Charity

As part of the now defunct Whirled Charity Initiative, Three Rings donated 10% of the proceeds from players' purchases on Whirled to charity. 10% of coin purchases were also donated to Charities for use in Whirled, such as setting up a Whirled presence for the Charity. Players on Whirled had the option to specify their preferred charity in their profile. Upon doing so, the charity share from each of that player's purchases went to their chosen charity. The share came from the portion of the sale proceeds that would normally go to Three Rings, and not from the creator's sale profits.

Core charities

The charity share for players who had not chosen a preferred charity were assigned randomly among approved "core" charity partners. The previous core Whirled charities were:

• Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) - Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 60 countries.
• Kiva - Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to an entrepreneur in the developing world. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.
• MercyCorps - Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds.
• The Sesame Workshop - The charitable arm of the Sesame Street television show, The Sesame Workshop develops innovative and engaging educational content delivered in a variety of ways — including television, radio, books, magazines, interactive media, and community outreach. Taking advantage of all forms of media and using those that are best suited to delivering a particular curriculum, the Workshop effectively and efficiently reaches millions of children, parents, caregivers, and educators — locally, nationally and globally.

NOTE: no endorsement of Whirled is implied on the part of any of these charities.

Adding a charity to Whirled

Initial contact with Three Rings

If you would like to see your favorite charity on Whirled, you should have them contact Three Rings! To initiate contact, a representative of the charity should:

1. Access the Whirled support form.
2. Set the Support Area option to "Other".
3. Write a short message introducing the charity to Three Rings.
4. Press the "Submit" button.

Three Rings will be in touch shortly to collect the verification documents and information described below.

Charity requirements

The Whirled Charity Initiative is currently open to US IRS-recognized 501(c)3 charities. Three Rings must verify a given charity’s status before the charity can be activated on Whirled. The following items are required for verification:

1. Paper copy of IRS 501(c)3 determination letter
2. PDF copy of most recent Form 990
3. PDF copy of most recent annual report (if available)
4. A description of the charity in 255 characters or less
5. Contact information for the person at the charity who will own this program
6. Payee and mailing address for payment by check
7. The URL for the charity’s completed Whirled profile page. Some profile tips: a) Use the charity logo as a profile picture – a 60x60 JPEG or PNG file is recommended. b) Set the charity name as the account’s permaname. This can be set at Me -> My Profile -> Account.