What if I told you you could keep fit and do some good in the process? About 6 months ago, I chanced upon the Weightless Project. I figured if someone, somewhere, could benefit from my keeping fit (also my fitness regime) why not share my data? Thus began my search for organisations and apps that actually pay out or donate to a worthy cause from my keeping fit. To date, I’m active on 3 platforms that taps on my data from sources like Fitbit and Jawbone; fitness trackers which i already own.  Let’s take a look.

Pact

Pact literally pays you for keeping fit. There are a few ways of clocking your work outs. GPS outdoor tracked runs with Runkeeper and MapMyFitness. I’m a Fitbit user so goes without saying that I’ve linked my Fitbit account to Pact. It’s been close to 5 full months now and I’m happy to announce that I’ve been rewarded with about 40 plus dollars which is sitting comfortably in my Paypal account which can go to a charity cause of my choice.

The amount you earn depend on the number of days you wager and also on the amount lost by other members.  For me, my pact is 6 days of at least 10000 steps daily. I like to give myself the weekend off. It’s not always a bed of roses and there are days when I have to drag myself out of the house to hit the target. Failing to meet the pact would mean money deducted from my credit card which i absolutely hate.  The amount i receive ranges but it’s generally about $1.50 per week.

Pact has 2 other methods of earning money which you may be interested in. One requires you to log your food intake on MyFitnessPal (MFP) while the other requires you to take photos of your fruit or vegetable intake which will be verified by the Pact member community.

I know there are apps out there that pit you against your friends or members of the community but this has been pretty successful for me so far. I see myself becoming more disciplined, my weekend step count is up and there’s the monetary reward.Win-win-win. Read more about it here.

Available on both Android and iOS

Earndit

Like Pact, Earndit allows you to link your fitness tracker accounts to the platform. The only difference is there’s no monetary reward but you are not penalised for failing to stay active.

The points you receive goes to redeeming discounted products with vouchers or special deals. I particularly like the fact that the points i get from being active can be channeled to buying toys for children battling cancer (Children’s Cancer Association) or clean water for a family in Haiti (Deep Springs International) or feed a shelter animal for 5 days. (Petfinder Foundation)

I receive 1 point for every 250 steps taken, tracked by my Jawbone UP band. The daily limit is 60 points or about 15000 steps. Terms and conditions for point tracking on other fitness devices and apps differ. There are also challenges that allow you to win gift cards within fixed time spans.

To date, I’ve donated once to each of the listed charities listed in Earndit. Let the fitness count for something.

Read more here.

Weightless Project

Think weight-loss project. Every 1000 calories burn tracked is the equivalent of a dollar. And the money goes to worthy causes like towards the relief of typhoon in Philippines. The money is to come from the device companies which there are only 2; Fitbit and Jawbone. The Weightless Project has a very detailed explanation on how the calorie burnt is calculated.

From the website, it’s stated that devices from Nike Fuelband, Shine, Withings, Body Media and apps such as Moves, RunKeeper, Endo Mondo are in the works to be included. I’ve subscribed to the Weightless Project for about 6 months now and I can tell you there’s no news yet. So far it’s just Fitbit and Jawbone.

Read more about it here.

Are you ready to keep fit, earn some money and do your bit for charity?