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Zynga raises almost 1 million for Haiti Relief Fund with the help of FarmVille players!
| Posted on Tue ,19/01/2010 by FarmVille Freak FarmGoddess Share this post with your friends on Facebook  |
Zynga, the developers of FarmVille and Mafia Wars, has already raised over $900,000 dollars with the help of FarmVille players for the earthquake victims of Haiti. Great work FarmVille Freaks!!!
FarmVille made a special announcement to FarmVille players on Monday night, 01.18.10:
“Wow! We’re humbled by your generosity. Y’all have contributed over $900,000 to the Zynga Haiti Relief Fund! If we can exceed $1 million in donations before 11:59 pm PT Tuesday, we’ll give all Farmers a surprise! It’s your last chance – so head to your farm and purchase some White Corn!” (FarmVille)
The purchase of virtual goods that includes White Corn seeds for FarmVille and Haitian drums for Mafia Wars are bought with real cash in which Zynga is donating 100% of proceeds to The World Food Program for the Haiti Relief Fund.
Prior to the earthquake in Port a Prince, Haiti, Zynga had already established a special relationship with the country of Haiti when it started the first Sweet Seeds for Haiti campaign on October 1st 2009 by reaching out to FarmVille players and bringing awareness to the poverty in Haiti. Over 1.2 million was raised with past contributions. With the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti, many of Zynga’s FarmVille players were hoping that another campaign effort would take place as they were eager to support Haitian relief efforts.
The Sweet Seeds for Haiti – Haiti Relief Fund is represented with White Corn seeds in FarmVille. The seeds have only been available to FarmVille players since Friday, January 15th 2010 and the response has been overwhelming. Please consider donating if you already play FarmVille and are interested in helping the people of Haiti. The White Corn seeds will be available to purchase in the FarmVille Market until Friday, January 22nd, one week from their debut.
If you would like to support the Haitian Relief efforts and donate in another way, here are some additional resources:
Using Cellphone & Text Messaging: Another reputable organization Yele.org, founded by singer Wyclef Jean, is donating 100% of proceeds to Haiti. You may donate here by using your cellphone to text the word “YELE” to numbers 501501, each text will donate $5 USD.
Link: http://www.yele.org/donation/
For USA and international monetary donations: If you would like to donate money directly and NOT purchase the Sweet Seeds for Haiti with farm cash, you may do so here through Zynga’s campaign with World Food Program :
Link: https://www.wfp.org/donate/zynga
Coinstar & Rixty.com: Do you want to help Haiti but don’t have a Credit Card to buy FV$? FarmVille Freak “DarkFarmer” suggests donating spare change using CoinStar and Rixty.com to purchase farm cash. For Farmville players in the US, all it takes is a handful of coins and a trip to the grocery store. You only need $5 in coins to purchase enough FV$ to donate to Sweet Seeds for Haiti. Here’s how it works:
- 1. Pack up your coins visit your local grocery store with a Coinstar machine.
- 2. When choosing how to redeem your coins, be sure and select the egiftcertificate option.
- 3. Choose Rixty.com as your gift certficate choice
- 4. Redeem your coins for a Rixty code (There’s no coin counting fee with this option!)
- 5. Take your Rixty gift certificate code (On your receipt) and enter it at www.rixty.com
- 6. Go to Farmville, choose add coins & FV cash and select Rixty as your payment option.
Tags: coinstar, donate to haiti, farmville, haiti relief effort, haitia earthquake, rixty.com, sweet seeds for haiti, yele, zynga
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 1:11 am
Wow, so excited… Farmers are very generous
But I don’t have time to purchase white corn right know, does anybody know when this fund ends?
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 1:18 am
Tomorrow at 11:59 Pacific time
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 1:40 am
@Cleopatra & Karen:
This Sweet Seeds for Haiti campaign will end on Friday, JANUARY 22nd, one week from when it was first made available.
However, the cut-off time for tomorrow is when Zynga is hoping to reach its 1 Million dollar mark of donations received.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 1:44 am
Cleopatra, if you have time to type on here, you have time to purchase the white corn!!! What a lousy excuse!! Just think if it was you in need.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 1:44 am
Too bad, I have to study for the exams now so I’ll probably miss this opportunity… But there should be some countdown showing how much time is left…
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 1:44 am
And yes, I did purchase it!!! So I can speak on your lame excuse for your so called “NO TIME”
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 1:48 am
I hope the gift wont be a FLAG!!!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:00 am
Cleopatra, how is it that you dont have time to buy the whitecorn, yet you have plenty of time to type on a blog site….Another pathetic excuse to turn the other way!!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:01 am
Yes, I did donate, and I try to plant it constantly, but if I can’t, it’s knowing that I donated to help other human beings that matters, not if I can plant or harvest it!!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:07 am
Good farmer, you care about the special present??? not for helping other people who are in a very difficult sittuation????????…..In that case i havent any comments…………..
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:09 am
Exactly Steven!!!
Poor Excuses from so called “human beings”
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:15 am
I bought my white corn =) flag or not. The few real dollars it works out to isnt much, but it shows how when we all work together it really helps! Can’t believe that some still care what they might get, this was an event for helping others, not an event for “give me!”
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:17 am
I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to look like such a creature… I already donated money to Haiti and now I also wanted some advantage here in FV… Moreover I’m out of money on my card so I’m waiting to get some to purchase the FV cash. And I spend some time working on my farm every morning, but only once a day because the rest of the day I really have to study… That’s all folks!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:27 am
if it wasn’t for the Haiti quake, I doubt I would have bought anything from Zynga – but as long as the money DOES go to Haiti, I have no problem in this case. Call me a sceptic, but the owner of Zynga has openly admitted being a scammer, so hopefully some proof that the money has actually gone to the cause will be placed on the Zynga site.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:31 am
I don’t know where to begin with this one… You’re playng a ****ing childs game talking about pathetic excuses and turing away from tragedy?? Let the college student go study in peace and make the world a better place, possibly by learning how to make buildings better impervious to earthquakes or better coordinate disaster, hell, just be a productive member of society, without your ignorant commentary. Again, you’re playing a ****ing childs game, a game, A GAME. Of course we want the flag or whatever the hell it is. One thing has NOTHING to do with the other. This isn’t SaveThePlanetVille. Get off your horse! You’re sitting on an office chair in front of a lap top clicking squares to earn nonexistant prizes for untold hours. What could YOU have been doing to help the world a better place in that time? Leave the college students alone and if you don’t want your reward, give it to me. Farmville for life!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Steven, you pay money for me? because I cant pay real money.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:54 am
i brought the seeds the minute they came out i wanted to help the minute i heard about the earthquake anyways so thought i might aswell help them and still get my enjoyment of hitting the mouse button over and over this is a very poor country 5 dollars help or anything so i say good on ya zynga i dont care if they gave us a flag that everyone is complaining about or a fancy animal that is limited or a tree cause in the ebd i know i have helped those poor human beings going through such a bad tragic event that this world deals
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 3:00 am
You don’t even know if the FarmVille site owners are donating the money! Where is the accountability?? In what way do you KNOW the money is going to help these people? 70% of all chareties keep the money for themselves if they aren’t regulated and heald accountable. No one is there to hold Zenga accountable. If you want to donate to Haiti you should do research and find a charity that is going to make sure your donations get to where you intend them to go. You’re all sheep!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 3:50 am
I think the 10 million fans that farmville has is enough to hold zynga accountable. I think they might want to know where their money is going, and would protest highly if there was any sniff of conspiracy…
There are many different places to donate for Haiti, this is just one of them, if you dont agree with this method simply use another…
simples..
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 3:55 am
MY PRIZE A FLAG BIG DEAL COULD HAVE BEEN SOMETHING BIG AND BETTER BUT THE MONEY DID GO TO GOOD CAUSE!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 4:08 am
Here we go again. Is the flag not good enough for you greedy, selfish people? If the prize had been a real Toyota Corolla sent to your driveway, you would be on here posting that it sucks that you didn’t get a Camry.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 5:11 am
I bough white corn seeds! Send 20 dollars and it was a good deal! 20 dollars are nothing …I’m just happy we can help just by playing such a great game!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 5:56 am
Guys, i am absolutely not satisfied with all of you! Hello, you donated for the poorest country in the west zone, maybe not, i am not that good in finances but you helped make this world a better place and about Cleopatra , she donated in another way , she will donate in the future if she passes her exams, she may be an architect an then build safer buildings, i just wanted to say, everyone donates on his way. The main thing is that Haitians have food, water and a place to sleep because the USA will control Haiti(port-au-prince) for six months till it is on his own legs again
Don’t be mean to the people complaining about the prize. They donated about a good reason.
And something else, how do you know zynga will donate all the money to Haiti, ha?
I am a bit sceptic but i pray that the money will go 100% to Haiti
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 6:52 am
I really hope 1.000.000$ will go to Haiti because that will help A LOT!!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 6:54 am
@Sally: thanks for support. I donated money to Doctors Without Borders because I’m in the medical school and I’d like to join them after finishing the school… Which means I probably should finally “turn off Facebook and put my face in a book” because maybe I won’t donate 5 dollars through FV but I’ll learn some important stuff, pass the awful exams and maybe once I will really help people on Haiti personally… But I love farmville and those cute crops are a perfect way of relaxation for me
Happy farming everyone, I really have to go 
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 7:19 am
Although it was very generous for Zynga to hold such relief funds, there r many other ways to donate besides facebook games..like American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, even thru texting on ur cell phones. God Bless the ppl from Haiti and farmers, enjoy the game..coz really it’s just a game, lol
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 7:43 am
Some of you are pathetic. You guys who labeled Cleopatra should be ashamed of yourselves. The only reason people like you donate is so you can tell (or show) others that you “care”. I guarantee if FV asked for $20 bucks but didn’t have White Corn or a Flag as a status symbol so you could brag about it, you wouldn’t do it. Compassion is all about helping and being humble about it. I challenge you to donate your time or a few bucks to a worthy cause someday but don’t tell anyone about. I bet you can’t do it.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 8:08 am
@ Tim
I totally think the same way as you. I can’t believe people keep judging others with no reason at all.
@ Cleopatra
It’s great that you know what’s more important, studying or playing farmville. I’m sure you’ll do very good in your exams
@ Patricia, Snikers and people who thinks like them…
There’s more ways to help, than buying FV cash. Is somebody says that can’t help via Farmville, that doesn’t mean that they won’t do it at all.
People is free to help or not to help and if they help they can do it in the way the want to, so if you did donate in any way, then you should be at least happy that you contribute in a way, and if you want others to do the same, you shouldn’t judge but encourage to donate too.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Can you people just be satisfied with your own reasons and let everybody do it on there manner?
There are a lot of diffrent people with as many ways and reasons.
Let them do it theirs and do it yours….
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 9:07 am
These comments make me loose a little less faith in the human race, donation or no donation. We’re fighting and loosing sight of the real problem here. Some of you are way too quick to judge. If they didn’t donate via FarmVille maybe they donated elsewhere.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 9:09 am
Please be wary of the Yele donation site. Sources are saying that much of that money goes into private pockets.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 9:15 am
you guys in the US are lucky! I love the pocket change idea! We dont have those machines in Canada but I love the idea of doing that. oh well my credit card worked just as good to donate.
I have a huge jar of collected coin here, i’m sure many people do have a spot for that coin in the house… can you imagine how much it would add up to if everyone donated their coin jar??? wow!
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 9:23 am
I’ve raised over 200 dollars for Haiti(I auctioned of several knitted items) and also bought the white corn. What’s best about the white corn- You’ve donated to help Haiti. Also?(for you people who really only care about the game and how YOU can benefit) It’s a 100 coin profit for one plot of land. I’ve made over 300 thousand coins in the past 3 days. So there’s something for everyone.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 9:24 am
I tried to buy FV $. n They took my money, charged my card, but still no FV $ and that was over 3 days ago. Now I have to contact to try and get money back on my card.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Dawn The same thing happened to me . I wanted to donate to Haiti because It is so sad to see so many people hungry and thirsty with no place to live. I bought the credits but never showed up. I repurchased so my donation would be sure to get there. I hope Zynga continues to help Haiti.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 10:35 am
I agree with Tim…besides the lack of accountability, the donations are not an immediate help. When you donate through a third-party, such as a cell-phone service carrier or Zynga, they wait until the funds are collected from individual accounts. There are also administrative costs of 2-5% that are removed before forwarding your donation (although some organizations will waive those costs for Haiti relief). All in all, it could take 20-90 days before those funds are disbursed.
If you want to make a donation, I would suggest making a donation to organizations that are already on the ground, have a history of working in disaster relief areas, or have an established presence in Haiti. Among them:
Doctors without Borders
UNICEF
American Red Cross
In reference to Cloonie’s comments: I hate to knock Wyclef with his good intentions but his charity (not him) just filed tax returns a few months ago for the last three years. That looks a little shady to me.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I wish Zynga would extend this for a second week, and allow us to renew our licenses to buy white corn for another week of planting. I love the extra points, having fun & helping a cause at the same time.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I really question Jean’s organization, yele.org. There are a LOT of unanswered questions about operating expenses and how donations have been used.
Food for the Poor and Doctors without Borders are both very reputable.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Tim and Mat… i was thinking the same thing… well put…
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
I would never donate to zynga, 1% of that money probably reaches the actual cause, but I sure will enjoy that free prize that they send out if they reach the 1 million mark
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I noticed the people that were judging others shut the hell up real quick once intelligent comments started being made. And for the straggler, Matt, stfu. The only reason YOU donated is that you get off on holding that over other peoples heads.
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
hey guys is the rixty thing just work for the donating thing or you can also use to buy other things on farmville store?
Posted on January 19th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
did they get there million dollers and if they did wheres the gift
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 5:48 am
I don’t see the sweet seeds for Haiti in the marketplace did they stop it early???
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Did they get 1million?
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 10:51 am
I’m not sure what the point of this whole thread was – was it just to bash people? Maybe they should change the thread name. Do people really care that much if people are donating so they get a stupid farmville gift, or “seem” compassionate, or get the corn because it offers more points? They’re donating! Who really gives a **** why or how? And as far as Zynga sending all of the funds raised to Haiti – no place can. Any organization that is large enough to raise any substantial amount of money will always have high administration fees. I read a statistic recently that, of the billions the American Red Cross brings in each year, only millions of it actually goes to the causes due to high admin costs – but it’s still many, many millions and it’s an organization that does a LOT of good. I really don’t care if people brag about donating or volunteer just to get their free Disney pass or what have you – the end result is still good. Should it matter how or why? If so, I should remember that the next time some little kid comes to my door pitching raffle tickets for church (or whatever) – I’ll remember to tell that poor kid that I can’t because it’s not a good thing to give money if I may possibly get anything in return.
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 11:01 am
so what was the gift for all farmers
hope it was the Lake ( not much of a gift as we had to pay for it)
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
What happened to the white corn seeds for Haiti? I went to buy them this morning and they were taken out of the market.
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
“The White Corn seeds will be available to purchase in the FarmVille Market until Friday, January 22nd, one week from their debut.”
WRONG!! Daamm! thats not true! I just buy FVCash ONLY for the seeds and now.. i have FV cash and dont see any Haiti Seed.. stupid site.. Info out of date.. but have time to write about glitches.. lame.
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
i purchased the farmcash so i could buy the white corn, but THE WHITE CORN IS GONE! it doesn’t show on my farm at all! so now i don’t know if the money i gave zynga will go towards the cause, since i didn’t get the corn and all. =/ is anyone else having the same problem in their farm?
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
I buy the seeds yesterday.
The fantastic gift is…. a Haitian flag. o_O (Dunno if all the gifts are the same).
Ok, that’s nice, but I expected another kind of gift…
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
same here i couldn’t find them either
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Zynga Players Raise Over $1.5 Million for Haiti in Five Days
Posted by Zynga in Press Releases
Jan 20, 2010 5:38:38 PM
SAN FRANCISCO – Jan. 20, 2010 – In five days, more than 300,000 Zynga game players purchased $1.5 million in virtual social goods to support relief efforts in Haiti. Through Zynga’s top four games, users from 47 countries donated to U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) by buying limited edition items in FarmVille, FishVille, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker. FarmVille users alone raised $1 million.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from virtual social goods that Zynga users purchased went to WFP, which has an emergency response team distributing food and other relief to millions affected by the earthquake. These virtual items included white corn in FarmVille, a Haitian drum in Mafia Wars, a Haiti fish in FishVille, and a chip package in Zynga Poker. In addition, links for donations were promoted through Zynga’s other games, including Café World, PetVille, YoVille.com, and the Zynga.org site. With today’s announcement, Zynga users will have raised $2.7 million for Haiti, having donated $1.2 million for the welfare of children and women late last year.
“We are extremely grateful to Zynga for this contribution,” said Nancy Roman, WFP’s director of communications. “Through their donations, Zynga players are helping us to bring urgently needed food assistance to people who have been plunged into hunger by this devastating earthquake. We started distributing food within 24 hours of the earthquake, and in the coming weeks, we aim to deliver weekly rations to 2 million people.”
“We are humbled by the response from our users and the speed with which they rallied from everywhere to help so many in Haiti,” said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus.
copied from:
http://blog.zynga.com/2010/01/zynga-players-raise-over-15-million-for-haiti-in-five-days.html
Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
also, copied from the farmville fan page:
FarmVille Last week, tragedy struck Haiti. Millions of people are in dire need of assistance, and we called on you to help. In an incredible act of charity, you’ve donated over $1 million to the Zynga Haiti Relief Fund. As a small token of our thanks, we’ll be giving all players a surprise next week!
Posted on May 13th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
I donated to help but I also like to play farmville. I would love it if we could master the sweet potatoes and get a sign, not to show I donated but to have another cool sign. Think what you like.