WO2014059020A1

WO2014059020A1 - Systems and methods for incentivizing charitable contributions

Info

Publication number: WO2014059020A1
Application number: PCT/US2013/064135
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nadav WILF; IIan WILF
Original assignee: ENLTND Inc
Current assignee: ENLTND Inc
Priority date: 2012-10-09
Filing date: 2013-10-09
Publication date: 2014-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2015-04-09

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INCENTIVIZING CHARITABLE

CONTRIBUTIONS

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[01] This application claims the benefit of four U.S. provisional applications serial numbers 61/711,617; 61/71 1,618; 61/711,619, and 61/71 1,620. All four provisional applications were filed on October 9, 2012, and all four provisional applications and their accompanied appendices are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

[02] The subject matter discussed herein relates generally to websites, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for incentivizing charitable contributions.

SUMMARY

[03] Systems and methods for incentivizing charitable contributions are described, including a database configured to store charitable contribution selections and instructions for individual users; individual user charitable account information, and payment information; and a platform server coupled with the database, the platform server configured to access the charitable contribution selections and instructions and the account information and to make distributions in accordance with the selections and instructions to various charities on behalf of individual users.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[04] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example system for incentivizing charitable contributions in accordance with one embodiment.

[05] FIG. 2 is an exemplary screenshot of a business profile.

[06] FIG. 3 is an exemplary screenshot of a cause page.

[07] FIG. 4 is an exemplary screenshot of a charity page.

[08] FIG. 5 is an exemplary screen shot of a dashboard.

[09] FIG. 6 is an exemplary screenshot of a member profile.

[10] FIG. 7 shows an example device suitable for use in some example

implementations.

[1 1] FIG. 8 is a data flow diagram of an example online environment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[12] The subject matter described herein is taught by way of example

implementations. Various details have been omitted for the sake of clarity and to avoid obscuring the subject matter. The examples shown below are directed to structures and functions for implementing systems and methods for incentivizing charitable contributions.

[13] Various embodiments described herein are directed to a system for incentivizing individuals to participate in and/or provide financial support for various designated charitable organizations. In one exemplary embodiment, such a system may operate as follows:

[14] First, any number of merchants may register their business to become members of an "affiliate network." By signing up a business to become a member of the affiliate network, the merchant voluntarily agrees to comply with a set of rules governing the sale of some or all of that merchant's goods and/or services. Such rules may dictate, for example, that a certain percentage of the money received from every sale (or alternatively, that a fixed dollar amount from every sale exceeding a specified minimum threshold price) will be transferred to a special account associated with that individual (or business entity) who purchased the goods or services from the merchant. Thus, the more purchases that an individual makes from businesses that are part of the affiliate network, the more money will be added to that individual's special account. Note that aside from standard credit card transactions, embodiments of the present invention also support various other forms of payment technology such as processing payments from mobile wallets, store gift cards, store credit cards, or any other form of payment which allows identity tracking through the final purchase or payment.

[15] The individual can then login to a webpage hosted by a remote server and designate, for example, which particular charities or other organizations that the individual wishes to donate to with the funds contained within his special account. Funds stored in the individual's special account will then be transferred to the designated charities or other organizations, for instance, upon clicking a button displayed on the webpage and optionally navigating through one or more confirmation screens. In certain embodiments, the individual can pre-designate what charities the funds will go to. In other embodiments, the individual can access the funds, once they are deposited in their special account and make

"distributions" to the charities of their choice. In still other embodiments, the individual can designate charities for the funds to be distributed to, e.g., periodically, but can change the selections or over-ride them with manual distribution instructions. [16] Various award points, electronic trophies, and other prizes may then be awarded to the individual based on the amount (and/or number) of charitable contributions that he has made from his special account. Optionally, one or more leaderboards may also be updated to reflect to the top contributors (i.e., members or businesses) to various causes and charities and/or the highest ranked causes and charities. Note that in some embodiments, the leaderboards may be sorted or filtered by the user based on one or more input criteria (i.e., location/region, activity levels, number of supporters, number of following members, etc.). Also, leaderboards may be displayed to the user in any number of formats or combinations (e.g., displaying name, picture, accrued points/rewards, etc.). Additionally, notifications may be issued in real-time when the rankings change or a new leader is identified (e.g., via a popup message, color change, or other notification). In some embodiments, links to ranking members, businesses, or charities may be provided within the leaderboard interface in order to facilitate access to users who are interested in viewing these profiles or following these respective members, businesses, or charities.

[17] In some embodiments, individual purchasers (e.g., credit card holders) who wish to participate in this program may first need to register their credit cards on a webpage hosted by a remote server. The remote server can be associated with a purchase-processing entity (referred to subsequently as a "payment authentication gateway"), which is responsible for storing information regarding credit card payments, credit card information, and transactions. Alternatively, the webpage can be hosted by various servers associated with the same social media platform which allows individual purchasers to contribute to their favorite charities.

[18] In some embodiments, the payment authentication gateway can be responsible for monitoring all sales made from merchants of the affiliate network. Thus, the payment authentication gateway can attempt to match the credit card information used during a purchase with credit card information provided by individuals who have signed up to participate in the program. If a match exists, then the transaction can be specially processed (e.g., the relevant percentage of money received from the sale can then be transferred to the purchasing individual's special account).

[19] Note that in some cases, a merchant may wish to offer his own proprietary rewards or cash back program each time an individual makes various purchases. Therefore, in some embodiments, the individual purchaser can be given an option at the time of the sale as to which type of rewards they would like to receive— for example, cash back from the merchant or money transferred into the individual's special account for charitable purposes. Once the purchaser has indicated his desired selection, the payment authentication gateway or credit card company can then process the purchaser's selection accordingly.

[20] In some embodiments, an individual's purchasing habits and/or favorite charities can be tracked and analyzed in order to construct a psychographic profile of that individual. This information can include, for instance, where and when the individual generally makes his purchases, how much money the individual typically spends when making a purchase of a particular type of good or service (e.g., how much they typically spend in a day, week, month, or year), what type of businesses or services the individual generally purchases (e.g., what percentage of his purchases are made at hotels, spas, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, shopping boutiques, travel experiences, sports venues, etc.), as well as their frequency of making purchases in specific types of business. In addition, the system will have information on what charities the individual donates to, the frequency and amount of such donations, who the individual is following, how active they are on the site or with certain groups formed thereon, etc. All of this information can be used to form a psychographic profile.

[21] For instance, one individual's purchasing information might reflect that the individual greatly prefers steakhouses over fish restaurants, that he prefers jazz clubs over techno clubs, and outdoor venues over indoor. Myriad other modes of analyzing this data are also possible according to various embodiments. Additionally, the user's favorite charities can also be analyzed in order to paint a more complete picture of that individual's unique profile. From the aggregate of the individual's purchasing habits as well as his favorite charities, a vector that is uniquely associated with that individual can then be constructed.

[22] In some embodiments, data associated the vector can then be used to provide the individual with suggestions of other businesses or venues that the individual might also be interested in. These suggestions can be provided to the user via notices received over the social media platform webpage itself, via regular mail, phone, or e-mail in the alternative. Such suggestions may be based upon one or more keywords or reference indicia stored within the vector (i.e., related to the individual's purchasing habits and/or favorite charities). For example, if an individual is shown to have contributed extensive sums of money to environmental protection groups, a listing of "green" or eco-friendly establishments might be suggested for that individual. Compound analyses of identified keywords may also be used for the purpose of generating suggestions. For instance, in one embodiment, a certain individual might receive this suggestion: "We noticed that you prefer restaurants with outdoor settings, that you enjoy Italian food, and that you have donated money to a jazz preservation society. We therefore recommend that you try Joey's Italian restaurant, featuring an outdoor patio and a live jazz band every Thursday."

[23] In some embodiments, third-party advertisers of a particular good or service may wish to acquire a listing of those users who have one or more criteria associated with their vector. For instance, a person who has contributed to a shelter for neglected dogs, and who has also purchased one or more designated supplies from a pet store (e.g., a leash or dog bowl) might have "dog lover" flag stored within his vector. An outside advertiser (for example, a manufacturer of a certain type of dog food) might wish to purchase a listing of only those individuals who have been flagged as "dog lovers," since such individuals are highly likely to be within that advertiser's target market. Once this information has been sold to the advertiser, the individuals flagged as "dog lovers" can then receive various coupons, promotionals, and other special offers from this advertiser.

[24] Aside from linking merchants with individuals based upon their personal spending habits and/or favorite charities, such individuals can also be linked with other members whose profiles indicate that they share similar interests according to certain embodiments. For example, a person who has donated money to a surfriders club and has also purchased surfing equipment might receive a message or e-mail such as: "Based upon your profile, we think that you may be interested in surfing. Here are other members residing in your area that have also expressed interest in surfing..." In some embodiments, each user can specifically control how much of their personal information is made available to other members on the website through the member recommendation engine (i.e., whether they wish to reveal their picture, phone number, e-mail address, or home address to other members). According to some embodiments, if a certain member does not wish to reveal any of their personal information to other members, they can simply elect not to appear in any member recommendations for privacy reasons.

[25] In some embodiments, the social media platform may also include a social feed system that enables members to see various activities of other members (e.g., comments that the user is posting, status updates, causes and charities that the user is supporting, charity events that the user is sharing, links to outside sources, shared photos/multimedia, etc.). Aside from indicating that certain individuals have made monetary contributions to various causes, the social feed can also serve to indicate to other members that a certain individual is planning on attending a scheduled event (e.g., that the individual plans to participate in a political rally occurring on a certain date, that the individual is planning on attending a local beach-cleanup, or that the individual is planning on organizing a letter-writing campaign in opposition to a bill that is presently being considered by representatives). Also, according to some embodiments, status messages from a given member's social feed can also be pushed out to 3^rd party social media websites (e.g., Facebook®, Twitter®, Linkedln®, etc.) if the user has specifically signed up for this feature. In some embodiments, the items in a social feed may be sorted topically, for example, as arranged by most trending to least trending topics.

[26] Also, according to some embodiments, an individual can opt to follow one or more other members (or groups). This may enable that individual to automatically receive status updates or social feed messages from all members or groups that he is currently following.

[27] It should also be noted that certain individuals may be significantly more active or influential in championing certain causes or effecting social change at a local, regional, national, or international level. These individuals can be algorithmically distinguished from other individuals based on certain identified criteria (e.g., based on a specific or aggregate amount of money they have contributed to certain causes, the number of events that they host, the number of members currently following them, etc.). Therefore, according to some embodiments, these socially influential individuals are automatically identified and spotlighted by the system based on the satisfaction of one or more of these criteria. Members who are identified as satisfying these criteria can be assigned priority weight or returned first in member search results, they may have their picture and/or social feed displayed in a more prominent location on the webpage than other members, or they may have portions of their profile highlighted, bolded, italicized or placed in different colors than that associated with regular members. In some embodiments, real-world celebrities, sports figures, and/or political figures may also be spotlighted in this manner.

[28] In some embodiments, the award system may utilize algorithmically determined measures of "social influence" or participation in various charitable events as a factor in its underlying point system, achievement system, mission objectives or milestones. Also, in some embodiments, mobile device location tracking technology (e.g., GPS tracking) may be used to verify a user's attendance at specific charitable events. Various badges and other rewards can be granted to individuals who have exhibited designated performance objectives (for example, visiting 10 different businesses within 30 days might enable a user to be awarded an "Explorer" badge). In some embodiments, the award system may be integrated with one or more third party gamification systems (e.g., Badgeville®), while notification of a user's received awards/badges may be pushed out to one or more third party social media platforms (Facebook®, MySpace®, Linkedln®, etc.). [29] According to some embodiments, the vectors containing information regarding an individual's personal spending habits and/or favorite charities may be integrated within a search engine in order to provide a more targeted set of search results for the individual. For example, if a member is searching for an athletic club to join, his vector might indicate that he is a "tennis player" and that he lives in "San Diego." Where a standard search might list all athletic clubs in order of national relevance (where an athletic club located in Cincinnati would likely not be interesting to a San Diegan, nor would an athletic club in San Diego which lacked a tennis court), by integrating these search results with the member's unique vector, the results from the search engine may then be reordered so that webpages of athletic clubs which have the additional search terms "tennis court" or "San Diego" are listed in the result set first (or alternatively, the search may be conducted with these additional terms automatically included as part of the member's initial input search query). By incorporating this additional information within the search, a more refined set of results can be returned to the user, e.g., a search where more relevant webpages are listed or listed first. Note that this search integration feature may be toggled on or off by the member according to various embodiments.

[30] It should be noted that the various embodiments of the social media platform described above can be supported across a wide variety of computing systems (including, without limitation, desktop, laptop, mobile devices, smart phones, PDA's, tablets), web browsers (including, without limitation, Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, Safari) and interfaced with a wide variety of software applications (including, without limitation: Phone Gap/Apache Cordova, Titanium Appcelerator, iOS / App store, Android/Google Play, Windows, Symbian, etc.). Further, the user interface may be arranged in any number of screens, windows, frames, graphics, and display resolutions.

[31] In some embodiments, the user interface may include a collapsible menu that can be hidden or displayed. The collapsible menu may contain logged-in member information, menus of interest, and applications that they have allowed to interact with their account. Other information may also be provided. This information may include, without limitation, a profile picture linked to the user's profile, the user's own name, nickname, or display name, accrued points and monetary information displayed in various charts, graphs, histograms, and other arrangements of data, real-time reactions to user activity, network alerts with pop-up displays/alert information, as well as links to member's charities, photos, events, or applications. One or more fixed-position navigational bars may be used for scrolling the display area. Optionally, performance optimization techniques such as lazy loading may be used for faster page speeds and/or loading times, while

autocomplete/automatic suggestions may be used to facilitate simpler user-interaction.

[32] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example system for incentivizing charitable contributions in accordance with one embodiment. As can be seen, the system includes an affiliate network 110 that can comprise a plurality of affiliate network devices 1 12 interfaced with a payment authentication gateway 108. The gateway 108 can be interfaces with a database 106 that is also interfaces with a platform server 104. Server 104 can be configured to host a site on which individual users can create accounts, set up their charitable contributions, join groups, form their own pages, etc. Platform server 104 can be configured to access payment information as well as charitable contribution information stored in database 106 in order to carry out the contribution instructions of various individual users.

[33] It will be understood that server 104 can actually comprise a plurality of servers, routers, APIs, communication ports, etc. It will also be understood that database 106 can comprise a plurality of databases and that gateway 108 can comprise a plurality of gateways. Moreover, platform server 104 and gateway 108 can be integrated at least partially.

[34] FIGS. 2-6 are various screenshots of exemplary display areas which may be used in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exemplary screenshot of a business profile, FIG. 3 is an exemplary screenshot of a cause page, FIG. 4 is an exemplary screenshot of a charity page, FIG. 5 is an exemplary screen shot of a dashboard, while FIG. 6 is an exemplary screenshot of a member profile.

[35] In some embodiments, the business profile may include different versions for private and public view. The business profile may display its goals, supporting members, celebrity endorses, affiliated charities. A social data display may also be included providing the number of member supporters, subscribers, activity pictures, posts and updates. Each charity or cause that the business supports may also be described. Additionally, a featured box/display area may be included for static display of promotionals, endorsed causes, and/or endorsed events. Optionally, a portion of the data appearing on the business profile may be retrieved from secondary data sources (e.g., CityGrid, GooglePlaces, etc.).

[36] The member profile may also include different versions for private and public view. The member profile may include the member's goal achievements, badges, accrued points, rank in network, overall rank, rank in a city/region, etc. The profile may also include the most supported businesses, the business where the member spent/accrued the most points, the members favorite charities, the member's friends and/or most supported friends, pictures, and an activity feed. An input textual description, profile picture, set of social media links and listing of philanthropic interests may also be included. A portion of the data appearing on the member's profile may be retrieved from secondary data sources (e.g., Facebook, Linkedln, Twitter, etc.).

[37] The charity and cause profiles may also include different versions for private and public viewing. These profiles may display the charity or cause's goals, the biggest supporters of the cause or charity, the businesses where various supporters accrued the most points, a listing of celebrity endorsers, and a listing of affiliated charities. Social data may also be displayed, including the number of member supporters, subscribers, activity pictures, posts and updates. A description of the charity or cause may be provided, as well as a featured box/display area for promotionals, endorsed causes, and/or endorsed events. Data appearing on the charity or cause profile may also be pulled in from secondary sources (e.g., Charity Navigator).

[38] FIG. 7 shows an example device suitable for use in some example

implementations. Device 700, a wired and/or wireless device, may be used in connection with various embodiments described herein. For example the device 700 may be used as or in conjunction with one or more of the mechanisms or processes described above, and may represent components of server(s), user system(s), and/or other devices described herein. The device 700 can be a server or any conventional personal computer, or any other processor- enabled device that is capable of wired or wireless data communication. Other computer systems and/or architectures may be also used, as will be clear to those skilled in the art.

[39] The device 700 preferably includes one or more processors, such as processor

710. Additional processors may be provided, such as an auxiliary processor to manage input/output, an auxiliary processor to perform floating point mathematical operations, a special-purpose microprocessor having an architecture suitable for fast execution of signal processing algorithms (e.g., digital signal processor), a slave processor subordinate to the main processing system (e.g., back-end processor), an additional microprocessor or controller for dual or multiple processor systems, or a coprocessor. Such auxiliary processors may be discrete processors or may be integrated with the processor 710. Examples of processors which may be used with device 700 include, without limitation, the Pentium® processor, Core i7® processor, and Xeon® processor, all of which are available from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, California.

[40] The processor 710 is preferably connected to a communication bus 705. The communication bus 705 may include a data channel for facilitating information transfer between storage and other peripheral components of the device 700. The communication bus 705 further may provide a set of signals used for communication with the processor 710, including a data bus, address bus, and control bus (not shown). The communication bus 705 may comprise any standard or non-standard bus architecture such as, for example, bus architectures compliant with industry standard architecture (ISA), extended industry standard architecture (EISA), Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus, or standards promulgated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) including IEEE 488 general-purpose interface bus (GPIB), IEEE 696/S- 100, and the like.

[41] Device 700 preferably includes a main memory 715 and may also include a secondary memory 720. The main memory 715 provides storage of instructions and data for programs executing on the processor 710, such as one or more of the functions and/or modules discussed above. It should be understood that programs stored in the memory and executed by processor 710 may be written and/or compiled according to any suitable language, including without limitation C/C++, Java, JavaScript, Pearl, Visual Basic, .NET, and the like. The main memory 715 is typically semiconductor-based memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or static random access memory (SRAM). Other semiconductor-based memory types include, for example, synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), Rambus dynamic random access memory (RDRAM), ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), and the like, including read only memory (ROM).

[42] The secondary memory 720 may optionally include an internal memory 725 and/or a removable medium 730, for example a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, a compact disc (CD) drive, a digital versatile disc (DVD) drive, other optical drive, a flash memory drive, etc. The removable medium 730 is read from and/or written to in a well- known manner. Removable storage medium 730 may be, for example, a floppy disk, magnetic tape, CD, DVD, SD card, etc.

[43] The removable storage medium 730 may be a non-transitory computer- readable medium having stored thereon computer executable code (i.e., software) and/or data (e.g., for implementing at least a portion of the subject matter described herein). The computer software or data stored on the removable storage medium 730 is read into the device 700 for execution by the processor 710.

[44] In alternative embodiments, secondary memory 720 may include other similar means for allowing computer programs or other data or instructions to be loaded into the device 700. Such means may include, for example, an external storage medium 745 and an interface 740. Examples of external storage medium 745 may include an external hard disk drive or an external optical drive, or and external magneto-optical drive. [45] Other examples of secondary memory 720 may include semiconductor-based memory such as programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable readonly memory (EPROM), electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory (block oriented memory similar to EEPROM). Also included are any other removable storage media 730 and communication interface 740, which allow software and data to be transferred from an external medium 745 to the device 700.

[46] Device 700 may include a communication interface 740. The communication interface 740 allows software and data to be transferred between device 700 and external devices (e.g. printers), networks, or information sources. For example, computer software or executable code may be transferred to device 700 from a network server via communication interface 740. Examples of communication interface 740 include a built-in network adapter, network interface card (NIC), Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) network card, card bus network adapter, wireless network adapter, Universal Serial Bus (USB) network adapter, modem, a network interface card (NIC), a wireless data card, a communications port, an infrared interface, an IEEE 1394 fire-wire, or any other device capable of interfacing device 700 with a network or another computing device.

[47] Communication interface 740 preferably implements industry promulgated protocol standards, such as Ethernet IEEE 802 standards, Fiber Channel, digital subscriber line (DSL), asynchronous digital subscriber line (ADSL), frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), integrated digital services network (ISDN), personal communications services (PCS), transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), serial line Internet protocol/point to point protocol (SLIP/PPP), and so on, but may also implement customized or non-standard interface protocols as well.

[48] Software and data transferred via communication interface 740 are generally in the form of electrical communication signals 755. These signals 755 are preferably provided to communication interface 740 via a communication channel 750. In one embodiment, the communication channel 750 may be a wired or wireless network, or any variety of other communication links. Communication channel 750 carries signals 755 and can be implemented using a variety of wired or wireless communication means including wire or cable, fiber optics, conventional phone line, cellular phone link, wireless data communication link, radio frequency ("RF") link, or infrared link, just to name a few.

[49] Computer executable code (i.e., computer programs or software) is stored in the main memory 715 and/or the secondary memory 720. Computer programs can also be received via communication interface 740 and stored in the main memory 715 and/or the secondary memory 720. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the device 700 to perform the various functions, such as those described herein.

[50] In this description, the term "computer readable medium" is used to refer to any non-transitory computer readable storage media used to provide computer executable code (e.g., software and computer programs) to the device 700. Examples of these media include main memory 715, secondary memory 720 (including internal memory 725, removable medium 730, and external storage medium 745), and any peripheral device communicatively coupled with communication interface 740 (including a network information server or other network device). These non-transitory computer readable mediums are means for providing executable code, programming instructions, and software to the device 700.

[51] In an embodiment that is implemented using software, the software may be stored on a computer readable medium and loaded into the device 700 by way of removable medium 730, I/O interface 723, or communication interface 740. In such an embodiment, the software is loaded into the device 700 in the form of electrical communication signals 755. The software, when executed by the processor 710, preferably causes the processor 710 to perform the inventive features and functions previously described herein.

[52] In an embodiment, I/O interface 723 provides an interface between one or more components of device 700 and one or more input and/or output devices. Example input devices include, without limitation, keyboards, touch screens or other touch-sensitive devices, biometric sensing devices, computer mice, trackballs, pen-based pointing devices, and the like. Examples of output devices include, without limitation, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), plasma displays, light-emitting diode (LED) displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), printers, vacuum florescent displays (VFDs), surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SEDs), field emission displays (FEDs), and the like.

[53] The device 700 also includes optional wireless communication components that facilitate wireless communication over a voice and over a data network. The wireless communication components may comprise an antenna system 760, a radio system 76, a baseband system 770, or any combination thereof. In the device 700, radio frequency (RF) signals are transmitted and received over the air by the antenna system 760 under the management of the radio system 76.

[54] In one embodiment, the antenna system 760 may comprise one or more antennae and one or more multiplexors (not shown) that perform a switching function to provide the antenna system 760 with transmit and receive signal paths. In the receive path, received RF signals can be coupled from a multiplexor to a low noise amplifier (not shown) that amplifies the received RF signal and sends the amplified signal to the radio system 765.

[55] In alternative embodiments, the radio system 765 may comprise one or more radios that are configured to communicate over various frequencies. In one embodiment, the radio system 765 may combine a demodulator (not shown) and modulator (not shown) in one integrated circuit (IC). The demodulator and modulator can also be separate components. In the incoming path, the demodulator strips away the RF carrier signal leaving a baseband receive audio signal, which is sent from the radio system 765 to the baseband system 770.

[56] If the received signal contains audio information, then baseband system 770 decodes the signal and converts it to an analog signal. Then the signal is amplified and sent to a speaker. The baseband system 770 also receives analog audio signals from a

microphone. These analog audio signals are converted to digital signals and encoded by the baseband system 770. The baseband system 770 also codes the digital signals for transmission and generates a baseband transmit audio signal that is routed to the modulator portion of the radio system 765. The modulator mixes the baseband transmit audio signal with an RF carrier signal generating an RF transmit signal that is routed to the antenna system and may pass through a power amplifier (not shown). The power amplifier amplifies the RF transmit signal and routes it to the antenna system 760 where the signal is switched to the antenna port for transmission.

[57] The baseband system 770 is also communicatively coupled with the processor

710. The central processing unit 710 has access to data storage areas 715 and 720. The central processing unit 710 is preferably configured to execute instructions (i.e., computer programs or software) that can be stored in the memory 715 or the secondary memory 720. Computer programs can also be received from the baseband processor 760 and stored in the data storage area 715 or in secondary memory 720, or executed upon receipt. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the device 700 to perform the various functions, such as those described herein. For example, data storage areas 715 may include various software modules (not shown).

[58] Various embodiments may also be implemented primarily in hardware using, for example, components such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Implementation of a hardware state machine capable of performing the functions described herein will also be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art. Various embodiments may also be implemented using a combination of both hardware and software. [59] Furthermore, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and method steps described in connection with the above described figures and the embodiments disclosed herein can often be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled persons can implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the invention. In addition, the grouping of functions within a module, block, circuit or step is for ease of description. Specific functions or steps can be moved from one module, block or circuit to another without departing from the invention.

[60] Moreover, the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, functions, and methods described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor can be any processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[61] Additionally, the steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module can reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium including a network storage medium. An exemplary storage medium can be coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium can be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium can also reside in an ASIC.

[62] Any of the software components described herein may take a variety of forms.

For example, a component may be a stand-alone software package, or it may be a software package incorporated as a "tool" in a larger software product. It may be downloadable from a network, for example, a website, as a stand-alone product or as an add-in package for installation in an existing software application. It may also be available as a client-server software application, as a web-enabled software application, and/or as a mobile application.

[63] The above description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles described herein can be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is to be understood that the description and drawings presented herein represent a presently preferred embodiment of the invention and are therefore representative of the subject matter which is broadly contemplated by the present invention. It is further understood that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments that may become obvious to those skilled in the art and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly not limited.

[64] The appendices attached herein better serve to illustrate and depict various embodiments of the invention described above. The appendices are listed below:

Appendix A: General Process Flow Chart (FIG. 8)

Appendix B: Technical Requirements Document

Appendix C: Initial Webpage Mockup

Appendix D: Minimum Requirements Document

Appendix E: Beta Launch Technical Requirements

[65] Note that the aforementioned appendices are provided merely as illustration of particular embodiments and should not be taken in any way to limit the scope of the invention or other embodiments thereof. Furthermore, although items, elements or components of the invention may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated to be within the scope thereof unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A system of incentivizing charitable contributions comprising:

a database configured to store charitable contribution selections and instructions for individual users; individual user charitable account information, and payment information; and

a platform server coupled with the database, the platform server configured to access the charitable contribution selections and instructions and the account information and to make distributions in accordance with the selections and instructions to various charities on behalf of individual users.

2. The system of claim 1, where the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to register credit cards for participation, select charities, select participating merchants, and provide donation instructions.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to change or override the selections and instructions.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the platform server is further configured to allow each individual user to create a user area within a community hosted by the platform server and to interact with other users through the user areas.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to follow other users, join groups, and post information through the individual user areas.

6. A system for building profile in a system for incentivizing charitable contributions comprising:

a database configured to store charitable contribution selections and instructions for individual users; individual user charitable account information, and payment information; a platform server coupled with the database, the platform server configured to access the charitable contribution selections and instructions and the account information and to make distributions in accordance with the selections and instructions to various charities on behalf of individual users, the platform server further configured to track purchase information and to create a psychographic profile for an individual user based on the individual user's charitable contribution selections and the users purchasing information.

7. The system of claim 6, where the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to register credit cards for participation, select charities, select participating merchants, and provide donation instructions.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the platform server is further configured to create the psychographic profile based on the selected merchants.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the platform server is further configured to allow each individual user to create a user area within a community hosted by the platform server and to interact with other users through the user areas.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to follow other users, join groups, and post information through the individual user areas.

1 1. A system for building profile in a system for incentivizing charitable contributions comprising:

a database configured to store charitable contribution selections and instructions for individual users; individual user charitable account information, and payment information; a platform server coupled with the database, the platform server configured to access the charitable contribution selections and instructions and the account information and to make distributions in accordance with the selections and instructions to various charities on behalf of individual users, the platform server further configured to allow each individual user to create a user area within a community hosted by the platform server and to interact with other users through the user areas, to follow other users, join groups, and post information through the individual user areas.

12. The system of claim 1 1, wherein the platform server is further configured to identify social influencers, based on who individual users are following and actions they take within the community in response thereto.

13. The system of claim 1 1, wherein the platform server is further configured to track purchase information and to create a psychographic profile for an individual user based on the individual user's charitable contribution selections and the users purchasing information.

14. The system of claim 1 1, where the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to register credit cards for participation, select charities, select participating merchants, and provide donation instructions.

15. The system of claim 1 1, wherein the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to share information from their user area through social feeds that link to other social networking sites.

16. A system for building profile in a system for incentivizing charitable contributions comprising:

a database configured to store charitable contribution selections and instructions for individual users; individual user charitable account information, and payment information; a platform server coupled with the database, the platform server configured to access the charitable contribution selections and instructions and the account information and to make distributions in accordance with the selections and instructions to various charities on behalf of individual users, the platform server further configured to create a psychographic profile of the individual users and to provide context sensitive search based on the psychographic profiles.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the platform server is further configured to track purchase information and to create the psychographic profile for an individual user based on the individual user's charitable contribution selections and the users purchasing information.

18. The system of claim 16, where the platform server is further configured to allow the individual users to register credit cards for participation, select charities, select participating merchants, and provide donation instructions.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the platform server is further configured to create the psychographic profile based on the selected merchants.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the platform server is further configured to allow each individual user to create a user area within a community hosted by the platform server and to interact with other users through the user areas.