Last week, TPN participated in its Annual Day of Service by volunteering at food banks across the nation. The Chicago team worked together to unpack, rebag and repack 2,000 pounds of Corn Flakes at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. It provided a break from the office and gave us a chance to do something different for the day.
It also reminded me how tough it is to make time to volunteer consistently throughout the year, outside of our TPN-dedicated days of service.
So I took it upon myself to look into some online and mobile solutions for those of us who want to give back, but may not have the time:
Snoball “turns any action into a donation,” by using the power of social media to raise money for nonprofits. By connecting Snoball to your Facebook, Foursquare or fantasy sports apps, it “empowers individuals to seamlessly integrate giving with living.”
I personally use this program, and each time I check into a restaurant on Foursquare, it donates a dollar to my selected nonprofit. I also have a monthly limit on how much money I’ll give (I’m a bit of a Foursquare addict and can’t afford a dollar for every check-in).
Owned by the United Nations World Food Programme, Freerice.com has two goals: 1. Providing education to everyone for free, and 2. Helping to end hunger by providing free rice to hungry people for free.
Simply visit the website and answer educational trivia questions. For each question you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to the hungry. It’s literally that simple. Monetary support comes from sponsors who advertise on the website.
Charity Miles, like FreeRice, uses corporate partners to support its cause of allowing users to “earn money and raise awareness for charities by walking, running or biking.”
The app not only tracks activity as any other running app, but users have the power to choose which charity they will run for. Walkers and runners earn $0.25 per mile and bikers earn $0.10 per mile.