Love to see non-profit organizations like Earthjustice embracing social technologies. Each time someone “checks in” at an Earthjustice poster in the San Francisco BART stations, one of Earthjustice’s donors will give $10 to support their cause. The ads, featuring images of Lake Tahoe, oil rig platforms, and the little furry endangered pika, can be found throughout the BART stations coming this summer.
Though Foursquare does not yet have the wide market penetration that Facebook and Twitter enjoy, the hope is that through its embrace of location-based services, Earthjustice can connect a younger audience to its work, whether it’s curbing oil and gas exploration in the Arctic or protecting endangered species like the pikas of the Sierra Nevada.
At the same time, Foursquare users on BART will get their shot at becoming the “mayor” of Earthjustice ads and help protect the environment, all while doing their daily commute. Aside from the donation aspect, the check-ins also encourage users to learn more about Earthjustice through other Foursquare features, such as tips or “shout outs.” You can follow them on Twitter here of “like” their Facebook page here. I just did.
To amplify the campaign even further, I would recommend the following:
- Aggregate all check ins and tweets somewhere on their web site
- Recognize and showcase each mayor (i.e. on their web site or fan page)
- Create a mechanism that integrates with the campaign and allow users to make contributions easily
- Tweetup / fund-raising event
Heck, I may even take Bart a few times when this launches to show my support. Hopefully you will too!