Thoughts on Fundraising in India (inspired by Ritu Chhabria’s Sothebys event)

In India, charity is predominantly construed as corporate CSR or then large individual donations/ cheque writing. The beauty of the “fundraising” concept is charity as a “community/team”. There is a certain energy, joy in doing an activity as a team, group rather than just as an individual – a common cause that binds us, common beliefs that inspire us followed by immense gratification when that goal is achieved through team efforts – a beautiful memory and good karma that the group has experienced “together”

Some examples of effective fund raising in India I have personally experienced   

1. Marathons are increasingly becoming an effective way to spread awareness on causes, have fun and do good. Ummeed, an NGO my friend Preeti Broker introduced me to works with autistic children and every year organizes a 55km walk on the beautiful beaches of Goa. Each participant raises funds for the cause (please write to me if you would like to sponsor a small amount for the jan 23, 2016 walk)
2. Exquisite shows such as plays, dances, music, fashion shows where part of the ticket funds go to a cause.
3. Auctions where celebrities donate their personal items, for ex a sports celebrity donates his/her jersey, helmet, bat. A good auctioneer who is sensitive but not pushy is key. I have seen my friends Chetan Wakalkar, Anshoo Gaur and Ritu Nathani do a brilliant job.
4. Exhibitions of clothes and other articles --Like Aaraish in Bombay or Kidsventure by my dear friend Sachi Munot where part of the proceeds go to a cause. (Do visit Sachis event on 12^th Sept at Hotel Ista)
5.  Several schools do fun fairs (St Marys for Uttarakhand floods) or bake sale, some keep a donation box in class for kids.
6. In the US, we often see children selling Girl Scout cookies or lemonade at grocery stores, the sweetest and simplest form of fundraising!

Today, I experienced another fundraiser, which inspired me to write and share.

I have known Ritu Chhabria for a few years now and she has inspired me with her ability to get large groups of people together for various fundraising activities. I have seen her do art camps with children, charity shows & auctions (always assisted by her super talented daughter Gayatri). Today I saw her host a lovely charity dinner where Sothebys educated us Puneites on Art Appreciation and the funds from the dinner passes were towards the social initiatives supported by FICCI Pune Chapter.

So what works for her, why is she able to do this so effectively?

Firstly, a clean heart and good intentions, I believe the universe conspires to make things happen when you have this!

Secondly, her ability to roll up her sleeves and put in tremendous hard work and attention to detail for every event.

Thirdly, credibility as an individual. She comes from a premier business family and people have faith in her & know that the money will go to the cause and nothing else. In addition, for years she has been doing good work through her own NGO “Mukul Madhav Foundation” (like the ngo page on Facebook to get updates on their activities)

A fundraiser is a success only if you get a decent turnout and that is Ritus strength.

Having personally organized 1 -2 such events, I can assure you that it is not easy to organize these events ---no matter how much help and money you have, organizing such mammoth events involves a lot of time, hair pulling, crisis management and behind your back snide comments. My favourite comment is from friends who will not blink an eyelid before buying a 10 lakh “IT”watch, handbag or jewellery but for a 10000 Rs ticket will say  “don’t you think the couple tickets were over priced?” or something like “I cant believe Dhonis helmet auction is starting at 50,000, what a rip off!!”

But the reason Ritu’s & several other philanthropists fundraisers are effective is simply because they do not let all this negativity get to them, instead, all they are focused on ……are the smiles they bring to the faces of hundreds of kids and others in need through their hard work and persistence!!

KMM - Keep Moving Movement

Imagine walking into a class of 60 high energy tenth graders...... its not cool to discuss serious stuff, its cooler to make a smart aleck comment, cooler to make the entire class laugh at someone who dares to answer a serious question like “whats your dream”,”whats your fear”. That’s your typical 16 year old, nothing wrong with that, part of growing up...... but how do you get these 60 students to focus, listen to you and have few essential take-aways and get inspired all in one hour ?.....

 I saw my friend Aditya do this beautifully and effectively at a mentoring session as part of Keep Moving Movement (KMM) at Erin Nagarwala School.  Aditya shared stories, some funny some interesting, spoke in slang hindi, discussed some movies, even sang a song but managed to engage the children and made them talk about will power and how to harness it effectively, how to face your fears, how to deserve what you desire, how to be self starters, some intense topics but made fun and simple for 16 year olds (visit mykmm.co.in to see the various topics discussed).

Aditya will be spending 7 sessions with this same class, each for an hour, discussing various self help topics – him and many more volunteers at Keep Moving Movement, a youth mentoring program have touched the lives of so many kids across India.  Aditya is an engineer and MBA from IIM (Ahmedabad), with education comes a certain amount of cynicism, so what makes him want to do this ? – He says - its more productive to do something than just whine about our education system. I couldn’t agree more. This is what drives him along with founder Naren Goidani to train thousands and soon lakhs of volunteers to become KMM trainers, to reach more cities, more schools, more tenth graders. When I call this great CSR idea for corporates, Aditya is quick to point out that why would we call it that, the volunteers “get more than they give”, these sessions make them leaders and give them something precious -  joy and gratification that is not measurable.
Such a unique and accurate perspective !!

How can you help

Become a volunteer or as a corporate you can sponsor your employees to become volunteers

 What I witnessed that morning at Erin Nagarwala thanks to my friend Aditya was a beautiful and powerful movement ---Even if one out of 60 kids gets impacted, even if that kid remembers only 10% of the concepts taught or one story--- its high ROI (return on time invested) for Adityas one hour. Of course, after first hand seeing the laughter, openness, clapping and cheering, I am sure that the impact is much larger from this simple yet profound program !!

Reverse meditation

I am the queen of multitasking & pack my days with way too much, I enjoy it & even the moderate stress that comes with it is worth it as it makes me feel I am learning & growing every single day ! 

Last 5 days I got really really  sick, just a stupid viral but every inch of my body collapsed & I felt drained. I couldn't muster up the energy to do 20% of what I usually do. Taking a doctors appointment seemed like such a waste of time but at least I knew it was a bad viral that would get done in 4-5 days, I just had to hang in there for a little while.But those days made me think..

Imagine people suffering with cancer, I know so many colleagues, family friends going through it, it's so rampant & common now. One day you feel sick & your whole life changes, you feel drained but it's not 4- 5 days of torture, it's months, years of feeling sick, painful treatments, guilt of precious family savings diverted to your health, guilt of disrupting lifestyle of immediate family that has to take care of you & constantly take you to hospitals, anger of constantly feeling "why me", an accidental death is better than years of such painful suffering, change in your routine & lifestyle FOREVER, worst is knowing most times that there is no hope - at most a few extra months to sort out financials & say your goodbyes properly. 

When we are sick we get cranky, irritable as we are sick 

When we are not sick we get stressed, grumpy, angry, jealous for small things- weight gain, kids exams, work deadlines, endless reasons & events to justify our negative state of mind, no wonder neuro medicines are the fastest growing pharma segment & shrinks are making millions

Is it so hard to stay in a content & grateful state of mind ? so hard to accept "health is wealth"

Meditation makes you visualise a beautiful spot/memory & breathe deeply to de stress.  I say lets do " reverse meditation at times" - imagine how sick & poor people feel every single day. Remind ourselves of how a viral can feel & then say to yourself "at least u or ur dear one doesn't have cancer" all else has solutions or is just a passing phase. Maybe I am a nutcase but when I do this reverse meditation - its a wake up call, makes me ashamed of being so ungrateful & jolts me out of my negativity

It's helped me become a happier person, try it !

Aakash - the boy with half a body but a heart full of positivity and aspirations !

Facts

• Aakash was born with a disability
• He has half a body & walks on his hands
• Aakash is in 2 nd year BCA at Modern College,Pune
• He rides a modified bike everywhere & is independent in thought & action
• He works for a travel agency once he is done with college & makes a small salary
• His dream is to go on to work in a software firm
• He speaks fairly good English & loves singing
• Most of all, he is always smiling & happy !

Can we say the same about ourselves?

I met Aakash through my friend Anita Iyer, founder of Ekansh Trust which works with people with disabilities. I met her a year back when I joined a social venture fund & was looking at ngos to fund. Since then she has amazed me with her passion, her boundless energy & creativity. Yes, she can be brutally direct at times but when you truly comprehend & appreciate the noble reasons behind her directness, you begin to love that about her too.

Anita's ngo works on fulfilling the aspirations of disabled people like Aakash - training them on soft skills, english, computers & most of all trying to place them in good companies. But most impressive is her work in sensitising corporates & children & trying to bring about a more inclusive approach and attitude, which are much needed !

lovely examples of Anita's work towards sensitising children without disabilities:

- a story book with 7 beautifully written short stories on disabled children, story telling sessions & discussions on these in school to sensitise our children

- lovely colouring pages showing disabled children in an inclusive environment

- teaching children sign language, my favourite are her workshops where she teaches the national anthem in sign language

How creative & unique is this !  

Aakash is being trained as a motivational speaker, I want to get him speaking engagements in corporates and colleges 

I also want Anita to teach inclusiveness through puppet shows

I need to have more schools conduct these workshops with her

Biggest gaps:

In my personal opinion and observation, what most ngos including Ekansh need as much as money is the following 

1. How to get more structured in their planning process & long term thinking so they can scale

2. Help with functional expertise - Basic accounts & taxation, database management

3. Capable leadership bandwidth (competency along with empathy)

4. Networks with corporates and colleges to help them scale

how can you help 
if you are a corporate - participate in the job fair for disabled on sep 6 (visit ekansh.org for more details), help me get speaking engagements for Aakash
help me get contacts in schools to do the sensitisation workshops - story telling and sign language sessions 

Most importantly give your time to Ekansh - most ngos need capability building, HR bandwidth & functional expertise as much as money, imagine then how many more Aakash's they can truly empower !!!

Salman (Bajrangi Bhaijan) or Shubham (Indias latest million dollar arm) ??

Salman (Bajrangi Bhaijan) or Shubham  (Indias latest million dollar arm)?

There was a time 15 years back when I was studying in the US, the modern Indians from India and ABCDs (American born Desis) would look down on Bollywood movies. You were given a dirty look if you said you enjoy Bollywood movies, now its different – ABCDs love Bollywood movies and its

cool to watch Bollywood movies and visit India!

Do you think its wishful thinking if I hope that 15 years from today….

It will be as important to read and comment on charity blogs as fashion blogs?

News will give as much coverage to farmer suicides as Salmans tweets on Yakub

CSR departments in corporates will be as structured, organized and well staffed as other key functional departments?

People will give time rather than just money to social causes?

Buildings will boast not just of global designers but of disability – friendly ramps and toilets?

Parents will give as much time to building social sensitivity in kids as they invest in teaching them tennis or piano?

Not sure, time will tell but I am a numbers and evidence based person, so what gives me a ray of hope are the articles I have been reading in the news.

Sample set – last 2 weeks alone, articles covered (links to most articles below available on my website, www.indiacharity.org)

·      Ira Singhal changes rules and clears UPSC

Gist – Sad story - even after clearing her exam in 2011, government refused to appoint her due to curved spine disability, ridiculously citing that she would not be able to lift heavy packages!! After intense struggle, she got a court ruling in her favour.

·      Beno Zephine becomes first blind IFS officer

Gist – Happy story of how tremendous love from parents, school and others can make a blind girl content, confident and aspire for the stars.

·      Milkmans son Subham from a village in Haryana at 10 wins world golf series at San Diego

Gist – with no resources and just learning from you tube videos a 7 year old boy caught the attention of Golf Foundation of India that then believed in him, invested in him and trained him to win a world championship.

·      Intelligent and thoughtful analysis on farmers suicide in maharashtra

Gist – heartbreaking to read how Maharashtra topped 2014 general suicide chart, loan waivers or compensating the family of the deceased is all that gets coverage rather than intelligent analysis of farming methods and other reforms

·      Suhel Seths article on creating disable friendly buildings

·      Rehabilitaion efforts for people impacted by Malin landslide a year back

In addition to above, I am happy to see movies like Baba Amte in Marathi, Million dollar arm in English, Hawa Hawaii in Hindi …..
My favourite by far is KOMAL - an animated video for our children on child abuse, which has won several awards (10 min must see video on you tube/ my website has the link)

All of this is a beginning but we truly have “miles to go before we sleep……”