****Please ad Marc Kielburger's byline to this co-authored piece.****
By Craig and Marc Kielburger
What if we could act immediately on our impulses to give and do good? Like so many other "what ifs," there's an app for that.
We've "downloaded" eight innovative mobile apps that help fit world change into almost any part of our packed routines. Let's get started.
1. Charity Miles
Moments after your mobile alarm jolts you out of bed, exercise your compassion muscles. The app donates 25 cents for each mile you run or walk to the charity of your choice.
Click on the app at your front door, start running and your phone's GPS calculates your total distance. Corporate sponsors automatically donate money to the non-profit you pre-select from a broad menu of beneficiaries, including The Nature Conservancy, Habitat for Humanity, Feeding America and Special Olympics.
2. GoodGuide
If you're sneaking in some shopping en route to the office - or online over a break - ensure your purchases match your values. This app founded by Berkeley professor Dara O'Rourke ranks a quarter-million consumer products -- from toiletries to groceries -- on safety, health, environmental and ethical credentials. Search the app by category, or scan the bar code of an item with your mobile phone right on the store shelf to be a socially conscious shopper.
3. Budge
Take a mid-day break and inject a little charity into the social banter between your office buddies. On this app, "Creating a Budge" means challenging your friends to an online contest of any kind. The "loser" automatically makes a small donation to a pre-selected non-profit from the app's list of charities, like the Multiple Sclerosis Society and World Food Programme.
Marc is working on a "name-that-80s-song" quiz for his college gang. Spoiler alert: most of the answers are "Eye of the Tiger."
4. TangoTab
For dinner, you can take your family out on the town and help your community's less fortunate eat, too. Search the app for a participating restaurant in your city that offers you special dining-out deals, and then makes a cash donation to a local food bank every time a coupon is redeemed. So far, the Dallas-based app has fed more than 1.2 million needy Americans, and is always looking for more restaurants to join the effort.
5. WE365
After a socially-conscious dinner, ask your app-happy kids to show you how they give back with their phones via WE365--an online platform we co-created with Telus that takes screen time to a whole new level.
More than 100,000 young change makers (aka: your offspring) create and accept each other's social-action challenges--from volunteering at food banks, to baking cupcakes for lonely neighbours. They share their thoughts on current events and social issues, like bullying and racism, and track volunteer hours for high school credit and university scholarships. Parents tell us they love that it's a safe space, moderated around the clock and blocks offensive vocabulary.
6. ResQwalk
It's time to take your pooch to the park before bed. While strolling, you can support a local animal shelter with this app. Every mile you go helps needy creatures that don't have a permanent place to live.
The app's creators receive a monthly pool of donations from various sponsors, and divvy up the total across North American shelters in proportion to the miles walked among registered supporters.
7. Recyclebank
A few of your kids' chore-time excuses disappear with this eco-friendly app that allows you to set reminders for recycling day and look up your city's specific recycling do's and don'ts. You can even track down the closest recycling depot for items that aren't picked up curbside. Then, spend your non-chore leisure time completing the app's eco-action challenges, like watching tutorials and taking online quizzes about sustainable living, to collect points you can redeem for coupons at local stores.
8. VolunteerMatch
Set altruistic goals for the weekend. VolunteerMatch has an up-to-date list of local organizations that need your help with activities, such as tutoring school children or cleaning up a local river.
It only takes a few minutes for these apps to turn your smartphone into a social change-making machine.
Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger founded a platform for social change that includes the international charity, Free The Children, the social enterprise, Me to We, and the youth empowerment movement, We Day. Visit we.org for more information.