Raise the bar with your charity, get rewarded

If you want to contribute to society by supporting your favourite NGO, here’s a golden opportunity. After a successful first year, GiveIndia is back with its second edition of the India Giving Challenge, an online fundraising event that sees NGOs, corporates and individuals getting rewarded for raising funds for their chosen cause.

It provides a way for NGOs to raise even more money for their cause through a matching grant (Rs65 lakh), given out in the form of prizes, from GiveIndia. The Challenge is an initiative under the Joy of Giving Week. The competition began on September 8 and will be on till October 20.

“We are trying to build a community approach of fundraising through this process,” GiveIndia chief information officer Dhaval Udani said. “The competition will run for six weeks and by the end of it, we are certain that around 200 NGOs will enrol,” says Udani. So far, GiveIndia has contacted 40 corporates, out of which 20 have confirmed participation. Around 150 NGOs are participating too.

GiveIndia is a donation platform that allows people to support a cause of their choice from about 200 NGOs, which are scrutinised for transparency and credibility. The organisation helps NGOs with sample letters that must be sent out to the donors and on using social networking sites to ensure optimum benefits. “NGOs are not too technology-savvy. Through this, we try to enhance their fund raising ability,” Udani said.

Vinayak Lohani, founder and head of Parivaar Education Society, an NGO, which won the Challenge last year, said, “A healthy competition like this helps to energise our donors and volunteers, and helps in network building.” The NGO collected 23 lakh last year and won Rs12 lakh from GiveIndia. It has already won the first week of the competition this year. Fourteen corporates and 100 NGOs raised Rs91 lakh from about 5,000 donors last year and received Rs56 lakh in matching grants.

IndiBloggers, the largest community for bloggers, has partnered with GiveIndia for its India Giving Challenge. It has a discussion forum where bloggers clear their doubts or queries about the online competition. “This way, we reach out to a wider audience and their questions are answered by GiveIndia,” explained Renie Ravin, managing director, IndiBloggers.

Those who wish to participate, log on to www.GiveIndia.org/IGC2010 or www.giveindia.org