A trio of undergraduate students at the University of Richmond have developed a custom search engine that will be used to help feed those in the developing world.

The three students have created Hoongle.org, a custom Google search engine that promises to donate 20 grains of rice per search to schools located in impoverished countries.

The search engine has already generated more than 8.5 million grains of rice (about 4,000 meals) since it was introduced this past September. (Source: nytimes.com)

Of course, online clicks alone cannot put food in the mouths of people overseas.

The Hoongle group are able to establish and finance their international fund by donating just a fraction of a penny in revenue generated from every search; roughly the amount it costs for 20 grains of rice. Hoongle works alongside "Fill the Cup", a campaign facilitated through the United National World Food Program, which delivers the food to schools worldwide.

No Games, Just Searches & Sustenance

Hoongle is not the first concept aimed at interweaving online behavior with food donations. FreeRice.com, a non-profit online destination launched in October 2007, entices visitors to participate in simple vocabulary, math and science games. For each correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to developing countries through the United Nation World Food Program.

It is estimated that almost 63 billion grains of rice have been generated by people playing the basic and intermediate games found at FreeRice.com. Analysts predict that Hoongle.org will succeed far longer than FreeRice.com, since the search engine does not require its visitors to do anything above and beyond their normal search routine.

Success Depends on Word-of-Mouth

Still, if many people hear about the campaign and adjust their default homepages accordingly, the chances for its success will increase ten-fold. As it stands, Hoongle has about 90,000 users in 130 countries. Traffic to the site has been doubling at a consistent rate of 2 to 3 weeks, meaning that word is spreading and people are willing to offer a helping hand. (Source: wordpress.com)

If Hoongle continues to generate positive results, expect the search engine to offer other languages, and even a version designed especially for the iPhone.