Milaap.org, India’s largest crowdfunding platform has impacted several lives in the last seven years. Anoj Viswanathan from Coimbatore, along with his friend and co-founder Mayukh Choudhury, started the company and took the simple act of giving to the internet. The fascinating reality that is enabling more and more people to seek and render financial support within ‘clicks’ started 7 years ago with their vision to revolutionize the way India gives.
In a meet-up today, Anoj Viswanathan explains how online fundraisers are easing the lives of thousands in need, “We have all faced situations where we need a significant sum of money, urgently. Sometimes, the amount goes way beyond our savings. Then, we turn to friends and family who can help us. Here, on any fundraiser page, one can see the other supporters, the amount contributed by them, and present updates, besides a live ticker that shows the total funds raised for the cause”.
For example, when Sebastian Selvaraj, a racer from Chennai taking part in MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2017, met with an accident and sustained serious injuries, a crowdfunding campaign set up for him saw great response from the people of Tamil Nadu. His fundraiser was also supported by several racing clubs and groups who started supporting fundraisers to extend his cause to their network. They collected almost Rs. 20 lakhs, and this helped in timely treatment, owing to which Sebastian is now on the road to recovery.
Similarly, Pavithra Chinatanikodi, a 5-year-old, had a hole in her heart. Both her parents being daily wage workers, the infant’s treatment was impossible to afford. Brought to the hospital in a critical condition,the doctors performed an immediate surgery that saved the little one’s life, but the parents were unable to settle the bills. The family was able to collect nearly Rs 1.5 lakhs out of the Rs 2 lakh bill with the help of 86 complete strangers.
Growing up in Coimbatore, Anoj went on to pursue his graduation in Singapore and returned to India in 2010 to start Milaap. As someone who benefited from scholarships to pursue his education, Milaap was envisioned to be a platform for people to give directly to those in need. Since online fundraisers for medical emergencies are extremely popular, Milaap has collaborated with most popular hospitals across India with a vision to ensure nobody goes without treatment due to insufficient funds. This is in addition to everyday efforts to ease the process of setting up a fundraiser within minutes.
Making a conscious effort to make fundraising extremely easy, Milaap also has a team devoted to researching techniques used in best performing fundraisers, and turning them into features available to every single person raising funds. There are video tutorials and ‘quick tips’ available to all campaign organizers, enabling them to use the platform effectively with great ease. One can even download a poster specific to their fundraiser, to promote the same offline, with a single click. These features make the platform extremely user-friendly and easy to use. This, combined with an email support, that extends over 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, is making Milaap people’s number one choice for fundraising.
Not only for medical emergencies, there have been multiple fundraisers for the causes of farmers. A fundraiser that aimed to restore lakes and ponds in drought-hit Tamil Nadu gained great popularity. The fundraiser collected more than Rs 11 lakh, exceeding the target by over Rs 10 lakh.
“To many people, the virtual world is still a new, intimidating space. We understand that the fundraiser is being set up, and run by a person in need. Keeping the process simple, and equipping them with powerful, easy to use features helps provide a seamless, hassle-free experience, which is quite needed at the time,” he adds.
Today, Anoj Viswanathan’s little idea has changed the way people participate in the difficulties of a loved one, or even of a stranger. The platform has raised over Rs 215 crores from over 100,000 projects across India, with the help of a community of funders who come from 120 countries across the globe. Milaap.org is constantly working to take crowdfunding to the masses. The website has over 2.5 million page views every month, and is growing 20% month on month. The platform enables India to raise funds for personal causes, loved ones, pets and animals, natural disasters, medical treatment, education, local charities, emergencies, natural disasters, neighbourhood, sports, documentaries, volunteering and fellowships, arts, and other projects benefiting individuals or communities in need.
“We do not have to teach people to help others in need. They have been doing that for ages. We have only taken this online. So we only need to find a way to make this new way easy for them,” he concludes.
If anyone has a requirement of funds for personal and social causes, they can easily set up campaigns by using the instructions below:
- Visit https://milaap.org/ and click on the “Start a Fundraiser” button to create a fundraising appeal.
- Ping us on (+91) 9916174848 or email at [email protected] for guidance to set up a campaign
Milaap's profile
Milaap is India's leading crowdfunding platform for personal and social causes. Constantly endeavouring to make it easier for people to raise money online for the causes that matter to them.
Our community of funders come from 120 countries across the world. Over the last six years, Milaap has become the preferred platform for people to raise and contribute towards causes they care about in India.