Have you heard about the “Reward Volunteers” app that launched last month? Since I do not have a smart phone, I hadn’t paid much attention. However, I recently found out that a smart phone is not a necessity; there is also a web widget! It is a novel tool that’s free, fun, easy, and users can win donations for their charity, as well as individual prizes. You spread the word about your organization and are eligible to win a donation too! I’ll be keeping track of all my volunteer hours via Reward Volunteers for the remainder of the service year.
This is a video of the highlights: Reward Volunteers App
Here are the basics:
- Download the iPhone app or the web widget.
- Login using Facebook Connect — just type in your Facebook username and password.
- Type the exact name of your organization’s Facebook page..
- If your organization does not have a Facebook page, or you are volunteering outside of an organization, you can write in the name of the activity or group; you won’t earn “Reach” points, which improves the likelihood of winning a prize.
- Select a category for your volunteer service and enter the time you spent volunteering. Log the number of hours (within 24 hours).
- A message that you can edit, post to Facebook, or email to friends will be generated. The post will appear in your Facebook news feed, on the iPhone app live stream under the “Everyone” tab, and on the live map on the web widget.
- The more volunteers logging hours, more buzz, and greater possibility your organization will win one of the $3, 000.00 prizes in July!
- Embed the widget on your nonprofit’s homepage. You can even download the application platform to a computer and have volunteers sign out by logging their hours. This increases your nonprofit’s chances of winning!
Check it out. The second round of winners was announced yesterday.
