CASHING THEM YOUNG
Children are crowdfunding for a cause, crafting powerful online campaigns to help other kids pay for lifesaving surgery, craft lowcost tech solutions, or help senior citizens regain their sight
No one is too young or inexperienced to make a difference, that’s the message teenagers are taking away from their successful crowdfunding initiatives.
“Kids typically raise money for two kinds of projects — innovations they want to create, or causes they want to help fund,” says Ranganath Thota, founder and CEO of crowdfunding platform FuelADream.
With help from platforms like FuelADream, Ketto and Bitgiving, they’re learning how to use videos to elaborate on their cause, interviewing potential beneficiaries to give donors a face to identify with.
They’re also learning how to raise funds effectively — identifying a first batch of donors before the campaign goes live, for instance, to make sure there’s initial momentum, and using parents’ LinkedIn ids to reach the right audience.
In some cases, they’re helping other children get essential surgery, in others they’re helping an NGO raise rent.
“It’s a good idea for kids to crowdfund for a cause. That’s how they will learn to give back to society. We just have to make sure that they are not too young to be exposed to the online world when they do it,” says Varun Sheth, founder and CEO of crowdfunding platform Ketto.
Sometimes, the initiative starts as part of a school social work quota. Sometimes, it’s the school that introduces the concept of crowdfunding too.
That’s what happened at Delhi Public School (Bangalore North). “I first heard about crowdfunding in February, when I met Mr Thota and invited him to speak at our assembly,” says principal Manju Balasubramanyam. “At the assembly, a group of students asked if the school could launch a campaign of its own.”
Thota put the school in touch with Rotary Indiranagar and the Needy Heart Foundation and thus was born ‘DPS Big Hearts’, an online campaign launched in May to raise Rs 16.5 lakh in 60 days to fund heart surgery for needy children.
Crish Chengappa, 15, brought in the most funds — a whopping Rs 2 lakh, enough for five subsidised surgeries.
“Every child raised the targeted Rs 40,000. They and their parents learnt to use social media constructively in the process,” Balasubramanyam says.
The school campaign collectively raised 16.9 lakh, enough for 41 surgeries.
For Chengappa, as for many of the other students, their campaigns were proof that they could make an impact.
“Some people set up online banking accounts specifically for this campaign. Some went to their banks several times to process payments, as there were tech glitches,” Chengappa says. “It was really gratifying to see the lengths to which people were going, to help us save a life.”