This Year Twitter Fundraisers, Next Year FourSquare Fundraisers ....

Today, Pete Cashmore had a piece on CNN "Next Year's Twitter? Foursquare" predicting that FourSquare will be the darling of 2010.

FourSquare is a is location-based social network service overlays your Twitter network with an added layer of social gameplay.  FourSquare is a location-based social network to help you connect with friends using GPS via your mobile device.  What's a location-based social network?  For a crude analogy, think about dogs and fire hyrdants or trees or think about ant trails (ants leave behind a scent for other ants to follow the trail back to the ant hole.)

Early adopters have been all over FourSquare and downright bullish about location based social networks using mobile phones in general, despite some privacy concerns.

As I was reading this I wondered when someone was going to launch a fundraiswer with FourSquare.  Kismet, stumbled upon this today: 

FourSquare announced today it was partnering with TechiesGiveBack.org  to raise money for CampInteractive, a local not-for-profit which empowers inner city youth through the inspiration of the outdoors and the creative power of technology.
 
FourSquare - the innovative mobile social networking game - agreed to team up with TechiesGiveBack in order to make it easy and entertaining to raise funds for charity. By allowing a third-party to sponsor the FourSquare Leader Board during the NY Tech Gives Back event, users can benefit the cause simply by “checking in” at venues they would regularly attend. In addition to the regular system of points and rewards, a ratio will be created between points earned and dollars, with the funds raised donated to CampInteractive.
  
Dennis Crowley, FourSquare’s founder and CEO said today: “This has been something we’ve wanted to do with FourSquare for a long time. We’re really excited about working with TechiesGiveBack and are looking forward to hearing from potential sponsors. This is a great way to give.”
 
TechiesGiveBack.org is dedicated to unifying the New York tech industry for the purpose of improving the local community through volunteering and fundraising.  Co-founder Adam Gillman said today, "We believe that there are a lot of talented individuals in the tech community who are willing and able to give back, but just need an outlet. We decided to create an organization to facilitate those activities." Simon Kirk, Co-Founder continued, “We’d like to get as many people as we can to participate. One way to do that is to be innovative. There’s no reason why giving back shouldn’t be fun.”
 
In addition to fundraising, TechiesGiveBack.org has planned to bring 50 children from CampInteractive’s program to Manhattan for an afternoon of ice skating and activities.

How will location based social networks change fundraising practices?

Comments

[Howard Lake]

Fascinating. I'm reading this the day after I showed a group of fundraisers in Oxford how location-based search worked currently on Twitter, and, after their initial surprise, it generated some good discussion, not least on the ethics of such activities.

I suggested the possibility of charities/nonprofits with shops sending out discount vouchers to people within a given range of the shop(s), valid for one day or perhaps for a few hours only.

One fundraiser asked how she could reach easily all those people who appeared in a location-based search on Twitter. She didn't want to have to message each one one at a time, assuming that she found several hundred people.

I didn't have an answer for her, except to say that I was pretty sure someone very soon would have a service to do that. Looks like Foursquare could be the answer, or at least a step closer to that.

[Jessica Kirkwood]

Our friend at Social Citizen got me thinking about how Four Square could be used to reward location based civic engagement. For example, what kind of "rewards" could be granted to "The Foursquare Mayor" of the local foodbank or homeless shelter. Earning a ranking as "The Mayor" of a local bar can be rewarded with free drinks, but what rewards or game currency would work to incent competition around doing good?

[John Haydon]

Beth,

Foursquare rocks! I'm still the reigning Mayor of Panera Bread in Watertown, MA!

I think non-profits would be smart to at least join and enter their org into foursquare. This way, their org shows up in searches and places on four square, creating yet another outpost for connections.

John

[Ashley Schweitzer]

I've actually been thinking about this topic a lot - both how nonprofits can use foursquare to engage their constituents (as an example, the MN History Center gives free admission to mayors of different historical sites), but also how we can leverage the tool for fundraising. Thanks for the timely post.

[Sarah Richter]

Fascinating idea for leveraging supporters and people simply based on location. Think about how people in a general viscinity of say, homeless people, could be moved to support homeless causes, etc. I've never heard of this tool before, but think that it is something to watch as a potential leverage tool for nonprofits. With the success of Give to the Max Day, Minnesotans demonstrated that they are interested in online tools and philanthropy.

[Dpmichel]

Very interesting and timely in my own work. I am trying to bridge the gap intellectually between a national presence with an issue and tying local actions to that presence using geo-social networks. I assume that I am not the only national nonprofit grappling with this.