Addicted to Sudoku, Solitaire, Popping Bubbles? Even that can do some good

Recently, I came across an interesting site. Games that Give appears to be a relatively new site that allows you to play your favorite online games, like say, Sudoku, for free, and the site donates 70% of its ad revenue (say you happen to click on an ad while bursting with joy from solving that Sudoku puzzle), to charities that are part of the site. As a Sudoku addict, I could not be happier about this, but as a fundraiser, it is even more exciting.

So far, relatively few organizations have signed up for this. Users can pick the organization they "play" for. There is now a Facebook Application as well, and I imagine a mobile app is not too far off.





This site is in line with loads of other sites that have cropped up over the past few years like FreeRice.com and others where users are doing something that is useful or fun in their every day lives, and thru ad revenue, doing some good as well. There are shopping sites like this--buy an item thru the site, part of the revenue goes to charity. EBay's been in the game for a long time where you can donate part of the sale of your auction item to a charity of your choice, the list goes on and on.

The key here is that inventive folks on the web are finding ways to marry what people do on the Internet every day to a useful by product. Most of us have gotten used to seeing ads anyway, so why not have those ads do some good if we click on it?

The fundraiser's dilemma, is of course, how to keep up with all these sites, which ones to sign up for, how to even find out about them, and how to get ahead of the game.

One useful resource that all of us fundraisers can take advantage of is the Case Foundation's Gear Up for Giving initiative, going on right now. According to the Case Foundation, Gear Up for Giving: "which is presented in partnership with the Goldhirsh Foundation and See3, includes a series of Q&A sessions with social media experts and video training, along with a compilation of the best resources & tools from across the web for nonprofits and social media. The trainings and resources are free and available to any nonprofit organization or individual that has an interest in learning how to use social media tools to galvanize their networks, raise awareness for their causes and increase donations."

At the end of the 30 day initiative, "nonprofits everywhere will have an opportunity to put their learning into practice when we launch the 2009 America's Giving Challenge, enabling them to compete for donations and raise awareness for their causes."

And, just to help everyone get their week started on a thoughtful note, here is an interesting video from Network For Good care of the Wild Apricot Blog.

My new Sunday Morning Routine

All of us have routines in the morning: wake up, figure out if it's really time to get up, figure out if it's possible to stay in bed any longer...

I used to have a very specific routine on Sunday mornings: this used to involve getting up, contemplating breakfast, watching the Sunday politics shows.

Recently, I've noticed a new habit sneak not only into my Sunday morning routine, but into every morning.

I wake up and feel around on my nightstand for my iPhone. I open one eye and manage to put in my password. I navigate to my four favorite iPhone apps and check them. First, I check the Woot iPhone app and see what's on sale that day. Then, I mosey on over to my Twitter iPhone app and wonder to myself who's already Tweeting this early in the morning. I then check an app that won't be mentioned here for good laughs, and finally, navigate to the new NPR app to see what's happening in the world this morning.

I say this bc I never thought I would turn into a "app" person, never mind that they would become a key part of my morning routine. To date, I have actually purchased 1 song from iTunes. If apps can sneak into my life in such a manner, surely they can sneak into the life of donors everywhere.

Now there are those who will make the argument that apps aren't the be all and end all of mobile and online these days--they provide stats about how many people actually own a smartphone--one capable of hosting applications, and how folks that own such a phone are a very specific section of the population.

This is of course what folks said about email and the Internet back in the early 90's. Smartphones are the fastest growing in sales of mobile phones. And may I note, that if someone has $200 to spend on a smartphone, they are a potential donor I want to be talking to.

There are certainly lots of nonprofits who are getting and already are on the app bandwagon, trying out all sorts of ways to get donors' attention. And apps are expanding the potential for donor and activist engagement, as in the example of the Extraordinaries app, about which I've written here before.

I am fascinated to see which organization's app will make it into my morning routine and why--will it be something regarding the H1N1 during the fall months helping me figure out whether I should even leave the house that day? If I were a pet owner, would it be an app that would tell me whether I should put a sweater on my toy dog that day bc of the weather near my house? Or say I cared about the Sudan, would it be an update from an organization on the ground telling me exactly what's going on that day?

As with everything with marketing, the key to successful apps us relevance. The only nonprofit app that has made it past my relevancy threshold is public radio. But I am sure it is just the first of many.