i’m is an initiative which Microsoft started back in March which aimed to generate money for charity. All it required was for American (yes… it was limited to America) users to place a code in their display name which generates this emoticon: .

Every time a conversation involving an American user (either sender, recipient or both) takes place where this icon is present in a user’s display name, a small donation is made to charity.

There are 10 different codes to make the icon, each code raising money for a different charity. The codes are (charities they benefit are in brackets): *red+u (American Red Cross), *bgca (Boys & Girls Clubs of America), *hsus (Humane Society of the United States), *naf (National [as in the United States] AIDS Fund), *mssoc (National MS Society), *9mil (ninemillion.org), *sierra (Sierra Club), *help (StopGlobalWarming.org), *komen (Susan G. Komen for the Cure) and *unicef (UNICEF).

The beauty of i’m is that whilst many people won’t be aware that by placing the ‘i’m’ icon in their display name that they’re helping charity is that they do it and Microsoft will still donate money.

Whilst it’s a shame it’s limited to the United States, I think this is quite a nice act of charity by Microsoft who have already donated nearly US$100,000… although they promise that they’ll donate a minimum of US$100,000 (or so Wikipedia their presspack reports) to each charity.

Microsoft haven’t said how much they’re paying per conversation and US$100,000 is a pittance to them I guess every little helps.

It would be nice to see that US$100,000 raised so far to be multiplied by at least 10… but I guess it’s Microsoft and some things won’t ever happen…

Tags: microsoft, windows live, msn messenger, i’m, im