Bumpin' Bumpin'

One of the apps on my iPhone has an ad that runs before it starts. The ad is for PayPal and it says that there is an app where two iPhone users can bump each other to get and accept a payment. This got me thinking-this could probably work for accepting donations! Picture it--a grassroots fundraiser is having a dinner to support a cause. In addition to collecting cash donations, donors can "bump" with the event organizers to collect funds. No money has to exchange hands--it could just be bumped! And then the peer-to-peer fundraising tool would make sure that it was billed and the donor was recognized!

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!!

SXSWi

SXSW Interactive is just wrapping up here in Austin. I wish that I could have gone because there were so many different amazing resources for nonprofits and other geeky things that I am interested in. There were a lot of panels and talks on social media and the ways that nonprofit organizations can use them to their advantage.
Last year, the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas decided to do something unique during SXSW. Using a 4 person street team and 50 Bloggers, Twitterers, and Facebook users they were looking to increase donations to the CAFB. Tyson Foods said that it would donate 100 lbs of food for every person who went to a specific website and filled out a form.
Neither Tyson nor CAFB knew what would happen next. Over 4800 people signed the pledge! Additionally, 714 people who signed the pledge gave an additional $28,000. 95% of these donors were first time donors!!
One of the most amazing things was that one single Tweeter was the source of 967 visits to the website to sign the pledge. Who would have thought that one single person could drive so much traffic?
The age of social media is here and nonprofits can clearly be successful by using it. SXSWi may be a unique case because it attracts techie, social conscious people. This was a perfect thing for Tyson and for Capital Area Food Bank to launch last year.

This year, Capital Area Food Bank just came out with an iPhone app. I was curious what the “iPheedaneed” app was all about, since they are one of the first (possibly only?) nonprofit to have an app. The app includes news and facts about CAFB and their mission, recipes and events. One of the most innovative things is a game called “Catch the Can”. I tried to play it and failed miserably, but kudos to CAFB for having something interactive on the app!!

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!

A cool new iPhone app

When I met with James yesterday, we geeked out a little bit over our matching iPhones. We talked about different iPhone apps and potential ways that nonprofits could utilize the iPhone to increase donations, awareness and advocacy. One of the best apps that he mentioned is called "CauseWorld".

It's free to download, and it uses geotagging to tell where you are. The app finds businesses around you, and you select where you are and receive "karma points" for it. When you get enough karma points, you can choose where to donate the funds---to preventing child abuse, help fight cancer, to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, or a few other causes. The sponsors of this free app, Kraft and Citi, donate the equivalent to these causes.

How cool is this?! Kraft and Citi have some sort of relationship with the businesses listed (not every local business is listed), and it may drive business or at least awareness of these local businesses utilizing the sponsors' services as well as an interesting and fun way to donate to nonprofits.

I haven't used it too much yet, but you do get merit badges for things like staying up late and there's a feed to see who has donated to which cause.

Definitely worth checking out!