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Check it out!

Charity apps are nothing new. But the concept of giving with no money from the user has only recently built steam. The idea takes its cue from CauseWorld, which began in 2009. Users check in to common shops and grocery stores to earn "karma" points, which are later donated to dozens of select charities of the user's choice, like the National Breast Cancer Foundation or the American Red Cross. Sponsors like Kraft, Citi and Proctor & Gamble match the karma with money.

For example:

Each time someone checks in to a Hard Rock Cafe in the United States using Facebook Places, Hard Rock International donates a dollar to WhyHunger, a charity fighting global poverty and hunger. The effort continues through the end of the month, or up to $100,000.

Bill Ayres, a talk radio host who is executive director and a founder of WhyHunger, said the development was an exciting for charities like his.

"This promotion signifies a new direction for organizations like ours to embrace social technologies and reach a wider audience with an easy way to get involved and give back," he said.

And it seems to be catching on in a big way:

Other check-in apps have proved fertile ground for charitable partnerships. Melanie Mathos, a manager at Blackbaud, which provides fund-raising technology to about 24,000 nonprofit groups, pointed to Foursquare's efforts at last spring's South by Southwest music and film festival in Austin, Tex. Each time someone checked in on Foursquare from any business in Austin, or sent a specific hashtag on Twitter, Microsoft and PayPal 25 cents combined together donated 25 cents to Save the Children's Haiti relief effort.

Within two days, the effort counted 371,804 check-ins, saw 2,683 Twitter messages and raised $15,000.

Now that's an efficient use of Twitter, eh?

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