Sports Social Network Turns Exercise into Charity Fundraising

Athletes who take their training seriously or just need some motivation often track their exercises using online tools like Dailymile.com.

If just being able to track your exercise isn't enough, a social network called Plus3Network.com is adding an extra motivation: Your exercise can raise funds for charity.

Here's how it works: Participants can sign up for the Web site and then pick both a cause and a "sponsor." Your sponsor will donate to the cause it supports for your exercise. The site allows participants in a wide variety of sports to raise funds through their workouts - yes, even kiteboarding, badminton and rugby.

The payouts vary by the workout. There's a system of "kudos" for your activity, which is then converted to dollars. At the end of the month, the site tallies up the amount of dollars for each participant/sponsor/cause. The sponsors then send a check to their respective charities. The amount of credit for each activity fluctuates each month - the site compares it to exchange rates for currency.

Since it is an exercise-based Web site, many of the causes are sports-related organizations such as Trip for Kids, International Mountain Bike Association, Bikes Belong and others in a similar vein. But if you're bent on raising funds to cure medical conditions that might've impacted your own family friends, there are still a few options: the American Red Cross, Nevada Cancer Institute and the Breast Cancer Fund are a few examples. Check the Causes page for more information.

The site might be able to lure more participants with a broader range of charities. Of course, that depends on the number of sponsors willing to donate to those causes. It seems like a smart cause-marketing opportunity for many businesses interested in aligning with a charity. It's also a ripe chance for charities interested in getting involved in the everyday lives of potential donors.

According the the Plus3network.com Web site, participants have raised more than 151,000. So far, just less than 10,000 people are registered.

Some sponsors pledge a fixed amount. When people supporting its cause reach that amount, they don't continue to donate beyond that figure.

The site works with GPS and mobile devices to track mileage. It's still largely based on an honor system, however.

If you're interested in supporting a charity, Plus3network.com seems like an easy way to get involved. It also provides an extra spark to get out for your exercise rather than sleeping in that day - and allows businesses an easy way to align to a charity that's important to their customers.