New Company Develops Online Games for a Better World

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For Immediate Release
September 8, 2011

New Company Develops Online Games for a Better World

First new game helps non-profit organization to protect British Columbia’s old-growth forests!

Victoria, Canada – Fuelled by a desire to make a difference, a Victoria, B.C. company is out to create a new way for charities and non-profit organizations to raise funds. Donate2Play Media (https://www.donate2play.com/) creates fun social games for charities. Through the incorporation of fun facts, compelling imagery and the viral nature of social media, Donate2Play provides a novel and lucrative fundraising channel for charities of all varieties.

“Online gaming is one of the largest industries on the Internet, generating tens of billions of dollars in revenues annually – why not funnel some of those revenues towards making the world a better place?” asked Kelly Pereira, Co-Founder of Donate2Play. “Our games will not only raise funds, but also increase awareness about the specific causes promoted by the charity at hand.”

“Wordraiser”, Donate2Play’s inaugural game (see https://www.wordraiser.com) is customized to their first non-profit partner, the Ancient Forest Alliance (https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/), a Victoria-based environmental organization working to protect British Columbia’s endangered old-growth forests. Wordraiser is a skill-based game for Facebook users in which players solve anagrams to pass through levels, while learning about the Ancient Forest Alliance’s cause. Using Donate2Play’s patent-pending model, players are prompted to donate at key junctures in the game – for donation amounts equal to pocket change.

“We’re very grateful to Donate2Play for choosing us as their first beneficiary. Not only will the game raise greatly needed funds for us, but will also raise awareness among new people on the plight of British Columbia’s endangered old-growth forests by using our photos, environmental fun facts, and petition in the game,” stated TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’ll be asking our Facebook supporters and the environmentally-minded public to play this game as a contribution to our organization – and to have fun and learn at the same time!”

Donate2Play seeks to help alleviate the headaches of charities from traditional fundraising campaigns: perpetually requesting donations, investing in advertising and finding sponsors. The Donate2play model provides a fun, fresh and engaging way for charities to raise funds, while capitalizing on the growing trends of social media and online gaming.

The first beneficiary of this new model, the Ancient Forest Alliance, has been working through public education and mobilization calling on the BC government to protect the province’s endangered old-growth forests, ensure sustainable logging of second-growth forests and ban raw log exports. Of particular note, the organization has built huge public momentum for the protection of a grove of old-growth trees nicknamed the “Avatar Grove,” near the town of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

Donate2Play was the brainchild of Victoria residents Tomas Ernst, Adrian Pereira and Kelly Pereira. Ernst, having spent the last five years working on development projects in the South Pacific for the World Bank, realized the need for NGOs to develop new, more effective fundraising channels. “Having worked with a number of charities, I’ve always felt the process of giving needed a rethink. So we asked, how could we transform the traditional fundraising process and offer a more value-added experience to the donor?” said Ernst, Co-Founder of Donate2Play Media.

Together with the Pereira’s, who have over a decade of entrepreneurial experience building successful online businesses, the idea to bridge the gap between gaming and fundraising was developed.

“We’ve chosen to support the Ancient Forest Alliance as beneficiaries, as they are a highly respected and deserving new grassroots organization with a most worthy cause,” stated Adrian Pereira, Co-Founder. “We really enjoyed working with AFA – incorporating their brand, high resolution images and interesting facts into the game allowed us to produce an experience that would better educate the player and increase both awareness and funds!”

According to Ken Wu, Co-Founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, “Donate2Play’s games for a better world could lead to a mini-revolution of increased support for the environmental movement and progressive causes. The concept is genius and we’re happy to work with the founders of Donate2Play who are cutting edge entrepreneurs with a conscience.”