Running for health is a prevalent activity, but imagine the added incentive of supporting charities with every kilometre you complete. A company based in San Francisco called Atlas Unlimited Inc. is betting on this idea. Their mobile application, known as Atlas, links corporate social responsibility initiatives with charitable organizations, leveraging the efforts of runners. The app can be downloaded for free on both Android and iOS platforms.
Whether you are training for a half marathon or transitioning from a sedentary lifestyle to running 5 kilometres without stopping, users can log their runs through the Atlas app. By selecting a cause, each logged run contributes funds toward that charitable effort.
Olivier Kaeser, co-founder of Atlas, described the company’s mission to Gadgets 360 as a social enterprise. “We thought it’s a cool idea to run for charity, so we took the concept to San Francisco and created a social business model around it,” he shared. With the issue of homelessness significantly affecting San Francisco, Kaeser noted that local runners are eager to make a difference, and Atlas provides a channel for them to raise funds for related charities.
Atlas emphasizes a community-focused approach. “We really focus on the impact you have on your community,” Kaeser stated. This strategy means participants cannot choose to run for causes outside their local area. According to him, individuals generally feel a stronger connection to issues affecting their immediate community, which explains this operational guideline.
While the concept of running for charity is not novel, Atlas’s approach seems to be effectively structured. Kaeser elaborated, “For the runner, it is free. For the nonprofit, it is free. Companies pay us a nominal fee per employee or a percentage on top of the donation.” This model not only promotes visibility for companies—allowing runners to see which businesses are making donations—but also presents a potential ethical challenge if a runner dislikes a sponsoring company’s practices yet supports its charitable contributions. Nonetheless, Kaeser assured that Atlas rigorously vets nonprofits before involving them in their platform. “Companies bring a non-profit to us, and we validate it. If we determine it’s not a reputable non-profit, we wouldn’t engage with it,” he explained.
In India, a similar initiative called Karma Points is employed by Goqii. Users can earn one Karma Point for every 390 steps tracked by the Goqii device, which can then be donated to a charity of their choosing. When asked about the funding process for these donations, Goqii declined to clarify whether it relies on sponsorships or funds the donations independently. However, the company confirmed that it has contributed over Rs. 4.7 crore to various charities to date.
Currently, Atlas is not yet accessible in India, but Kaeser expressed the desire to expand its presence in the region. “We’ve only launched a few months ago, so it’s still quite new for us. We have a development plan in mind and aim to collaborate with other wearable devices in the future.” For now, Kaeser highlighted the importance of features such as exporting run data to popular running apps and importing data from running watches.
