Conscientious advertising comes to the web

Launched this week, Dublin-based "social tech" start-up Adtruism is set to customise its charity-focused website widget due to international interest from a number of "major businesses".

Company founder Brian McCormick says there has been interest in the widget from companies in “over 100 countries” since the beginning of the week, leading to calls to customise the product.

“We’re developing a corporate widget for websites that don’t want to display other brands or advertisements but want their visitors to be aware of their social responsibility as a company or website,” says McCormick.

The corporate widgets, which McCormick says should be available “in the next few weeks”, will act as “a digital promise by that company to donate a fixed sum in direct proportion to their site traffic”.

Adtruism is based around a simple widget which, when placed on a website or blog, displays commercial advertisements which once clicked on transfers 100 per cent of the revenue to a chosen charity.

Causes currently supported by the widgets include the Make a Wish Foundation, ISPCC, Unicef, and Doctors Without Borders, while Adtruism's growing list of "socially responsible advertisers" includes 123.ie, the Union of Students in Ireland and engineering company Horizon.

Adtruism is supported through the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland awards program, and is set to receive between €33,000 and €200,000 worth of funding and support this October, while KPMG and San Francisco-based online advertising agency Zedo are also providing pro bono support for the company.

“The concept is still new to people,” says McCormick, adding that the idea has also “interested a whole range of smaller charities”.