That’s what AngelPoints, Andy Mercy’s company, does well, which is why I invited him to do a Cause Capitalism interview.

Andy founded AngelPoints after stumbling into a volunteer experience at work and being underwhelmed by the standard of Internet applications that attempted to manage community and employee programs. He saw a market need to help companies track their social responsibility initiatives and felt he had enough personal experience to fill it.

Andy has managed to build a platform that speaks to a company’s needs, as well as to an individual’s passion for engagement, contribution and development. AngelPoints has grown into an all-inclusive employee CSR and sustainability platform that helps employees and companies–like Toyota and JetBlue–track their impact in real-time, communicate (and compete!) across departments, donate, volunteer and collect rewards.

In our conversation, we talk about the impetus for AngelPoints, behavioral triggers and the role of storytelling. Click the player to listen or right-click and download the MP3.

Download audio file (Cause-Capitalism_Andy-Mercy.mp3)

Want to support Andy’s work? You can thank him on Twitter like this.

• Measurement
  Impact (the object of measurement) is the reason I write this blog. Although I grasp the framework of measurement and evaluation, I want to better understand how to predetermine, capture and evaluate social impact.
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• Technology in emerging markets
  Mobile technology in itself can change (or produce) education, health, entrepreneurship, financial access and governance.  When I attended the Mobile Health Summit in D.C. several months ago I was struck by the myriad applications for mobile technology and the intersections between sectors (Changamka in Kenya allows and incents pregnant women to make monthly micro-deposits to a health account to cover labor and post-natal care, ultimately improving the health of mothers and newborns and teaching the process and benefit of saving). .
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• Companies that make consumers better (drive positive consumer behavior)
  Last week Ikea stopped selling incandescent light bulbs. Consumers will either switch to energy-efficient bulbs or buy their bulbs somewhere else. And Ikea is okay with that. .
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• Hybrid business models
  Is there a set of principles that can be applied (or strategies that can be avoided) to create a sustainable hybrid business? What’s the long-term financial viability and social impact of hybrid companies, and does it vary if they are public or private? .
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• Learning from you
  I shared some of the areas I care about. What about you? What information and resources do you need to build a better company with stronger impact? I‘m setting up my interview schedule now for the next couple of months. Who do you want to hear from?  What industries or companies do you want insight into?

Photo credit: Andercismo

Benevity Social Ventures and Obopay recently launched a text-to-donate service that aims to simplify and incentivize mobile giving. Software company Benevity (I’ve profiled iStock Photo’s use of the Benevity platform to power micro-donations) partnered with mobile payment provider Obopay to create a service with enough incentives that it might create the tipping point.

Here’s the potential for companies:

• It can easily be integrated into a cause marketing or loyalty campaign. When deciding between Prego and Ragu, I can follow a prompt on Prego’s label that encourages me to make a donation (then share it on social media) and then offers me a coupon or product incentive.
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• It enables companies and nonprofits to partner on full-feature campaigns that go beyond a mobile-only component because it integrates with Benevity’s suite of services that support mico-donations, employee giving and cause-related campaigns. A typical challenge of mobile fundraising is that it’s offered as a stand-alone program, which limits its appeal to consumers, as well as companies and nonprofits.
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• Companies can create a branded portfolio of causes, grouped by locality or issue (e.g., a FedEx portfolio of Memphis-based charities or a national portfolio of youth literacy organizations).
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• It provides branded tax receipts. After a user gives, she receives a tax receipt referencing the company associated with the campaign, which gives the company greater visibility for its initiatives. When Prego or FedEx offers me a meaningful opportunity to engage with and support a cause and then sends me a receipt with their name on it, it’s one more point of (positive) brand interaction.
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• Companies can match donated funds, which incentivizes consumer giving and bolsters the philanthropic (and branded) impact of a company’s giving. It also makes it worthwhile for nonprofits to direct donors to partner retailers, since these retailers can easily match a donation.
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• Companies can partner with any registered nonprofit, regardless of size. The service doesn’t require formal on-boarding for nonprofits and doesn’t exclude small-shop charities.

For consumers, many of whom want ways to engage a cause beyond a traditional cause marketing point-of-purchase donation, it’s an easy and immediate way to directly support an issue and to track giving impact. Companies can also track, and then reward, consumers’ donations through the company’s portfolio of causes.

Many of the incentives the text-to-donate service offers companies double as consumer/donor incentives: matching donations, convenience and more immediate impact (unlike existing mobile donation services, the donor doesn’t have to receive and pay her phone bill to trigger the fund transfer).

Benevity and Obopay’s service is hitting the sweet spot of mobile commerce, mobile marketing and cause marketing, a place where Foursquare and other geo-location programs have visited, but haven’t fully yet claimed.

Can we agree that we have enough places to connect and talk online? Can we concur that ‘community’ isn’t synonymous with social media or a nom de plume for site traffic?

I’m not an expert on creating communities (Cause Capitalism lacks one), but I have been duped as a user, lulled into the promise of a ‘community’ that I can contribute to and take from. And I’ve seen hot springs of action and innovation spring up only to dry up when the ‘community’ is no longer needed.

Here’s what I would find useful: a resource hub that’s an exchange of information, support, knowledge, contacts, data, tools and funds.  I’d call it the Change Exchange.

Hub entails participation from many sectors and resources, an informal transaction of assets. Cause-inclined communities built by Pepsi or General Mills typically source and compile a plethora of ideas, organizations and (temporarily) engaged individuals, but what happens when the project is over and the marketing team turns to something new? What happens to the ideas and the members who were inspired enough to create a password?  Nothing. They languish and become jaded by the concept of ‘community’ and feel they’ve taken part in someone else’s image-shaping or dollar-making.

But most critically, it’s a constant leak in the bucket of true social change or innovation.

Can Pepsi share with Timberland’s Earthkeepers, share with Myoo Create, share with Changemakers to create a sustaining, snowballing hub that sparks real change?

Image credit: Canicuss

Kiva.org has faciliated more than $100 million in loans in a few short years. Really outstanding, except it could be millions of dollars more. Nearly half of the people who create member accounts on Kiva don’t end up making a loan. One reason for this is because Kiva doesn’t show you the impact of your potential loan at decision-making time. A lender only sees the impact of the loan he made some months after he made it. Instead, imagine this

Welcome Olivia!

Want to see what Jim did with $25?  His $25 funded 20% of the money Amelia needed to buy a refrigerator to store the lunches she makes and sells. Now she sells one-third more lunches by traveling to new neighborhoods. She used to spend every morning making food to sell that afternoon, but now Amelia can make food one day and spend the entire following day selling it, allowing her to reach more customers.

How far can you make your $25 go? Here are a few suggestions to get you started…

Does this give you greater incentive to part with $25?  People who lend through Kiva make an average of five loans, so Kiva’s lending power will grow exponentially, but it’s critical to get people in the pipeline and hooked on the feeling of direct impact.

Framing your message and setting up the action for users doesn’t need to be complex. 37Signals shows their products by how you will benefit from them. Simple, clear language; no humorous, clever or emotional pitch needed.