The Merit of Merit Badges

Remember when you were little and you got a badge in Girl or Boy Scouts for learning a new skill or going on an overnight trip? The feeling of being able to proudly show the badge, of knowing that you had done something good and were being recognized for it was, well awesome.
Lately, I have been obsessing using the CauseWorld app on my iPhone. At first, I received many badges for where I was checking in. I got a frequency badge for checking in a bunch of times at one location (ok, it was one of the places that I could be in my apartment and check in from), an All-nighter badge for checking in at 3 am (couldn’t sleep), a Nomadic badge (for checking in at 5 different places) and various others. Now that I have been using it for a while, the badges are more infrequent, but I am obsessed with getting them. I don’t know which one I am going to get next, but it has become a compulsion to check in wherever I go! And the thing is—every time I check in, I receive more karma points, so it all goes towards a good cause. I have donated all the points to great causes, so it’s all good!
My yoga studio has something similar. We receive wrist bands in different colors for attending classes. Just like CauseWorld, we receive more at the beginning of our journey, and they become more and more infrequent, but somehow more rewarding. It’s a point of pride for me to wear my 200-class wrist band, and I can’t wait until I get the 350 class band in front of the people that I practice with. They present the wrist-band at the beginning of class and the teacher gives a little speech. It’s nice to be recognized for hard work!
I listened to All Things Considered today on NPR, and they had an Austin local contributor talking about the interactive part of SXSW. When asked what the next big thing is, Omar Gallaga said that it would probably have to be 4-Square and Gowalla, GPS based apps where people can check in at locations and let their networks know where they are. People earn badges for where they check in (similar to CauseWorld), and the ultimate honor is being declared the Mayor of a certain place on 4-Square. This is given to the person who has checked in the most times at a specific location.
Anyhoo, what does this mean for non-profit organizations? GIVE BADGES. Our inner Girl or Boy Scout still wants badges. Perhaps organizations can give badges to people that volunteer. They can get badges for frequency, duties performed, etc. Maybe Convio, Blackbaud or any of the other CRMs can allow badges to become part of their peer-to-peer fundraising pages. It’s like the equivalent of the sashes that we used to have our mother sew our badges on! But seriously, nonprofits need to jump on board with this stuff. I am all about recognizing people for their hard work and making a big deal of people who are doing good things for your organization. Do it!!

Where in the world is your non-profit?

One of the newest social media tools to catch on is 4-Square. The user sets up an account and then “checks in” to different companies using the GPS on their mobile device. For instance, if you went to the coffee shop down the street, you would check in using 4-Square. You could then see who else had checked-in in the businesses around you. You can also see who has been dubbed “Mayor” of the business you checked in to. This is the person who has checked in the most.
For profit companies (like coffee shops) have a pretty easy connection to 4-square. They can give prizes to the “Mayor”, then can give a small discount to anyone who checks in, etc.
How can nonprofits use this to their advantage then? Most nonprofits do not have a place where people frequently go—like a coffee shop or a grocery store. At a fundraising event, they can give prizes to anyone who checks in. They can partner with a local business who can give a penny for every person that uses 4-Square to check in.
It will be interesting to see whether or not 4-Square is something that takes off, or whether it will be a flash in the pan, and fizzle out quickly. I don’t think that this should be one of the first social media presences for a nonprofit, but if an organization already has established itself with social media and wants to know another tool that they can use, 4-Square could be a great thing to “check” out!