India – a country with a diverse culture and varied needs – each small town or village is brimming with stories to be told. They simply need the right kind of mouthpiece to showcase what they have to offer to the world.
And how better to do that than through grassroots organisations that are on a mission to uplift the lives of countless people who are in the lower echelons of society? They help these people dream of a better life. While reports claim that India has 1 NGO for every 400 people, many of these are short of funds to fulfill their goals. Donatekart wishes to bridge that gap – we want to connect well-meaning donors to the causes that need their immediate attention.
And what do we bring to the table? Verified NGOs, regular updates, transparency, and a unique model that allows people from across the globe to donate towards raising funds for products required by NGOs and charities in India, which are then delivered to them by us.
Our Social Investment Plan is a step in the same direction. Donors now have the opportunity to donate to their favourite causes every month. The impact they create is tangible and long-term.
The pandemic, a balloon seller’s daughter and her dream to go to school
Kiran* is a 14 YO girl living in the Delhi slums with her mother and three other siblings. Kiran lost her father during the Second Wave of COVID and since then life has been nothing short of a struggle for the little one. Her mother tries her best to feed the kids by selling balloons by the roadside but that is not enough.
Kiran doesn’t complain, she knows that her mother tries her best but she misses going to school. Her mother can’t afford to buy the stationery she needs. The last she went to school was when her father was there – now it all feels like a dream to her.
“When we saw how keen Kiran was to go back to school, we wanted to help her. And Donatekart’s monthly giving plan was just the thing. It was as if we had got the commitment of these donors who would help us educate Kiran. She is in Class 8 now, I am sure we would have the support of these kind-hearted donors for as long as she wants to study,” – Dev Pratap Singh, Co-founder, Voice of Slum.
Voice of Slum is a non-profit, youth-driven organization that is working relentlessly to transform the lives of slum kids of Delhi and NCR. They take care of their education from the pre-primary level until they graduate, and also work hard to give them good opportunities so that they can break the shackles of poverty and become self-reliant. They have made a remarkable impact on the lives of thousands of children living in Delhi’s slums. So far, they have changed the lives of more than 15,000 children.
Dev describes how Kiran’s face lit up when she got the first delivery of notebooks and stationery items. She couldn’t believe that she could finally go back to school. Imagine her happiness when she got to know that she will never have to worry about this again! Every month, hundreds of kind donors will help her study and live her dream. Kiran now wants to become a teacher when she grows up and all of you have made it possible!
Monthly giving helps builds a bigger and more reliable community of benevolent donors
Harvey Mckinnon in his book ‘Hidden Gold’ talks about how the lifetime revenue generated by recurring donors is 600-800% times more than annual giving donors. Our Senior Manager – Digital Marketing, Renjith Nair, shares the same thought. Nair says that even though the average one-time donation amount is more than the monthly donations, the yearly impact of the monthly donations is way more.
Our SIP allows our committed donors to spread their financial impact across the entire year, even those who don’t have the financial means to make huge one-time donations. It also makes it easy for NGOs to manage their operations as there is a regular cash flow instead of the lumpsum amounts they used to receive once or twice a year.
And finally, the donors who have signed up for our SIP are a group of people who are faithful to the cause of their choice and continue to make a difference with small but consistent donations. This is definitely a way forward in building a bigger and more reliable community of benevolent donors
*-name changed to maintain confidentiality
