April 1, 2009

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FreeRice/World Food Programme Meeting Notes April 1, 2009 11:00am – 12:30pm

Attendance: Natalie Vaupel, Charles Nesson, Rebecca Nesson, John Breen, Luke Sullivan, Josh Deutsch, David Levine, Yvette Wohn, Nick Foley, Dan Ray, Isaac Meister, Kira Stanfield,


Where does WFP stand with FreeRice?

  • Transfer of ownership from John to WFP
  • WFP is in control of everything, but Breen still helps where necessary
  • Need to figure out fundraising component


How does it currently operate? What are the costs?

  • Mechanism is the same as it was under John’s control
  • People pay for pages, but no longer relying on ads to get sponsors because there’s a problem with weeding out compromising sponsors. For WFP, no longer using an ad agency.
  • Grains have been reduced from 20 to 10 grains to get more stable funding mechanism. Currently not reaching advertisers that WFP wants to reach.
  • Threshold of $13K as base for advertising
  • Problem: a lot of players are kids and a large international component. A lot of the advertisers want to reach adults, and it doesn’t always work out that way. There are also concerns about WFP’s image and brand when choosing advertisers.
  • Goal: IBM/Apple


How does WFP feel about a FreeRice application on Facebook and using Twitter?

  • Natalie believes that FB/Twitter are interesting but needs a better understanding of the revenue generating side. If linked to ad, then need to figure it out.
  • Iphone: download and have advertisement to be featured while playing the game.
    • Demographic will be different than on the web
    • Wide range and different target group can focus on Apple

Advertising/Fundraising

  • Possible approach to advertisements is to have companies feature their corporate responsibility on the site – a platform to speak about poverty.
  • Grassroots:
    • Schools want competitions; how do we add a feature to do fundraising and donate directly?
    • WFP has a wall where if you donate, you can put your picture; connect this to FreeRice for recognition
  • Facebook App – Causes/FB Connect
    • Help with distribution – FB integrate causes and FB connect; if on site can have profile come up
  • Google – if we use Google, someone would have to screen advertisers. It is time consuming (approximately 100 – 200 ads a day to look through).
  • Major sponsors is the easiest way to increase advertising revenue. There is no solid process to solicit ads. FR has posted a notice soliciting donations. When people respond, John replied with an e-mail describing the $13K threshold.
  • Twitter: microtransaction tool. Fund $1/2 by reply. Small donations.
  • International Audience:
    • ETS/Education institution (i.e. Kaplan)
    • WFP has already approached organizations with Kaplan, but they were unresponsive. She’s willing to re-approach Kaplan, but we need to create a proposal.


Vision Going Forward

  • Top priority is the Business Plan. We cannot move forward with any other developments or expand without a solid business plan. Deadline: end of semester.
  • Consider who has an ongoing commitment to FreeRice
    • Rebecca Nesson offered her time. She will sit on some of the student meetings. Kira Stanfield will serve as the group’s liaison.
  • Professor Nesson’s Ideas:
    • Jamaica Group – describes relationship
    • Strategic games in an online environment and at the same time structure so it has an educational focus. Integrate skill games to FreeRice.
    • Scratch – teaching algorithmic thinking.
    • Use this idea to engage sponsors and inspire excitement about FreeRice
    • WFP – ok with strategic games as long as we find a good parallel; need a basic business model first.
  • Rebecca Nesson’s Thoughts:
    • FR already has excitement. We should focus what’s already there.
  • Concerns about the integrity of the site. Sponsors are also concerned about their return on investment. Disconnect between donation and whether the ads are value generating.


Can we localize the advertisements?

  • Luke: It is possible. There are ways of tracing requesters’ addresses. We can target based on geographic locations. Can do it in a few days. Cost will not small (using the same bandwidth).
  • Can have a variety in rice donation based on locality.
  • Concern: targeting players as investors
    • Should not be too big of a problem. Not asking the kids to raise the money. The ads will just be targeted towards the kids and the kids’ families. There is a concern about image and reputation. We will need to figure out a way to screen advertisers (name nuances can be an issue). WFP will control the types of organizations associated with its name.
    • Iphone can be used to do both (fundraising and playing)
    • FB Concern: if it’s a popular page, FB will allow the highest bidder to advertise. This may be inconsistent with the ads that WFP approves.


Individual Donations

  • WFP - Online can send a check (US Friend of WFP – tax deductibility)
    • We can track how many donations are made from FreeRice (approximately $5 – $10K per quarter.
  • Excellent for advocacy in communication.
    • Sponsors (under FAQ) – possibly include information about individual donations


Vision Continued

  • Sell it better
    • Find a business model and think how we can make it more appealing to advertisers or add a feature for those who want to make individual donations
  • What money do we need?
    • At 10 grains a month, we need approximately $30K per month.
  • Currently, the ads are 15 cents per 1000 ads.


Sales Process

  • Not much in contacting advertisers. Now, Breen has just posted a notice and waited for responses.
  • WFP: reached out to current partners and Kaplan
  • If people can give money by credit, what will that open up?
    • Twitter – micro payment
    • We can acknowledge those who make donations by listing their names on the site.
    • Pierre: combine photos and names (or anonymous if they choose). It is also possible to list businesses (i.e. Joe’s Cleaners).
    • Parents with small businesses have approached Breen willing to donate a couple hundred to run ads.
    • Does not necessarily have to be tax deductible.
  • Sell iphone apps for $1 - $2
  • Varying Grains:
    • If want to donate more, have a user login where someone can donate money towards donating additional grains


WFP Commitment

  • On April 20th , Maria will be taking over the account and oversee all aspects. We will be communicating mostly with Maria and Pierre.
  • Youth Outreach: Graham Bell
  • Private Sector Fundraising: Marcella O.


Business Model

  • Understand how we can work together and define partnership
  • Carnegie Application – for support of activity at Berkman Center (BC)
    • Business model and programming: WFP handling the delivery of food and housing servers
  • Code on servers: John Breen’s creation and all future architecture expressed in code. Relationship with Luke and those at WFP who code.
    • Structures – WFP brand. Establish relationship with WFP’s tech.
  • Create a business plan – integral in thinking about scalable education environment with level of coordination.
  • Obama on Education
    • None of the money from the stimulus plan is for grants
  • Business plan focus:
    • Need to attract sponsors
  • BC can develop new features
  • Consider contacting MIT non-profit organization
  • WFP not opposed to partnerships with other organizations, but Nesson wants to exhaust all other options first.
  • We need to develop the entity to sustain itself.
    • First priority is to work on the business plan. Don’t worry about administrative tasks. Let the BC worry about the student participation after us. Rebecca Nesson will help us with being the point person to update the next set of students.
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