The beauty of location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla is that nonprofits of all types and sizes can leverage their social marketing benefits.

Here’s how my nonprofit and other causes are checking-in for success…

1. Nonprofit branding. The geo-location element of these services is a great way to put your nonprofit on the map. My team and I check-in at my Boston hospital every day as a form of organizational branding. But don’t just check-in. The tips and shout-out features on Foursquare let you include interesting details about your cause. For example, I could check-in at the hospital and post: “Heading over to our Prescriptive Food Pantry, the only one of its kind in the country.”

2. Volunteer management. Our annual Halloween event has 1,200 volunteers, many of whom are smartphone-toting college kids eager to give back. This year, volunteers who are also Foursquare users will check-in to their respective areas (e. g. Pumpkin Patch, Spooky Speedway, etc.). Not only will we know who is where but after they friend the volunteer coordinator on Foursquare we’ll be connected to them by phone and text so we can easily contact them.

3. Cause marketing. The Paypal, Microsoft partnership with Foursquare and Save the Children earlier this year at the SXSW Interactive Conference earlier this year was a great example of geo-location cause marketing. Here’s another. Recruit a corporate partner to make a donation to your cause every time a user checks-in to their store or restaurant. Another option is to tie-in a badge that users can earn after checking-in several times.

4. Event promotion and recruitment. I got an e-mail the other day asking about how walks, runs, rides and other types of athons might use Foursquare. The cause marketer in me is drawn to how corporate partners can promote athons to consumers that check-in at businesses. “Join iParty employees and customers at the Walk for Cancer this Saturday.”

5. Shopping fund raiser. If your nonprofit group is located in or near a shopping district, you can recruit a group of stores and restaurants to offer a weekend discount to Foursquare users. The lucky shopper saves 10% when they check-in and the store makes a donation to your cause.

These are just a few of the ideas I have for using Foursquare and Gowalla.

How do you plan on using them?

About the author: Joe Waters

Joe Waters is Director, Cause Marketing at Boston Medical Center. He blogs on cause marketing and social media at Selfishgiving.com.

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