WFP taps social networks for food donations

IT | Gareth Jones | 19 Apr 2011

A new initiative from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is utilising social networks to raise funds and feed children across the world.

WeFeedback includes an online ‘feedback calculator’, into which supporters can enter a food item and how much it costs, and in return they are told how many children that money could feed.

Users are then asked to donate that amount of money.

Social network users can also track, in real-time, how many children their community is feeding and what food items are being entered into the calculator in different parts of the world.

For example, participants from the US are ‘feeding back’ the most sushi, while the leading provider of pizza is not Italy but in fact Montenegro.

Developed in collaboration with the Duffy Agency, the initiative supports school meal programmes which provide children with a daily lunch or snack, or take-home rations for their families.

“Individual giving is playing an increasingly important role in mobilising funds for the hungry, and WeFeedback is providing a portal into this brave new world of philanthropy,” said Nancy Roman, director of WFP’s communications, public policy and private partnership division.

“WeFeedback allows people to share food and activate their social networks, transforming something as simple as a cup of coffee or a sandwich into funds that can change the lives of hungry children forever.”

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