BookASmile, the charity initiative of BookMyShow, recently awarded six NGOs a total of Rs. 60 lakhs in funding as part of Book 6 Million Smiles campaign – reportedly India’s biggest online fundraising event. More than 120 NGOs took part in this campaign, cumulatively raising more than INR 2.11 cr on Ketto.
The six month campaign between August 2017 and January 2018 was intended at empowering various NGOs across India, enabling their efforts to be more sustainable and raise public awareness. More than 120 NGOs took part in this campaign, supporting causes such as digital literacy and skill building (gainful employment causes), animal welfare, senior citizens, creative arts, rural development and environment.
Speaking to DNA, actor Kunal Kapoor, one of the co-founders at Ketto said that the biggest gain from this initiative was that despite all the negativity and bad news that came out of society, there was still kindness amongst humans and humankind should not be written off.
“People from a 11-year-old girl, who on her birthday started an online campaign and raised Rs 50,000 for an animal shelter to a 90-year-old man who raised money for a friend who had health issues and was hospitalized are just examples of kindness in people,” he said.
The best thing, Kapoor added, was that Re 1 was all it took to make a difference in someone’s life. “If 5,00,000 people donate Re 1, it comes to Rs 5,00,000 and that is a lot of money when you look at the bigger picture. And there are plenty of people who donate more than Re 1,” he added.
While looking at the bigger picture, Kapoor said that it was just the beginning of the journey when it comes to crowd funding in India. “It’s still a new thing in India, although it’s been around for a few years. And now, we can focus on raising money for several issues that are plaguing the nation,” he signed off.
