This Freecell.net game site makes a small amount of money. But I continue to view it as a hobby and am fortunate enough to not really need the coinage that this does bring in.
Back when advertising paid better we were making about $12k/year but now ad revenue has dropped off precipitously. I continue to donate the same amount but the site no longer brings in anywhere near that.
But the little note about advertising is still true: after paying for hosting we donate all ad revenue to charity. And I have dramatically reduced hosting costs by going with a Namecheap VM. Seems to be pretty much the same perf-wise.
Update Dec 20, 2023
Gave $12000 to World Vision and UNICEF as per usual.
Total (without the match) is now $240,000. Como siempre, thanks for playing.
Update Dec 6, 2022
Gave $12000 to World Vision and UNICEF as per usual. Found an improved way to give to World Vision with a 9x match
so that's pretty huge. Total (without the match) is now $228,000. As always, thanks for playing.
Update Dec 18, 2021
Gave $12000 to World Vision and UNICEF. Total is now $216,000. Thanks for playing!
Update: Oct 26, 2020
Give $24000 to World Vision and UNICEF. Total is now $204,000. Thanks for all the
clicking!
Update: Dec 18, 2018
Gave $12000 to UNICEF, World Vision, and Hole in the Wall. That brings the total to $180,000
from your clicking. As always, thanks, and keep on doing the world some good by playing
Freecell.
Update: Nov 5, 2017
I've done the annual donations. Total is now $168,000 from your clicking. Thanks!
Update: Jan 1, 2017
I was late doing my giving for 2016. Hope the IRS will understand the
1 day difference (but I'm not optimistic.) Anyhow, another $12,000,
total is now $156,000 from your clicking. Thanks!
Update: Sep 25, 2015
Another $12,000, total is now $144,000.
Update: Nov 3, 2014
$12,000 donation, no matching this year because I no longer work at that
wonderfully generous company Microsoft. Thanks for all the good years,
Microsoft. Total is now $132,000. P.S. I now do my nerd thing for a little
local medical software company STC.
Update: Sep 9, 2013
Another $12,000 donation just went out bringing the total $77,000.
With matching I'll estimate we've given about $120,000 thanks to
Microsoft's generosity.
Update: June 22, 2012
Another $12,000 donation just went out bringing the total $65,000.
Microsoft has a new matching system and I think it'll be hard for folks
to slip through the cracks, so we can figure $24,000 went to needy causes
this year. So I'm going to guess we've given about $95,000 thanks to
Microsoft's generous matching.
Donations to date: $53000, Microsoft matches up to 100% but not all charities seem to have taken advantage of that and I didn't start submitting for matching until 2010, so maybe the total is around $71000.
Charities served:
We sponsor a child in Chile and have actually visited and seen the great work they do first hand. They're very light on the religion and very focused on really helping with health, housing, food, education, etc. all while making sure not to trample local custom and culture.
To the right there are a pics of Angela from 2004 and also a pic of Angela from 2015.
And as for all you players out there, you can at least take comfort from the fact that for every ad you view or click on in the course of pursuing your Freecell addiction, you're at least doing some good for some cause somewhere!
— Denny