Day 9: Foursquare for a Good Cause
I love how social media including Foursquare can be a way to quickly raise money for a good cause, locally or internationally.
I’ll never forget how my coworker and friend Nate Bagely was in a tight spot and his Twitter friends came through for him. It was Winter, he was a poor college student and he slid on the snowy road and blew a tire. Two hours later, after tweeting about it, he had enough to buy himself a tire. That’s how generous people can be – and it’s inspiring.
At SXSW this year PayPal, Microsoft and Studiogood, and Porter Novelli did a Check-In for Charity. When people checked in on Foursquare at designated locations or used #sxswHaiti on Twitter, Microsoft and PayPal made a donation toward Save the Children’s Haiti Relief Fund.
Emily Chang caught some Foursquare activism advertised at San Francisco BART stations. Earthjustice gives $10 to various activist and environmental causes. So you can be mayor of an ad promoting a cause you believe in.
Last of all, Wendy’s did a “Treat it Forward” campaign for Father’s Day this year. They gave 50
cent donations to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA).
Have you heard of other good causes on Foursquare? Please tell me in the comments.
Source: PR Newswire Press Releases http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/porter-novelli-to-showcase-emerging-communications-technologies-at-the-2010-south-by-southwest-interactive-conference-and-festival-87453532.html
and
Cloudspark on Twitter just told me about Akoha which is a geolocation “social reality game played in real life where you carry out missions that involve performing small acts of kindness from one person to another.” Check it out!
2 Responses to “Day 9: Foursquare for a Good Cause”
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July 29th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Definitely love this. It is always good to see SM taking a front row view in charitable giving. Check this out for (probably the first) Foursquare giving campaign.
http://mashable.com/2009/12/07/foursquare-charity-drive/
http://blog.foursquare.com/post/273179783/as-you-may-know-every-checkin-on-foursquare
July 29th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Matt,
I didn’t know that Foursquare itself launched a campaign. The cause they gave to is called CampInteractive and is “an organization that helps empower inner-city youth through technology skills and mentoring.” Sounds like a good fit (they can teach them how to use Foursquare).
Great find.
-Janet