Tag Archives: Foursquare

Can Foursquare Help Our Fundraising?

Editor’s Note: Last night, Annemarie Dooling, a social media guru, travel blogger, and She’s the First sponsor – remember when she raised enough for a Haitian girl’s primary school education simply through Twitter? – attended a free NYC event about whether Foursquare can support your non-profit’s work.

Foursquare is a social networking site, like Facebook or Twitter, except it’s on your mobile device, and when you are in a certain place, you can “check in” and it detects your geographic location and announces it to your friends. You can see who else is “checked in” and you earn points and rewards in the process. If you go to the same place more frequently than anyone else, you become the “mayor.” So how can we use this technology in She’s the First fundraising? Take it away, Annemarie!

In the quiet penthouse of Planned Parenthood’s NYC headquarters, there were many questions circling the room. What’s the “game” of checking in to a soup kitchen? How do you create advocacy versus awareness? Who has pride of ownership of a mundane, laborious venue? But even though no one directly asked, the big question I heard was, “Is there room in location-based [social media] for non-profit?”

The 501 Tech- New York chapter had rallied some of the best minds in the not-for-profit world to hear thoughts on location-based services, the idea of check-ins, and receiving rewards for visiting different venues. Naveen Selvadurai, co-creator of Foursquare, and Shelley Bernstein, technology maven at the Brooklyn Museum, spoke first.

Naveen, both sharp and laid-back, presented a slideshow geared towards educating and inspiring new users on the basics around Foursquare. Naveen was careful to remind us that Foursquare is actually in the business of figuring out how we can become better at living in cities. This is a concept very relevant to many non-profits who struggle with space, time, energy, and reach issues that come from residing in metropolitan areas. How can we encourage people to get better at living in these urban hubs? Foursquare uses a game mechanism. Players are rewarded with titles and badges, but in reality, the reward is the community itself. “The better you are at your network, the better your network is.” The more you participate, the more those around you participate. It’s a message non-profits have lived around for decades, now in a friendly technological package.

Shelley’s slideshow highlighted some etiquette. Because of Foursquare’s ability to connect people to place, staff should never try to win mayorship of their own venue. Transparency among the community is important.

From flash mob parties dedicated to earning badges, to signs of solidarity among protest check-ins, the art of becoming a mayor is more than a game now–it’s about pride of community and pride of ownership. Venues across the board, from Central Park to local libraries, can now harness this by claiming their venue, keeping tabs on enthusiasts, and leading their community via the digital network.

After the presentations ended and the brilliant quotes of both parties were recorded into the Moleskin notebooks of New York’s non-profiteratti, questions flooded in.

What the 501 Tech group did last night, besides giving Naveen and Shelley a platform for promotion, was to air this issue. Gathering from last night’s discussion:

Why Should Your Non-Profit Join Foursquare: Because the world will continue to join these networks whether you do or not. Your venues are already being created by enthusiasts. Claiming and harnessing them for your own benefit is up to you.

How Do You Get Involved?: By starting slowly. Know your goals. Know the platform. Get to know the enthusiasts that already live there. Jumping in without listening is like throwing away good time and money.

When Do You Start?: Of course, there’s no time like the present. With platforms like Twitter and Facebook jumping on the location-based bandwagon, it’s obvious that some attention is growing in the arena to take pride in the venues you visit every day. More and more people are sending their own messages in conjunction with your brand’s name. Naveen predicts one million check-ins by the end of the week. If you don’t step in to take charge of your message now, then when?

Editor’s Note: So sounds like we should use Foursquare at our next event! Will you use it in your grassroots fundraising for sponsorships? Tell us your ideas in the comments!