Launched by shopkick in December last year with backing from the Kleiner Perkins iFund and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, CauseWorld has grown quickly compared with other location-based mobile retail applications in terms of usage and users. Already it is donating more than $200,000 a month to charitable causes.
The appeal of CauseWorld appears to be that it allows consumers to know that they have done some good in the world merely by using the app. When the barcode "scanning for karma" feature is launched this month, shoppers will be able to earn "karma" simply by using their smartphone cameras to scan the barcodes of products in retail stores. Users can convert accumulated karma points to cash support for designated charities.
The CauseWorld app will offer karma for scanning nine consumer products daily, including at least one featured product worth more karma than the others. Users can then go to grocery stores and other retailers that carry those products and scan the bar codes to earn the karma, up to one scan per product family per day.
CauseWorld users can also earn badges for scanning items, which will be published to social media platforms like Facebook. Consumers can continue to earn karmas just for going into nearly any retail location and checking in on the app.
The donations will be drawn from an initial pool of $500,000 contributed by sponsor brands such as Citi and Kraft Foods. The app makes it possible for those brands to contribute to charity while establishing positive brand engagement with consumers.
