Global hunger and poverty organization Heifer International released the first non-profit tablet magazine app Thursday, launching a digital edition of its quarterly publication World Ark. The app is available for free for in the App store for iPads and Google Play for Android tablets.
"We believe the tablet is the ideal format to show the work that Heifer does, since it lets us use video and professional photography to showcase the work we do," Donna Stokes, managing editor of World Ark, told Mashable. "A high percentage of our readers still prefer print, but we really see the digital space as a growth area for us, and it's really important for us to be there as well."
World Ark is a combination catalogue and magazine, including reported features on sustainable development as well as gifts for purchase for families in the developing world, such as cows, pigs, chickens or stoves. These gifts -- the crux of the non-profit's work -- are intended to help people become financially independent and leave the cycle of poverty.
The tablet platform lends well to World Ark's catalogue of gifts because it becomes charitable e-commerce. Beyond the ability to shop directly from the app, the magazine includes video and other multi-media content that doesn't appear in the print publication.