In December 2012, Srini Swaminathan, a Chennai-based teacher, planned to raise Rs 2 lakh for Teach For India, an entity that works in the field of education, to help his students buy books. He cycled 1,000 km and ran 200 km to raise funds. Swaminathan is also the city director for Teach for India in Chennai.
“So far, I have raised funds for 16 library kits,” he says. After designing a fund-raising page and testing it himself, he composed tweets with a specific web link and requested for retweets. He clarified he was accountable for the donations and donors could ask him for project updates. “To keep it financially clean, I do not accept any donations in my personal account. Either online crowdfunding platform Wishberry.in, handles all transactions or donors directly pay Pratham Books (an NGO that publishes affordable books for children),” explains the 32-year-old.
Crowdfunding is not new to India although it is at a nascent stage. The idea became noticed after filmmaker Onir raised part of the funds for his film I Am through this route. “And, in 1976, Shyam Benegal collected Rs 2 lakh from 500,000 farmers to fund Amul’s ad film Manthan,” says Anshulika Dubey, co-founder & COO at Wishberry.in.
Today, there could be various reasons to consider crowdfunding…
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