Child's Play

Child's Play

"Gamers give back."

Child's Play is a charity that aids children's hospitals in acquiring gaming equipment for the children at the hospital. It is funded entirely on cash donations or purchases, and is tax deductible. The Child's Play charity is entirely non-profit, though they do spend 2-3% of the donations on such things as shipping, etc.

Direct donations of cash through PayPal are readily accepted, and quite appreciated; however, there is also the option to buy an item for the hospital. The hospitals write up a wishlist, and when it is finished, doners may buy the item on Amazonand have it sent to the hospital, through Child's Play.

The site was announced on November 24, 2003, by the creators of the popular Penny Arcade webcomic, with the intentions to aid the children in hospitals and to reverse the bad public image of videogaming. The original post by "Gabe" (aka Mike Krahulik) can be found here.

Within the first month of kick-off, the charity raised about $250,000; overall, Child's Play has earned $6.7 million for various children's hospitals around the world, in such locations as U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and England. If you want to contribute to this growing charity that supports not just one, but two causes, at once, check out Child's Play!

The Fuzz Academy

The Fuzz Academy

"Environmentally friendly"

The Fuzz Academy is a networking site that combines simple, fun games along with valuable lessons and intellectual stimulus to create a worthy site that also happens to aid environmental causes and charities. The Fuzz Academy, or "FA" as some of its users call it, donates to several strong charities focused on saving the environment.

Fuzz Academy allows users to create an account and a personal pet, or 'cadet'. The cadets can be dressed up with various items that are bought with hairballs (the site's currency). Hairballs are earned by playing games, or showing some love to other cadets. Special, more intricately designed items are available for premium members, who spend real currency on the game. However, most items are available to normal users as well.

The site functions largely like the popular Neopets, in which the user has a social network profile, dressed up pets, and plays games for currency. What separates Fuzz Academy from your everyday pet site is that it donates to causes such as, according to their About Us page, the Nature Conservancy's Adopt-An-Acre, Plant A Billion Trees, the ASPCA, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Interested in helping one of those environmental charities yourself? You can do so, just by playing some games over at The Fuzz Academy!