Connecting People to Charitable Causes
The Hunger Site's original homepage from 1999 displayed this animated map, vividly illustrating the deeply disturbing statistic that in the 32 poorest countries in the world, someone would die every 3.6 seconds due to hunger.
The Hunger Site launched in June 1999 as the brainchild of a private citizen from Indiana, with the purpose of helping to alleviate world hunger by using the Internet in a creative way. A simple daily click of a button on www.thehungersite.com would give funding — paid for by the site's sponsors — to the United Nations World Food Programme.
In its first nine months, the site funded more than nine million pounds of food for the hungry — an astonishing feat. Eventually the site became too large for one man to manage, and in 2000 The Hunger Site was sold to GreaterGood.com, which today operates as the GreaterGood Network family of websites.
"Clicking the button on The Hunger Site is a way to trade a few seconds of your time to help complete strangers. Because thousands of people click daily, we are able to improve the lives of millions over time."
—Tim Kunin, co-owner and CEO of The Hunger Site
Since then, hundreds of millions of people from around the world have clicked and shopped to make a difference; in addition to 100 percent of sponsor advertising fees, a portion of every sale in the suite of GreaterGood Network stores goes to charity. On average, over 220,000 individuals visit The Hunger Site each day to support the work of our nonprofit partners, Mercy Corps, Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest), and Millennium Promise with simple, online actions.
Today, The Hunger Site continues its ambitious goal to harness the power of the Internet for good, uniting people around the world to form an online community devoted to the eradication of hunger. In February 2007, The Hunger Site reached a milestone; since it began, its supporters and sponsors funded a milestone value of more than 500,000,000 cups of food for the hungry.
"500 million cups of food is progress, but there is more to be done. We need to work to reduce poverty, war, and genocide."
—Tim Kunin, co-owner and CEO of The Hunger Site
More Ways to Help
The Hunger Site is the flagship site in the growing GreaterGood Network of cause-related sites, which includes The Breast Cancer Site, The Child Health Site, The Literacy Site, The Rainforest Site, and The Animal Rescue Site. Anyone with access to a computer is empowered to make a real difference by visiting these do-good sites.
Each site is focused on a specific need and allows supporters to benefit leading charities with simple, everyday online actions such as clicking to give and shopping to give more. That goodwill translates to funding for established nonprofit organizations that implement vital programs and initiatives.
Translations
As the world's first click-to-give website, we are committed to bringing the power of The Hunger Site to as many people around the globe as possible. Click on the following language links to read supporter-submitted translations of our original About Hunger page from 2000.
