According to The New York Times, Oakland-based Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, has found an innovative way to raise money and bring attention to their cause.
Earthjustice teamed with location based service, Foursquare, to create a check-in-and-give campaign. As the ad says, “Every time you check in, an Earthjustice donor will donate $10 to protect endangered species.”
Ray Wan, the marketing manager for Earthjustice, said, “A lot of the time people are standing around BART checking their phones as they wait for their train, so it was a no-brainer to use Foursquare as way to get them to engage with the ads and support our work.”
I like the idea, but it would be even better if one’s Foursquare check-in pulled cash from your own bank account or Pay Pal account. There could also be an option that lets you send an update with the total contributed. Playing on the gaming theory here, you could then “one up” the whole Mayorship status thing (unique to Foursquare) with real dollar figures. Saying you gave $100 might inspire others in your network to do the same, or better yet, to top that figure.
