Social gaming app lets anyone doodle for charity

Elbi is a mobile game that allows users to send micro-donations while creating shareable doodles and pictures.

Social media has long been a catalyst for charitable causes, and now users can donate Twitter followers, and even make donations by composing a tweet. Elbi is a social networking app that gamifies charitable acts.

After signing up, users — young and old — can create works of art and doodles on their smartphones. These creations are then sent to worthy projects, such as decorating an orphanage, or cheering up sick kids. But more than this, the app helps charities to grow funds by enabling micro-donations using its ‘Love Button’. When players ‘love’ a picture drawn by other users, they also send a small donation of USD 1 or GBP 1 to the cause.

The developers say their app can make donating as quick and simple as posting a picture on Instagram. Elbi’s founder Natalia Vodianova also founded the Naked Heart Foundation, and is a Russian supermodel with hundreds of thousands of social media followers. For now, the app is only available on iOS, but the team are working on developing it for Android.

How else can companies integrate charitable causes with social media?