5 crowdsourcing platforms to help you raise funds for social good in a jiffy
Social ventures and NGOs are leveraging the penetration of digital payments and social media to raise funds through crowdsourcing platforms.
Crowdsourcing has become one of the most preferred modes of raising funds for social causes in the last few years. With India housing more than 200 million young individuals, web platforms present multiple opportunities for them to contribute to the community and bring about a difference.
For instance, Sameer Vohra was engaged in rescuing and treating abandoned animals since 2002. When he started his shelter Kalote Animal Trust, he kicked off a crowdfunding campaign online and managed to garner over Rs 5.5 lakh in a few months.
Just like Sameer, many entrepreneurs, social ventures, and non-governmental organisations have been able to reach out to supporters.
SocialStory brings you some of the popular crowdfunding platforms in India today.
Milaap
Started in 2002 by a team of enthusiastic and passionate entrepreneurs, was one of the first crowdsourcing platforms in India.
Though it was initially instituted to fund rural initiatives and entrepreneurs, Milaap has now become the go-to platform to garner money for medical emergencies, cancer treatments, and organ transplants.
As of August 2019, the platform has raised almost Rs 700 crore for one lakh different causes. Since Milaap was well-aware of the fact that even a cup of tea can be paid for by simply scanning a QR code in current times, the team leveraged the concept of online fundraising to the maximum extent.
ImpactGuru
Conceptualised by husband-wife duo Piyush and Khushboo Jain, the foundation for ImpactGuru was laid in 2014. not only sets the stage to raise money for those suffering from serious diseases, but also provides crowdfunding opportunities for non-profit organisations and individuals working towards a good cause.
In the last few years, it has helped over one lakh people mobilise funds to the tune of Rs 950 crore. ImpactGuru can be accessed both on the web, as well as through its Android app.
It is powered by artificial intelligence (AI)-based story-builder with a standardised template for fundraisers to design their campaigns. This feature allows them to create a donor appeal within five minutes by answering a few questions and attaching the necessary proof for the same.
As soon as the background check is complete, the fundraiser pitch becomes eligible to be shared and promoted across desired social media platforms.
Ketto
founder Varun Sheth was born and brought up in Mumbai. Having always been interested in the financial sector, he went on to do a couple of financial programmes that included chartered financial analyst (CFA) and financial risk management (FRM).
Then, he went on to work as an interest rate swap dealer with ICAP, the world’s largest broking house for derivatives and fixed income products.
He was very good at what he was doing and had notched up deals over Rs 1,000 crore. But the monotony of the job got to him and he felt that he had to break free and do something more meaningful.
That’s when he established Ketto, an online platform that can get people together to contribute to social causes. So far, it has raised more than Rs 500 crore for 2.8 lakh fundraisers.
FuelADream
was kicked off by Ranganath Thota in 2015, with initial funding of around one crore from individual investors.
He had an aim to impact 2.2 billion people across India, Africa, and Southeast Asia through the platform. Thota’s team is focussed on transforming ideas to monetise social causes by connecting the campaign owners to funders in a productive and engaging way.
Today, his firm has evolved to be a unique crowdfunding marketplace determined to bring innovative campaigns to life by empowering creators and social innovators. In the last decade, it has handpicked 200 different projects, with a vision to bring a change and impact lives.
DreamWallets
Two investment bankers - Nikhil Agrawal and Ravi Mittal – came up with the idea of creating a reward-cum-donation-based crowdfunding platform. After the duo began working on it, they bumped into Manish Harodia, a seasoned entrepreneur, who joined them as the third co-founder.
Together, they floated the platform and named it . The factor that distinguishes DreamWallets from other crowdsourcing forums is its reward system. It enables users to browse through a bouquet of ideas, contribute towards converting a specific project creator’s dream into reality, and in turn, get non-monetary rewards.
For instance, users might get passes from campaigners to watch a movie of their choice once their round of funding is complete.
Today, the platform is helping ideators start crowdfunding campaigns across 16 categories like theatre, events, art, music, literature, photography, travel, startups, social causes, etc.
(Edited by Suman Singh)
