Our CEO ‘Kumud Sharma’ speaks to The Economic Times about our journey in supporting “ JOY OF GIVING”.
KORAMANGALA: The joy of giving week in Koramangala is turning out to be a success. As a platform for the corporates to execute corporate social responsibility, give back to the society and raise funds for NGOs is performing well. To make good use of the week, fund raisers are finding innovative ways to generate higher amount from the corporate. One of the popular and innovative ways this year has been the ‘Wish Tree’, an artificial tree on which kids tie their wish chits, and then a company keeps that tree for a week in its office so that employees can choose which wish they would like to fulfill. The joy of giving week, launched in 2009, is a whole week of philanthropy marked every year in during Gandhi Jayanti, from 2-8 October. It is not organised by any specific NGO or organisation. It is fully driven by a large group of volunteers from all over the country. Also, the week sets to be a perfect time for companies to showcase their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and for NGOs it is the best time to boost inflow of funds and visibility in the public space. As per the data collected, over one million people participated in 600 plus events across 60 cities during JGW 2011, raising over Rs 30 crore, resources and millions of volunteer hours. According to key volunteers in Koramangala, this year’s figures will be much higher.
ENSURING BIZ GROWTH
Kalyan Verma, a young socialpreneur, who is the co-founder and CEO of Socialheart.in rolled out an online game named Helium, which was developed by his co-partner. The move was strategised by his partner Shashank Reddy. Helium is a multi-player strategy game. Based on the number of games played, Socialheart donates to NGOs. “Realising the importance of joy of giving week, we brought in this concept. The money we are donating is based on how many people play and how much they score. Our goal is a minimum of Rs 4,000. We have reached a little more
than Rs 2,000 so far,” he said. He also added that about 2,000 people have played the game so far and we expect to reach around 6,000 by the end of the period. Funds raised will be used to build a library in a government school in Anekal. The game helped them catch eyeballs. “Not every individual is likely to buy our products but it will certainly help us in increasing the visibility of our company which in a way represents NGOs,” he said. Kumud Sharma, CEO of SuperSeva Services, an enterprise support services company, marked Joy of Giving Week for the first time this year and managed to collect around Rs 80,000 for various NGOs. “We did it for the first time, intention was clearly giving back to the society and ensuring our clients that we can also give them services to utilise their CSR funds,” he said. During this week, NGOs witness a tremendous increase in the inflow of funds. “Last year, the Koramangala division of Make-a-wish Foundation raised about Rs 25,000 during JGW. This year, Rs 67,500 has been collected so far,” said Vijay Ladha, Hon. Program Director of Make A Wish Foundation Bangalore Division. It works for kids suffering from life-threatening diseases.
KORAMANGALA MILLIONAIRES
The rich and famous of Raheja Rseidency, society housing some of the richest people of the town marked JGW by inviting 13 NGOs to their premises. In total, NGOs raised about Rs 60,000. “A lot of rich people live here who wanted to give back to the society but they did not know the right platform. JGW was the right platform for them to donate and strike a chord with NGOs and social entrepreneurs,” concluded the event organiser.
SuperSeva is an industry leader in concierge services handling about 30,000 client requests per month. SuperSeva currently operates in 18 cities across the country. To know more about this, contact us on our Toll free number 1800 102 9192 or mail us at info@superseva.com.
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