Best solutions to social and economic problems are those that don't require any behavioral change. The Spring is exactly such a solution. This app provides a monetary incentive for people to eat at places that support local community projects. More specifically, The Spring gives diners 3% cash back and 3% of the bill donated to a project supported by a restaurant.
Best part of this dynamics is that it utilizes the already existing behavior of a person choosing a restaurant. They just provide a frame for customers to make this choice in a way that maximizes their social and monetary gain (feel good + 3% off dinner).
The mechanism of seamless donation that the app supports is equally simple. It boils down to four steps: 1. register your credit card info on The Spring's website, 2. download the app, 3. select the local restaurants doing social good and 4. opt-in for alerts about supported social initiatives.
This sort of creating a positive social impact by using the simple principles of behavioral economics is something that was hard to do before digital media. But now, we have no excuse to bail out.