Going for a walk or a run?
Millions of people use a smart phone app to help track their distance. Now, there’s an app that not only tracks those steps, but also makes donations to participating nonprofit organizations, including East Tennessee Spay and Neuter.
ETSN Executive Director Danika Nadzan said the agency can collect funding from ResQWalk if supporters will download the app to their smart phones and select ETSN as their charity.
Nadzan said she learned of the app while researching different funding options for ETSN.
“I thought it looked really cool and decided to apply as one of the supported organizations,” she said. “It’s another great no-cost way to help animals. If you’re going to walk anyway, why not help out your community while you walk?”
To use the app, visit the ETSN website, www.etnspay-neuter.org, for a short video on how to use the ResQWalk application.
“Once you’ve set it up, you just need to log in from your smart phone before you start walking, and log off when you’re done,” Nadzan said. “ETSN then receives a donation based on the distance you walked.”
The app allows ETSN to receive a portion of a donation pool based on the distance users who list ETSN as their favored charity walk. Each week, ResQWalk receives a differing amount of donations from corporate sponsors so the amount the agency can receive varies from week to week.
“Each week’s pool is a different amount, and may have different sponsors,” Nadzan said. “We receive a weekly donation via PayPal based on the total miles walked by all walkers who choose ETSN as their charity.”
Another possible benefit from using the app is that more people may start to be more active.
“Maybe it will encourage more people to walk, and hopefully take their dogs with them,” Nadzan said.