Startup software company Good2gether is launching a pilot in its hometown of Boston this summer that will allow companies to share their nonprofit donation activities with their consumers using RFID-enabled stickers known as DoGood Badges. A Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID inlay is embedded in each sticker, which a retailer or other business attaches to a wall or window. By tapping a DoGood Badge with an NFC-enabled phone or other mobile device, consumers can access data regarding the local causes that business supports, and learn ways they can get involved.
The company was launched more than a year ago to provide a Web-based platform on which businesses could share data about their community service and charitable donations, which could then be accessed by the public. However, says Greg McHale, Good2gether founder and CEO, the use of NFC technology offered interesting opportunities by enabling the public to access information while they were actually at a store or the office of a nonprofit organization by simply reading a tag.
The DoGood Badge contains an NXP Semiconductors NTAG203 13.56 MHz RFID chip encoded with a unique ID number (McHale has not decided which RFID inlay or label provider he will buy the badges from). Before consumers can use a Google Nexus S or other NFC-enabled smartphone to read a Do Good Badge, they must first download a free Good2gether software application. The application currently supports Android or iOS (iPhones or iPads) mobile devices, with a Windows app in the works for early 2013.
The pilot will begin in Boston and is expected to include hundreds of businesses, stores and other companies. Each badge comes with text on the front such as “DoGood Boston” and instructions to “Tap phone here.” The badge can be read with an NFC enabled phone through a window.
The content the customer accesses through the app then provides details about the business’s charitable activities. For example, a hairdresser may donate to a specific cause for every cut and color, or a restaurant may make a donation with each pizza it sells. The app also allows users to go onto the Good2gether site and browse for contributors to specific kinds of causes, as well as what kinds of causes are supported by a specific kind of business, such as area restaurants.
Nonprofit companies can also install the Do Good Badge at their doorway or window to simply provide information about the charity, its mission, and how a consumer can make a donation or volunteer.
The badge and basic service is free to businesses, says McHale. Funding comes from paid sponsors. For example, a local company may want broader coverage than that provided by simply having a badge at its premises. In that case, it can pay a fee to be listed as a sponsor of charitable causes, when consumers tap the badges of other businesses participating in the area. For example, a financial services company, energy company or prominent employer in town could pay to list its local community contributions on any badge in the relevant part of Boston or other participating community.
For consumers who do not have NFC-enabled phones will be able to access the Do Good site directly online or use location-based social networking site Foursquare, to then see what DoGood-listed businesses are in the area and what causes they support and in what way.
NXP is supporting Good2gether’s development of the DoGood app by helping identify inlay manufacturers, introducing the company to the mobile network operators, and providing app development guidance, says Scott Allan, NXP’s worldwide director of mobile applications, Allan says the Good2gether application and platform is an example of the kinds of solutions he expects companies and entrepreneurs to develop as NFC becomes more ubiquitous. “We’re happy to work with companies like Greg’s,” Allan says.
McHale notes that in survey carried out in 2010 by marketing and PR agency Cone Communications 90 percent of consumers indicated they felt that companies should tell them how they are supporting causes, and 80 percent said they would likely switch brands based on association with a good cause. Fifty percent of respondents said they would pay more for products from brands that contributed to charitable causes.
Good2gether expects to begin similar DoGood pilots in several other communities in addition to Boston this summer, although McHale has not yet determined which cities.