Your passion for 'Pokémon Go' can help fund your favorite charity

Are you spending all your waking hours playing Pokémon Go? Of course you are -- and now you can play for a good cause.

Social good app Charity Miles, which raises money for charity by tracking a user's physical activity, is encouraging players of Pokémon Go to play the game while also using its app. Charity Miles says the mobile game's viral success could make a huge impact on charitable organizations in need of donations.

It's an unexpected match made in tech heaven -- and it's a connection Charity Miles noticed users were making on their own.

"We got a big surge [of miles] over the weekend, and we couldn't really understand what was going on," Gene Gurkoff, founder of Charity Miles, told The Huffington Post. "And then we realized: This must be from people using Pokémon Go."

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Here's how it works: Charity Miles rewards a charity of your choice with small amounts of money for every mile of physical activity. Walkers and runners earn 25 cents per mile, while bikers earn 10 cents per mile. Users can select from one of nearly 40 charity partners to donate their miles to, including organizations like the World Food Programme, DoSomething.org, the World Wildlife Fund and the ASPCA.

Pokémon Go, the mobile sensation that has seen massive success in the week since its July 6 release, encourages people to move around the real world and catch Pokémon via augmented reality.

Bottom line: To catch more Pokémon, you have to move around -- and that's why this unofficial partnership works so well.

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Half of all the revenue raised by Charity Miles goes to the partner organizations, while the other 50% is used to fund operating costs. According to The Huffington Post, Charity Miles has donated about $2 million to charity since it launched in 2012. In the last year alone, Gurkoff says, it has donated $500,000.

If the hype of Pokémon Go continues -- especially as it spreads globally -- there's potential for even more impact.

Go ahead and catch 'em all -- and do some good at the same time.

[H/T The Huffington Post]

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