched – October 7, 2007 : 830 grains of rice were donated, now only a month later on October 31, 2007: 59,167,790 grains were donated (in one day). To date, a grand total of 537,163,380 grains of rice have been donated.

So… try out if you get a sec. http://www.freerice.com/index.php