The Incredible Story of One Fundraiser — And How It Changed Me
The inside scoop on the life of a campaign manager.
On an average day, I make close to 50 phone calls to various campaigners and activate at least 8 fundraisers, most of which are for medical emergencies. Many of these families know nothing about crowdfunding. They are usually directed to our platform through a friend, family or through their doctor and are in immediate need for funds.
We do understand that no amount of fundraiser management tools (our guide, our calendar, our checklist) can be enough for someone fighting to save their loved ones. We usually share these as part of a protocol. We use these to empower the campaigner to get funds for themselves. But when a poor farmer’s son is dying of cancer or a husband is gathering funds to get a crucial transplant for his wife, they don’t have enough time to understand how crowdfunding works, how to frame appeals, how to share and promote a fundraiser.
They need funds and they need them immediately.
That’s where I step in. As a dedicated campaign manager at Impact Guru, I try to provide the best fundraiser management tool — human support. I’m almost like Siri, providing support, answering questions, helping them with various options and sometimes, even asking after their well-being.
I work hard to guide many campaigners through the process of fundraising online. I assist donors who have trouble using the platform on call. But I never understood the necessity of my work, until June this year.
It was on the 5th that I received a call from a campaigner, someone called Anurag Bhatnagar, saying he had created an urgent medical fundraiser on Impact Guru with a goal of Rs. 25 lakh for his wife. After battling liver cirrhosis for over a decade, Puja was told by doctors that a transplant was her only option to live now. Devastated by her wife’s condition, Anurag was further worried about raising the amount. A friend suggested he try crowdfunding on Impact Guru and Anurag set out to create a fundraiser.
Anurag knew that he would have to look after Puja, who was admitted at Max hospital, Delhi and thus, once the fundraiser was live, he enrolled a team of friends and family members, who, constantly shared the word and sent out appeals.
I knew the drill till here. You create a fundraiser and then try your best to spread the news. But, what came after I wasn’t prepared for.
I see hundreds of fundraisers raise money each day and generosity has stopped surprising me, but what did surprise me about this campaign was the speed at which the donations came in. Within the first two days, the fundraiser had already collected Rs. 12 lakhs with donations as huge as Rs. 65,000 to as little as Rs. 500.
This is when I realized the power of a strong network.
Anurag wasn’t the only one campaigning; his team came together to individually to reach out to their networks and raise the funds.
People responded well. Puja had been a loved and respected teacher whose students were now living across the world, and they were willing to help out in her time of need. Our multiple payment gateways made sure we could collect funds from USA, Dubai and Australia with ease.
Over the weekend, as a large number of donors tried to contribute, there were some transaction issues. Anurag called me immediately and I escalated the issue to the management. At once we sat down to call back each donor whose transaction went unfinished and guided them individually to make the donation again. At this point, Anurag was scared that he might not be able to handle donor queries on Sunday while I wasn’t working. I gave him my personal number and assured him that I would be available for any assistance. I received and answered many donor queries.
After 7 days however, we realized that the fundraiser had slowed down. It was stuck at Rs. 13 lakhs and Anurag and team has exhausted all their options.
“Is there something else we can do?,” he asked hopefully.
We analysed the traffic coming to his fundraiser and discovered that he had thousands of visitors but only a few actually donated. “We should run a retargeting ad,” our CMO, Dheeraj Bhansal suggested.
And he was right. While most people were only too happy to contribute, some people needed a reminder more than once. We created a retargeting Facebook ad aimed at people that had already visited the page and hadn’t had a chance to make a donation yet. Soon the fundraiser picked momentum again. And within just two weeks, we had surpassed the goal amount and Anurag was finally relieved.
We disbursed the funds within two days and Puja went in for surgery. Usually, this would have been the end of my interaction with the campaigner. But, all through this time I had formed a bond with Anurag and Puja. I felt involved somehow and kept calling Anurag to ask how Puja was doing.
The transplant was done a week later and was successful. Puja who was on dialysis for 17 years was finally healthy and happy at home.
Since then I’ve seen many more medical fundraisers reach success fast, making me proud that there are people out there who can completely change someone’s life in a few clicks and that, I can somehow bring those people together to help a friend or stranger through the power of what I do for a living.
Written by Ayushi Doshi.
Like our story? Give us a clap or two!
For more inspiring stories like these, follow our publication.
