The app's premise is pretty simple: Type in your favorite food, write down how much you think it costs, how many servings you want and the calculator will tell you how many children that one item could feed. For example, one serving of a $10 noodle soup could feed 40 children.
The app is based on basic math. The World Food Programme, a part of the United Nations, estimates that it only costs 25 cents per day to feed one child. No matter what item you select, the calculator takes the final number and multiplies it by four.
While the underlying math isn't particularly exciting, the non-profit has managed to take a basic stat and create a platform designed to draw in users. Rather than skip straight to an ask, users are engaged by a personal question about their likes and dislikes. The process of deciding a type of food, its cost and a serving amount help keep users on-site and interested. It's an intelligent way to not only create new donors but to put into perspective just how much we take our daily food for granted. The site, WeFeedBack, says it "operates on the notion that the food we take for granted every day could have a major impact on the lives of school children if we decided to share from time to time."
A user may be more willing to donate $5 when that amount is framed as the cost of a hamburger he or she planned to eat for lunch. The donation isn't seen as additional spending but rather as a substitution for money users would have spent on their own food anyway.
The site and its calculator app are also taking advantage of the social space by integrating with Twitter, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn. Game mechanics have also been added through a badge system that rewards users for donating or sharing out on their social networks.
The World Food Programme is hoping to take its app beyond WeFeedBack.org. On top of embeddable widgets for both business and bloggers, the organization is planning mobile as well as embeddable widgets, and an API in the fall that will let third-party developers integrate the "Do Good" functionality to their own apps. One of the first partnerships will be with Foodspotting. The payment system for the site is based on PayPal's adaptive technologies, allowing the widget to be shared and modified without compromising its security.
The site has been live for a little while now, but it officially launches Tuesday. In that time, it has already provided meals to more than 100,000 children and has drawn up celebrity supporters like Christina Aguilera, Drew Barrymore, Thievery Corporation and soccer star Kaka.