Imagine this: you visit your local supermarket and are asked to support a local food pantry. You a buy a pinup for a buck. On your receipt is message that you can learn more about the cause you just supported by scanning this barcode with your smartphone.

In your car before you leave the supermarket parking lot you run your iPhone over the barcode and a one minute video airs on a food pantry like no other. It’s run out of your local hospital. The pantry started by feeding a few thousand patients every year. In 2009 it fed 75,000 men, women and children. The video closes with an image of a food line that snakes down the hallway and around the corner. It is after all the busiest day of the year, the day before Thanksgiving.

Wow.

The cool thing is that you don’t have imagine this happening. It already is. In a recent tweet Conehead Chris Mann pointed me to this article on how two U.K. groups are using barcodes, RFID tags or QR Codes, as they seem to be most commonly called, to add personal history to donated items. (Note: What a great idea for Goodwill!)

Mashable thinks QR codes may be headed for a breakout. Just yesterday, it highlighted Stickybits, an app I’ve been playing around with for a couple of months.

Stickybits brings context to real-world objects with its next generation approach to the QR code. The mobile app is primarily a barcode scanner — powered by Red Laser — but it takes the technology into the realm of fun by creating a social and shared experience around any item in the physical world that possesses a barcode.

Download the iPhone or Android application, scan your favorite cereal box, add an item — maybe a related recipe, but any video, photo, audio clip or comment will do — and you’ve just started a digital thread around that item.

Think of the potential for cause marketers to make transactional programs less, well, transactional and more meaningful. When you pick up a mug at Starbucks that supports Product (RED) you can scan the QR code to hear the story of a man who benefited directly from the life-saving HIV drugs RED provides and Starbucks funds.

But that’s not all. Supporters can scan the barcode and use their smartphone to record why they support Product (RED), which then can be viewed by the next person who holds the mug up to a smartphone.

Consumers scanning QR codes for cause content will not happen overnight. But adopting QR codes encourages cause marketers to do two important things.

• It helps build a stronger charitable and emotional connection among causes, businesses and consumers. (QR codes should also make cause marketing critics feel better that CM gifts aren’t thoughtless one-offs.)
• It prepares us for the mobile web. The portable technology that Red Laser represents and the type of mobile content it links to is the future for which we should all be preparing. Don’t you agree?

What do you think of QR codes? Do they have a place in cause marketing or in fundraising in general? How would you use them in a program?

Whenever I work with a business on a cause marketing program, especially point-of-sale–my bread-and-butter program–they usually ask that after helping a great cause how do they really measure what was gained from the partnership.

It’s a good question, to which there is generally no clear answer, especially for a smaller businesses that can’t invest in focus groups or customer research to determine if cause marketing did what it’s suppose to do: enhance favorability with consumers and employees and drive sales.

As I work almost solely with small and medium-sized businesses–and not the Walmart’s, Starbucks or Chili’s of the world–this is how we measure the ROI on a cause marketing program.

Did the campaign achieve its goal? Before the start of each point-of-sale program we work with the retailer to set a goal for each store involved in the program. A successful program that meets or exceeds goal and is greeted with enthusiasm–and few complaints from shoppers–deserves to be called a success.

Coupon redemptions. Most of the pinups and point-of-sale programs we create include one or more coupons. They add value for the shopper and give the business a tangible way to track consumer interest in the program. Most of the coupons on our pinups are good for a return visit–those on our Halloween Town pinup, for instance, weren’t good until after Halloween–so they’re traffic drivers.

The cross promotion that multiple coupons from several businesses creates can translate into new customers for some stores. A pinup partner of ours was excited to discover that a large number of coupon redemptions weren’t from their own customers, but from those of another partner in the same program (each partner has a unique code on their pinup so they can track coupons from other partners).

Take it out of the store. Because our programs are so multifaceted, we offer a lot more than pinups. Our latest program with Phantom Gourmet gives partners added exposure on radio and television, which is added ROI. Halloween Town gave pinup partners a two-day brand land experience that drew 15,000 guests. No cause marketing program should be one dimensional. Not only do integrated campaigns make for better cause marketing but they also deliver better returns. Whenever I meet with sponsors for a post-campaign wrap-up I always have lots to share with them on how valuable the program was to them.

Measure employee engagement. Getting hard numbers on customer engagement on cause marketing is difficult and expensive, but finding out the impact of cause marketing on employees is easier because the audience is smaller and you have direct access to them. Talk to your managers and rank and file employees about the program. Customers aren’t the only ones that benefit from cause marketing. It can also boost employee satisfaction and loyalty, which has its own bottom-line benefit.

Did you get your money’s worth? I always throw this question out to a partner because as many of you who follow my blog already know, we don’t charge anything for our cause marketing programs (nor should you). I usually make this my final point to a partner as I’ve already established the many rewards of the program. And then I add, “Oh yeah, and it was free.” Great ROI, eh?

Cause marketing delivers karma points and ROI for businesses. Even without fancy and expensive measurement tools you can gauge employee and customer interest and reach potential customers through cross-promotions and events. And if you’re a retailer you can get this all for free.

Who wouldn’t call cause marketing a good investment?

A lot of people come to my blog for cause marketing advice, but Tricia Wilkerson, Senior Marketing Specialists at Conifer Health Solutions, found inspiration. While my posts didn’t uncover exactly what Tricia was looking for, they did get her thinking (she told me afterward) and I’m thankful she took the time to share with me the cause marketing program Conifer created.

As a a company that works with over 100 hospitals nationwide, Conifer was searching for a cause marketing program that would put the power of giving in the hands of their customers.

To achieve this goal, Conifer turned to TisBest to produce a custom charity card.

TisBest works by allowing pre-donated funds to be loaded onto charity gift cards, in the same way that traditional gift cards function, which is then “spent” by the recipient on the charity they select.

Tricia explained how Conifer’s new charity gift card was smartly executed at an industry event.

We targeted our program launch for our industry’s largest healthcare finance conference in late June – Healthcare Financial Management Association annual conference – attended by approximately 2,000 professionals. Originally located in Nashville, the historic Tennessee flooding in early May nearly cancelled the conference before it was hastily relocated to Las Vegas. This conference crisis, in addition to the emerging crisis for the Gulf states and flooding in Arkansas, reinforced our commitment to forgo the traditional conference giveaways (iPads, Wii, etc.) and booth-supported sales efforts.

We pre-donated $10,000 to be distributed in increments of $5 on each charity card. To physically house the charity card for distribution during the conference, we developed a branded “pocket card” brochure that included details about the cause program and brief information about Conifer. The pocket cards were then distributed to conference attendees by Conifer’s conference street team who explained the concept and answered questions. To keep the focus on charity, we did not include sales pitches or direct people to our booth (we chose not to have a traditional conference presence) – to the surprise of many seasoned conference attendees.

Ironically, the program stood in perhaps starker contrast to other marketing efforts at the conference because of the relocation to Las Vegas (not always synonymous with charity efforts) and the intra-community concern for Nashville due to the flooding. We heard numerous comments about the “freshness” of the program and excitement about the opportunity to spread a little good selflessly. And we’re happy to report that we have already seen cards being “redeemed” for charities.

There’s a lot to like about this program, and I have one suggestion that might have made it better.

Cause marketing isn’t just for B-to-C. Although I’m pretty guilty of thinking of cause marketing as only B-to-C, it can work for B-to-B as well. B-to-B cause marketing works more like a percentage-of-sales program in that the donation is “seeded” by the company. But with Conifer’s gift card the cardholder gets to choose which cause gets the money.

Conifer sent the right message at the conference. They wisely let their charity efforts do the talking and didn’t try to push sales. When done well cause marketing distinguishes you from your competitors. While some types of marketing give you visibility that needs to be activated with a sales pitch, cause marketing delivers a favorability that has a built-in persuasiveness that is powerful and independent. You can leave the hard sell back at the office.

Check-in for charity on Foursquare. To gather intelligence on conference attendees active on social media, I would have added a location-marketing promotion for smartphone users to check-in at Conifer’s Cares at HFMA on Foursquare and Gowalla. After showing their check-in to a street team member, they’d receive a second charity card. To involve more attendees you could extend the promotion to anyone at the conferences who used the hashtag #conifercares on Twitter or Facebook.

I’d love to hear about some more examples of B-to-B cause marketing. I got Conifer thinking about cause marketing and now they have me thinking about the possibilities for B-to-B cause marketing! What other programs are out there? And what does this mean for my definition of cause marketing? Do we have to adjust it? If so, how?

Brigid at Actually Giving doesn’t think cause marketing gifts are real gifts. ”Despite what consumers (and the product marketers) would like to believe, these transactions are simply Not Gifts.”

I don’t buy that. There are just as many people that give as sincerely and generously at the register as there are people that give in other ways. Does a giving, caring, charitable person become less so when they’re shopping?

Actually Giving has a few other complaints. One has merit.

A donor can’t choose which charity to support. No one is forcing consumers to support cause marketing programs. It’s a simple yes or no. However, I do understand this can be a little more difficult with percentage-of-sales programs. But remember the donation from a percentage-of-sales program generally comes from the company, not from the consumer, and is usually set at a fixed amount before anything is sold. Sure, there’s the promise that increased sales will offset the company’s donation, but that doesn’t always happen. In short, the company is making the donation not the consumer.

Even if a company does see increased sales, it generally won’t support a cause with OPM (Other People’s Money). Companies know that this isn’t the right thing to do. That’s why they give millions of dollars of their own money away to charities.

Donors don’t get the tax deduction. Good point, Brigid. A good business idea would be to create a card that consumers could carry with them when they shop that would record cause marketing donations for tax deductions.

The world’s problems won’t be solved increased consumerism. No kidding. Fortunately, many cause products are everyday items like sneakers, paper towels and underarm deodorant. Not sure I want to live in a world without that kind of basic consumerism. Why not leverage it for good?

Buying fried chicken won’t help women with breast cancer. The Komen/Kentucky Fried Chicken partnership is a bad example of cause marketing. There are many other good promotions that are making a difference.

Ralph Waldo Emerson set a high standard for his gifts. “The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me.”

Brigid has a different standard on what a gift is, and it doesn’t include the gifts people make when they support a charity at the register.

I try not to tell people what qualifies as a gift. That’s up to them and, ultimately, I’m just happy they gave. I simply say thanks.

**Thanks to Heidi Massey for inspiring me to write this post!

I really like the point-of-sale cause marketing program A. C. Moore and Easter Seals recently completed. Even though it was a national program, it has some good lessons for local cause marketers like me (and probably you).

The breakdown of the program was simple. At A. C. Moore’s 136 stores cashiers asked customers to donate a dollar to Easter Seal’s Act for Autism campaign and together they raised over $141,000.

Great results, but here’s what makes this cause marketing effort noteworthy.

A special in-store event. During the point-of-sale campaign, A. C. Moore invited customers to a Make & Take crafting event in stores that involved a jigsaw puzzle (for autism awareness). What a great combination of crafting and cause! I was thinking how great it would be if we did an in-store pumpkin decorating event at iParty stores during their October point-of-sale program for us.

How could you enhance your next point-of-sale cause marketing program with an in-store event like A. C. Moore did?

Low traffic stores can produce. Have you ever been into an A. C. Moore craft store? My kids love them. They’re busy, but not like a supermarket is or a Walmart or Target. In short, if you plan to raise a lot of money at the register you better be working with motivated employees who can convince nearly every shopper to give. And motivated employees is just A. C. Moore had, especially in their mid-Atlantic states.

Stores averaged over $1,000, but A.C. Moore stores in the Philadelphia and Wilmington, DE region collected more than half of the total funds, with the Wilmingtonstore earning the top fundraising spot.

A key thing I push in Six Figure Cause Marketing is finding chains with lots of foot traffic and lots of locations. However, A. C. Moore proves that how deeply employees connect with a cause may be the most important factor of all.

When you’re identifying retailers for cause marketing programs sales skills matter too. Check out this post I wrote a while back on working with quick-lube chains. Despite low foot traffic compared to other type of retailers, quick-lubes raise good money at the register because their employees care (of course!) and are well trained.

In short, although they have fewer customers to ask–some quick-lubes only average 50 to 60 customers a day–they get more yes’s than the untrained cashiers who sees more customers.

In A. C. Moore’s case, motivation helped craft a big success for Easter Seals.

Thanks to my fellow cause marketer Steve Drake for bringing this great program to my attention!

“Lazarus! Come Forth!”

Attending Cause Marketing Forum’s annual conference, which happened last week in Chicago, is always a big rush for me because I get to see lot of friends from the field I don’t normally get to see.

It’s also a great recharge because it gets me pumped for the cause marketing work that obviously lies ahead.

But this year was a little different. On the eve of the Cause Marketing Forum Conference, AdAge published The Day Cause Marketing Died by my friend Mike Swenson, CMO at Barkley in Kansas City.

Like Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol, Mike didn’t paint a pretty picture of cause marketing’s future if we continued our wicked ways.

It wasn’t a natural death. It was murder…. From the moment consumers awoke each day until they fell asleep at night, they were inundated with opportunities to give back every time they made a purchase. In between, regardless of what store they were in, point-of-purchase shelf talkers virtually screamed at consumers every 10 feet to buy this or that product and help this or that cause. Consumers were under siege at every checkout lane of every store they shopped to give a dollar for this or a dollar for that.

One talk I was looking forward to at CMF10 was Ed Chansky’s Cause Marketing Legal Issues. Now I know it was like looking forward to a root canal. I was surprised by how many things the law says you can’t do in a cause marketing program. Simple things, like a nonprofit asking its supporters to shop at a retailer that’s supporting the cause is a no-no. Huh? What do you mean you can’t do that, Ed?

My head spinning from Ed’s presenation, I stumbled into Mike Lawrence’s Transparency: Cause Marketing’s Dirty Little Secret. The name alone had me reaching for a Xanax. Mike’s point was that when consumers aren’t confused by corporate cause marketing efforts they’re pretty sure companies aren’t giving them enough details about their programs. Not surprisingly, this isn’t helping Joe and Jane Consumer’s perception of cause marketing one bit.

Mike Swenson had me feeling that we were shelling shoppers with inauthentic cause marketing campaigns. Ed Chansky had me wondering if most cause marketing was ”legally questionable”. Mike Lawrence left me thinking that even if I did things right I was still fighting a losing battle against waning public opinion.

Oy. Any positions open in major gifts?

Each one of these can deliver a potential death blow to cause marketing.

To make sure the day would never come that cause marketing would take to its deathbed gasping for breath, I took a Scrooge-like oath to keep what I learned from these three spirits not just after CMF, but all year long. This is what I plan to do.

Strive for authentic programs. The cause needs to come before the promotion. This is harder than it seems as it often is the promotion that sells the program, not the cause (especially for smaller charities like mine). But Mike is right on this count. If you don’t put the cause first, cause marketing is just plain marketing and you’re on the road to irrelevance.

Know the law. I know the basics of cause marketing law, but there’s still a lot to learn and Ed Chansky is a great resource. Before I left CMF10 he gave me a great packet of info on cause marketing law that he said he’d send electronically to anyone who gave him his business card that day. I think he would send it to you too if you asked him. I plan to learn everything I can about cause marketing legal issues. It’s in my best interest, and the interest of my partners, that we know and follow the law.

Continue to be transparent. Whatever cause marketing program my nonprofit executes, we always try to be clear on where the money is going so there’s no confusion for the consumer. On those few occasions when we’ve done percentage-of-sale programs, we’ve also tried to be transparent on the breakdown of funds. Like Mike Lawrence, I see this as a critical issue for cause marketers. You can’t just slap a “portion of proceeds” sticker on a product or pinup and expect shoppers to fork over their money anymore. We need to either hold ourselves to a higher ideal, or someone else will it for us.

Like Mike Swenson, Ed Chansky and Mike Lawrence, I want cause marketing to be around for a long, long time. Authenticity, legitimacy and transparency may be the closest thing cause marketers have to a trinity. Amen.

I had a great time at this year’s Cause Marketing Forum Conference. Did you? Here’s what I liked about this year’s event. A few things I didn’t. And some suggestions for next year.

Then it will be your turn.

Hospital Corporate Development Summit. Now, I’m bias here, because I taught the session with two outstanding colleagues, Maureen Carlson and Phil McCarty, but I believe the program really has some great potential. Corporate development is big area of opportunity for hospitals, especially with cause marketing. We had over 30 hospitals participate in the summit this year. I hope David keeps the summit going.

Opening Reception. Boy, was it great to see everyone again. And a highlight of the reception was seeing my friend Michael Hoffman speak and show his favorite cause videos….until the dreaded moment that he showed the Pink Glove Dance (thankfully, Michael forewarned me). I threatened to pelt him with every roll from the bread basket on my table, but I somehow found restraint.

Halo Awards. There were two rounds of these on the full-day of the conference. I’m not sure how I feel about the Halo Awards. I definitely think we should be celebrating the top campaigns within our field, like those from Macy’s & Feeding America, but it seems like there are too many and it dilutes the impact of the award. Instead of profiling every winner, just profile the gold winner and acknowledge the rest.

Cause Marketing Meets Social Media. There was way too much talking by the presenters in this session. What was suppose to be a panel discussion devolved instead into long-winded speeches that left moderator Chris Noble with no time to pose questions from the audience.

This brings me to my main point on conference presentations: let’s follow TED’s lead and limit preso’s to 18 minutes or less. Just as 140 character on Twitter forces you to be clear, brief and to write actively, limiting presentations to 18 minutes would force people to get to their FRICKEN POINT. It would also allow for more presentations, questions and conversations. And that’s what conferences should be all about!!

I really like Chris Anderson’s perspective on The Art of the TED Talk.

Where’s the Nonprofit? I only saw the end of this session and Komen’s lame defense of their cause marketing pact with KFC. You already know how I feel about KFC/Komen. To hear how other attendees viewed it, check out these posts by Estrella Rosenberg and Megan Strand.

Cause Marketing Legal Issues. A great example of an outstanding talk at CMF10 was Ed Chansky’s talk on legal issues. People were eager to hear about this topic (kudos to David for fulfilling the needs of his audience) and Ed delivered. He had a speech and PowerPoint prepared but didn’t get through much of it. He focused on telling people what they absolutely needed to know and answering as many questions as possible. He gave me a great packet of info afterwards clearly explaining everything he had talked about, and pledged to electronically send it to everyone who gave him their business card. While Ed’s whole presentation was nearly an hour, it certainly didn’t feel like it. That’s a great presentation.

Cause Marketing’s Dirty Little Secret: Transparency. This was another great presentation that dovetailed nicely with Ed’s talk. Mike Lawrence from Cone showed that even if you got away with bending the law, a poorly executed cause marketing program would break your reputation.

Mike talked about transparency in his 3BL interview at the conference. Skip ahead to the 4:40 mark.

Overall, I thought the conference was great. I also think the experienced team of people David brought with him deserve a rounding applause for their work. These are the unsung champions of the event who were always friendly and helpful.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think?

Did you attend one of the other pre-conference seminars, Cause Marketing for Nonprofits or Cause Marketing for Businesses? What did you think? If you were a participant in the Hospital Corporate Development Summit, did you enjoy it as much as I did?

What did you think of CMF’s new Powerful Discussions Groups? There were a ton of different groups to choose from. I wish I had time to go to more. Which ones did you go to? Did you like them?

Finally, I want to thank David Hessekiel for founding Cause Marketing Forum and for putting on the conference for all these years. I imagine it’s rarely ever easy. Nothing worth doing ever is. But David brings a passion and fortitude to the conference that has made it a pleasure to attend every year I’ve gone. I’m glad he was rewarded with a capacity crowd at this year’s event!

It’s nice to see that sometimes people do get what they deserve.

I just had to share this.

Last week I got an e-mail out of the blue from Dan Rosenfeld.

The place where I work recently had a Haiti benefit. After convincing some of the other staff, we implemented our first pinup campaign, which played a huge part in fundraising. Credit unions are a perfect match for cause marketing; POS + social mission built in. Our members donated at teller windows, directly from their accounts, and our branches were quickly decorated with pinups. Selfish Giving played a huge role for us. Thanks for your help.

I’ve been writing Selfish Giving for 5 1/2 years and I’m proud of all the great cause marketing advice it offers nonprofits and businesses. I’m especially encouraged when smaller players like Dan’s credit union show they can raise money with cause marketing just like the big guys.

Dan, you and co-workers and you credit union members rock! Keep up the great work!

Like Dan, you can learn a lot about cause marketing by just reading Selfish Giving. But if you aspire to Six Figure Cause Marketing my next five part program begins June 10th!

Last week we enjoyed a sumptuous Foursquare promotion created by Boston’s own Boloco. The Foursquare Mayor Boloco Card is bursting with creativeness, spices and natural goodness, just like the food Boloco serves.

The promotion is a feast for us who are looking for ways to use geo-location services. Boloco’s efforts offer direction on how causes can create their own 4sq promotion with local businesses.

Here’s how.

Start by re-reading last week’s post. Think your nonprofit isn’t big enough to give Foursquare a try? Think again. Worried that you don’t have the technical skills to work with the geo-location site? No special skills are required. Not sure that you should be focusing on Foursquare in the first place? Read my post here.

Identify prospects to approach. Stores or restaurants with multiple locations and foot traffic are your best targets. You’ll see why soon. Boloco is a perfect example. They have 16 busy locations throughout New England. Targeting a chain with fewer locations is fine. Just adjust your expectations: fewer stores generally means fewer customers, and fewer customers means less of, well, anything you hope to get out of the partnership.

Explain how Boloco is using Foursquare. And how your promotion will work almost exactly the same way as theirs. (For all the brazen talk being “first” in new ideas, businesses secretly like when someone else has gone first!) Like Boloco, each location will have a mayor that will be feted with honors, to be determined by the store or restaurant. The reigning mayor can simply flash their 4sq mayor crown on their PDA to the store manager. (While the Boloco mayor card and offline exchange between ousted and new mayors is a great idea, it’s not necessary for the program to work.)

Add a cause component. To turn the Boloco Foursquare program into a cause marketing machine try one of these two tactics.

1. Cash or Inkind - Say you partner with a store or restaurant that has coats or food to donate to your organization. With their new Foursquare Mayor Gives Back program the winning mayor of each location chooses the nonprofit that gets the lion’s share of the donation. It’s a great way to involve customers in the giving and to educate them about the company’s good deeds and organizations that need their support.
2. Point-of-Sale - Pinups are a great way to raise money and promote the Foursquare Mayor Gives Back program. Selling pinups at the register promotes the program with customers and raises money that can be awarded to your cause by the reigning mayor on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Combining Foursquare with pinups introduces 4sq to customers who aren’t currently using the geo-location service, but might with a little encouragement and incentive. For all the merits of the Boloco  promotion it’s focused on Foursquare users, not in on boarding new users. Adding pinups to the mix raises money for the cause and alerts more customers to the promotion, which means more Foursquare users vying to become the next mayor.

The Foursquare Mayor Boloco Card is a great starting point to launch a cause marketing initiative. Nonprofits are rewarded with exposure, inkind goods or cash. Retailers can better activate their 4sq promotion with consumers and potentially earn their halo by supporting a good cause.

Like restaurant leftovers, I hope this second take on Boloco’s Foursquare promotion was more tasty than the first!

I’ve always liked Boloco, the burrito restaurant chain with 16 locations throughout New England. They have great, reasonably priced food, and, as a special bonus, are tops in giving back and social media.

Boloco is active on Facebook with close to 4,000 “likes”, and have over 3,000 followers on Twitter where the CEO himself, John Pepper, tweets for the company.

With their social media prowess it didn’t surprise me that they’d jump into Foursquare in a big way.

Beginning May 1st, Boloco will launch a Foursquare Mayor Boloco Card. One for each of its 16 locations. The 4sq member who checks-in the most at each location becomes mayor gets the card. If they get ousted they need to hand the card over to the new mayor IN PERSON!

The Fousquare Mayor Boloco Cards don’t have any perks connected with them right now beyond bragging rights, but Boloco plans to change that soon.

In a fun twist to the program, Boloco also plans to give Foursquare Mayor Boloco Cards to Mayors in four locations. Mayors Menino, Maher, Bouley and Kiss of Boston, Cambridge, Concord (NH) and Burlington (VT). They too will have to turn in their cards, but only if they lose their next election.

Regular readers know that I’ve written a lot about 4sq in the past few months. And with nonprofits just starting to check-in to 4sq, now is our chance to learn best practices from businesses like Boloco that are experimenting with the geo-location service.

This is what we can learn.

Size doesn’t matter. Geo-location services are well suited for small and medium sized businesses. You don’t have to be Walmart or Starbucks or Chili’s to take advantage of Foursquare. Just as if you’re a nonprofit you don’t have to be Komen, St. Jude or Product RED.

Use the service “as is.” You don’t need to fuss with badges or work with the Foursquare API. Boloco is using the service as it’s suppose to work. When a customer becomes mayor of a Boloco they just need to flash their crown to the cashier. Nonprofits should use Foursquare the same way, as it is. And rewarding mayors is just one of the ways to use 4sq.

Think about your demo. Boloco just didn’t start using Foursquare for kicks. They were already on Facebook and Twitter and are obviously comfortable with social media. So are their customers, who are evenly split between men and women, range in age from 20 to 40 and are college educated. 4sq’s current appeal in urban areas also syncs with most of Boloco’s locations. Does Foursquare make sense for your nonprofit? If your cause represents retired dairy farmers from an office in a small town in upstate New York, probably not.

In part two, which I’ll post next week, I’ll discuss how you can package Boloco’s Foursquare program into a cause marketing promotion you can shop to businesses in your area.

Boloco has served up a great example for nonprofits of how to use the geo-location service. Like their delicious burritos, it’s a meal worth lingering over.