DailyFeats is taking the checkin and making it philanthropic. The site (and upcoming mobile app) lets users post their actions via SMS, web, email, Foursquare or Google Talk.

Each act earns the user points that can be redeemed for actual rewards and discounts. Those acts range from minor choices like choosing to snack on an apple rather than a piece of cake, sending a thank you letter or larger projects like volunteering your time to a non-profit. Small projects earn less points, while difficult projects earn more points.

As they post more feats, users start to build a social identity based on their actions. DailyFeats encourages users to pick actions categories that matter most to them such as "health," "family" or "citizenship." In this way, the site is also a social platform where users flesh out profiles based on their philanthropic interests.

This concept of a charitable social layer has taken off on other online platforms like Jumo or Causes.com. People are becoming more conscientious of how they're perceived online. This social layer based on philanthropic interests is both an easy way to track causes and a positive way to self identify.







DailyFeats has managed to integrate its social layer with targeted coupons and sponsors. Certain actions unlock specific discounts. For example, Monster.com sponsors "!newskills" and "!makeconnections" sections whereas 1-800-Flowers.com sponsors "!sympathy" sections. It's a smart way to target consumers and encourage good deeds at the same time.

There is, of course, a bit of a catch. All of the actions are self-reported. A great majority of them are fundamentally impossible to check. How would one know if I ate fruits and vegetables this morning? Did I really send the thank you card I said I did? This wouldn't be an issue if there wasn't real money — in the form of rewards and deals — on the line. So how do you prevent your user base from gaming the system just to get a discount somewhere?

The answer comes down to trust, says DailyFeats CEO and co-founder Veer Gidwaney. One of the site's tenets reads: "We trust our members." Gidwaney says there are some checks built into the system. If users register 8,000 acts in one day, for example, the team then personally checks any blips. This is made more difficult when one considers the fact that users can count pretty much anything as a "good feat."







The site was formed as a way to promote good deeds of any nature and ultimately to make America a better place. It might be odd to think of massive change coming from people "working out," "snacking better" or "reading the news" but the team sees those choices as gateway philanthropy. People may start by making themselves better, but they'll eventually graduate to projects with more impact. The hope is that this next step won't just be to get more rewards, but to actually embrace DailyFeats' positive ethos.

The site just added new features allowing users to add "meaning" to their actions — users can attach the reason they did a feat. Did they eat vegetables to lose weight? To support local farms? To detox? Users can then search for and connect over these reasons. It's a crucial point that many sites based on game-mechanics miss — philanthropy isn't just about what a person did, but why he or she did it.

What do you make of DailyFeats? Is the honor code a losing gamble online? Do sites like this actually get people more engaged with philanthropy? Sound off in the comments.