donation pages

i have come across several websites that have banners for charities, etc. that receive a donation for every click you give. what’s the deal with this? its this real? also, i have a site bookmarked called “the daily donation page” which claims that everytime i visit it, all sorts of charities get donations automatically. am i a sucker? do these really work?

thanks,
alison

p.s. forgive me if this question has been answered, but i did not find it anywhere.

Are you talking about the Hungersite? Yes, it’s a genuine charity that donates its proceeds to Mercy Corps and America’s Second Harvest, among others. Yes, your click does make a difference.

The website gets money from sponsors to put their advertising banners on the click-through page. The sponsors pay, not you. The more clicks they get, the more money they give. You can only click once per day. The Hungersite also has several sibling-sites, like Rainforestsite and Child Healthsite.