Crowd-funding is here to stay. Definitely! In a previous article we spoke to Pavitra Chalam of Curley Street Media, who crowd-funded India's largest successful crowd funded non-fiction film. Now we take a peek into India's very own online crowd-funding platforms – Ketto.org.

 

Ketto, founded by Varun Sheth, Zaheer Adenwala and Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor, has more than 300 voluntary organisations; 10,000 donors and over Rs 2 Crores raised. Most of you might remember Ketto from the campaign in 2014 by Star Sports and YUWA, that sent a football team consisting of Jharkhand’s tribal girls to participate in the USA Cup. The campaign raised over Rs 65 Lakhs.

 

Should you Ketto-fund?

Ketto hosts campaigns run by a wide range of NGOs that may be raising 1 lakh or 50 lakhs at a point in time. Championing the case of crowd-funding online, Varun Sheth believes that the potential online crowd-funding is in transforming fundraising to be “quick, efficient and cost-effective – it takes a person 15 minutes to set up their campaign; people who have donated to you in the past, become fundraisers in your consecutive campaigns thus multiplying your donors and adding credibility to your ask; and the cost of fundraising is just 10% of each transaction unlike traditional fundraising methods that are upto 40%.”

 

He also argues that there is an ever-increasing number of youth who are social media savvy and keen to get involved in a social cause – they can drive the reach of an online campaign through their networks. For this Ketto keeps evolving its platform, “giving it a fresh look and ensuring featured content keeps changing” every few months.

 

For most NGOs that have tried their hand at fundraising do know that there is a lot more to asking for money than to just – well, ask for money! Understanding that a technology platform alone is not enough, Ketto has built a team that provides assistance to NGOs every step of the way. Ketto helps an NGO develop engaging content for their campaign and pushes the campaign through their own social media and networks. Ketto also helps the NGO devise a marketing plan for their campaign to ensure maximum reach. They keep in touch with the campaigners on the progress and challenges of their crowd-funding campaign throughout its duration. Deepthi Bopaiah, Communications Director of GoSports Foundation has been using the Ketto platform to raise money for training athletes and found that the online platform “enables us to reach out to a wider range of prospective donors for the campaign. Apart from contributing to the campaign themselves, it allows people to share the page within their own network thus vastly multiplying the campaign's reach.” She also lays emphasis on the content that needs to be “crisp, concise” and was happy to have Ketto help with putting together the campaign page and provide constant support throughout the campaign.

 

Ketto also engages with Companies to build campaigns to support a social cause and engage employees. An interesting example is DCB Bank that asked prospective employees to raise as much as they could for the Jammu and Kashmir flood victims for one of their recruitment rounds. 

 

Getting on the Ketto-wagon!

Registering on Ketto and starting your campaign on Ketto is simple to do!

 

 

We think this is one thing, as an NGO, you will want to consider in your 2015 online strategy. And if you do, do let us know how it works for you!