Benevidz, Porn Website, Hopes To Raise Money For Charity

Porn sites get a rise out of people, but they usually don't raise money for charity.

That's changing thanks to Benevidz.com, a new website where porn performers donate a percentage of what they earn, er, on the job, to the charity of their choice.

Performers -- or "cam girls" -- can donate between 10 and 15 percent of what they earn during a web performance, a solo show or doing an online chat.

Benevidz.com will match 50 percent of the amount earned by the sex workers, and that could be quite a lot, according to spokesman Michael Wondercub, 23, a Denver-based entrepreneur who claims the porn business is a $5 billion a year industry.

Wondercub's estimate is quite speculative, since most porn companies are privately owned and don't release financial data, according to Theo Sapoutzis, the CEO and Chairman of Adult Video News (AVN), a trade journal that covers the porn industry

Still, Wondercub figures if the site can capture 1/10th of 1 percent of the adult entertainment market, it could mean more than $1 million in charities get donated If successful, the company estimates its charitable contributions will top $1 million dollars each year per cause.

Wondercub isn't just a college grad trying to make it in porn. He made money masturbating online while in school and found the experience positive.

"I liked doing it. It allowed me to express myself creatively while I was going to school," Wondercub told The Huffington Post.

The inspiration for the porn-oriented charity site came from an unlikely source: an anti-animal cruelty PSA by singer Sarah MacLachlan.

"My friends and I were thinking about a start-up and looking for ideas," he said. "When we saw Sarah MacLachlan on TV, we thought about doing porn for charity."

That was the easy part, but with porn, there's always a hard part. Wondercub and his partners are now trying to raise $15,000 in start-up costs via RocketHub.com, in hopes of getting the website ready for action by Oct. 30.

"We'd like to see 1,000 performers connected to the site within the first year," he said.

The concept is arousing the interest of at least one webcam performer.

Paige Little, who does web-based sex shows from her home in the Midwest for a rival company Streamate, thinks Benevidz.com is a promising idea.

"I have known of many performers that have donated show proceeds to charity," Little told HuffPost by email. "A whole network dedicated to charity would still need to stay creative in the content they provide in such a competitive market.

"Each performer and network has loyal followers and I hope that be the case with a network such as this."

Wondercub said he's getting interest from many webcam performers, and found six charities willing to accept money earned via masturbation videos.

"We have six charities so far," he said. "We're not announcing the names until the end of the month, but they range from animal shelters to groups that work with the homeless and to prevent domestic violence."

But while performers might be willing to work with Benevidz.com, online charity expert Sean Steinmarc suspects numerous charities might be reluctant to accept money they knew was earned by online sex workers.

"People just can't put up a logo of a non-profit and say they are donating to it," Steinmarc told HuffPost. "They have to get permission to use the trademark. I imagine the majority of non-profits wouldn't want to get involved. Some might accept the money anonymously."

But Wondercub strongly believes that combining two basic human drives, altruism and a mind in the gutter, is the ticket to making the world a better place.

“By providing millions of viewers a safe, high-class, user-friendly option for online erotica, we hope to reach our goal of becoming one of the largest charitable contributors in the world,” he said, according to MedCityNews.com.