It can take just 2 minutes to change the world, and Smallchange.ngo swears by it.
When was the last time you contributed to a social cause in your society? Did you help raise funds for a small cottage industry run by village women? Did you feed 30 children on Eid?
If you haven’t, it’s probably because you did not have the time. Or you did not know how to do it. Luckily smallchange.ngo has the answer to all our excuses for not contributing to society, yet.
What is smallchange.ngo?
Small Change is a trust set up to help raise awareness of non-profits in India and the amazing work they do – and help them raise funds.
“ We developed this online donation platform SmallChange.ngo through which NGOs can crowdfund for their programmes and projects. “ – Sara, Founder.
You can raise funds for your chosen NGO to mark a special occasion in your life, like a birthday, wedding, anniversary, etc. You can also help raise funds for personal challenges like a marathon, or simply show your support for the NGO. Companies can start a matching donation campaign to encourage employees and clients to support their chosen NGO.
How was smallchange.ngo started?
Sara Adhikari started smallchange.ngo with the support of her trustees, Anindita Ray and Subir Das.
A journalist for almost 30 years, Sara returned to India in 2012 after more than a decade abroad, to work in the social sector but had no training in development. With a little research, she found out that there was a general distrust of NGOs, who didn’t (and still don’t) put a lot of value on communication.
To fill that gap, Sara thought of creating a portal for online fundraising. Her core motive – if no one knows what an NGO does, or how well they do it and the difference they are making, why would anyone support them?
“ Our cause is growing a new generation of givers for the NGO – and all their causes! We are, as far as I know, one of two non-profit donation platforms in India. The other is GiveIndia, the first to be launched in India way back in 2000.” – Sara, Founder
Smallchange.ngo’s vision: To create a platform of choice when individuals want to raise funds for good causes/NGOs.
The challenge that comes with change:
When it comes to working towards a good cause, there will be challenges ahead.
Donating online is relatively new in India and the continuing distrust of NGOs is an issue. The common lament among people are ‘How do I know my money is going to right NGO and used properly?’
Smallchange.ngo is working towards overcoming this by:
- Making their platform as transparent as possible
- Trying to engage potential donors with causes
- Building a positive narrative around the social sector and the individuals that are a part of it.
A good day at smallchange.ngo looks like:
Smallchange.ngo is not your typical NGO. Smallchange.ngo beneficiaries are the NGOs themselves. Like any non-profit organisation, creating an impact is more important than raking in money for the company. At this NGO, the team calls it a good day when people register or inquire about running fundraising campaigns to celebrate life events.
Why? This way, the message slowly gets across to the slightly apprehensive public. While it feels good to receive donations, the long term goal involves getting people to believe in a cause, support it and spread the word.
2 minutes with Instamojo too!
The smallchange.ngo team required a payment gateway to help facilitate all their online donations. That is when Dhaval Udani of DanaMojo told them about Instamojo’s quick and easy payment gateway and links. Now, smallchange.ngo uses Instamojos payment links to collect all their incoming donations.
Just like smallchange.ngo believes in making a change in 2 minutes, setting up an Instamojo payment account takes just the same amount of time. No setup fee, no extra charges, and your account is ready in less than 2 minutes!
COLLECT PAYMENTS WITH INSTAMOJO
