Ketto 2018: The Year of Incredible Growth
It’s been an amazing journey for Ketto which saw a huge rise in individual participation in 2018, with people starting their own campaigns to facilitate social change.
From crowdfunding a new animal shelter, to rehabilitating an entire state after a natural calamity, Ketto can been used for any cause that one strongly believes in. With a network of 2,000+ NGOs, we’ve facilitated a positive change in areas that include child education, women’s empowerment, animal welfare, and natural disaster rehabilitation. Over time, we witnessed magic in its simplest form: humanitarianism. We saw that no call for help went unheeded. We were heartened by the fact that individuals and NGO’s alike came together and utilized the power of social media to help those in need by raising staggering amounts of money and showcasing their empathy.
2018 has definitely been promising, and we are excited to welcome an even better 2019. We are happy to see so many people, causes and promising projects funded through initiatives on Ketto, helping make the world a better place, little by little. We are aiming to empower individuals and organisations with the opportunity and choice to create a brighter future.
Additionally, we want to encourage more people to use Ketto’s platform to fund their creative ideas and inventions in 2019. Use it to bring your vision to life. Now’s the time to innovate and let your imagination run wild through the medium of crowdfunding.
Top Campaigns of 2018
Women’s Empowerment
This year female crusaders took to crowdfunding to make their lives better. Take the case of Khabar Lahariya, which trains and establishes rural women as professional journalists.
220 supporters helped Khabar Lahariya, raise a whopping Rs. 11,15,590, a truly empowering initiative.
Chandro, popularly known as “Shooter Dadi” started a campaign to raise funds to fund her shooting exploits. She learnt to shoot at the age of 65 and has amazingly, even at that age, won many shooting championships. She is known to be the oldest female shooting competitor in the world. Since learning to shoot, she has been instrumental in creating a sporting revolution for women in purely male dominated rural belts of Uttar Pradesh and many other Indian states.
Community Engagement
One particular case made international headlines around the world, when photographs of a boy crying next to the body of Anil, a father figure who died while cleaning a sewer in India, went viral and prompted social media users to raise Rs. 56,79,350 within days to support the family, a prime example of individuals employing the power of social media to collectively invigorate social impact.
Teens too proved they had serious mettle in the crowdfunding space. The students of Shri Ram School, Manya Kalra, and Sana Kharbanda have successfully raised an astounding sum of Rs 23 lakhs in six months through an endeavor to install non-electrical water purifiers in the homes of the less fortunate and showed how the very young can make a huge difference in the lives of others.
Children’s Causes
Additionally, children were helped in a variety of ways through the Ketto platform.
For example, take a look at the Chennai Children’s Choir, an initiative of the Nalandaway Foundation that comprises of 23 children. They were invited to perform at the The Serenade! Choral Festival,’ in America, but were unable to afford the total expenditure to head to America.
423 supporters contributed a cumulative total of Rs. 35,95,600 which allowed these superstar kids to fly to DC to wow audiences there with their beautiful, angelic voices.
Furthermore, an initiative was launched by the Annamrita — ISKCON Food Relief Foundation that provided midday meals to underprivileged kids. At the end of that campaign, enough was raised to help 751 underprivileged school children eat healthy, nutritious meals for at least a year. Truly inspirational!
Another NGO called Sethu that has been working tirelessly in the field of child development for over 13 years launched a fundraiser on Ketto to provide much-needed support for children with autism. The money Sethu collected would help facilitate parent and teacher training workshops to better support the children, in addition to purchasing teaching aids and technology to improve the quality of life of children with autism.
Disaster Relief
As Kerala battled the worst floods in its recent history back in August, a series of NGOs partnered with us to ensure the supply of packaged meals and other relief items to the worst affected areas of the state. NGOs such as Habitat for Humanity, Rapid Response, FullContact India, Uday Foundation, Goonj and Oxfam India spearheaded initiatives to provide immediate relief and shelter to flood survivors and cater to the immediate hygiene, medical and sanitation needs of those affected. The collective amount raised was testament to the generous spirit of the nation.
Animal Welfare
Individuals and organizations also did their bit for our furry friends who are often the victims of incredible cruelty.
Simba, a three-legged St Bernard was abandoned in Karnataka, but the then 6 month old was rescued by a kind family, who decided to fit him with an artificial prosthetic. They however could not afford the expenses.
However, the generosity of complete strangers helped buy Simba a new pair of wheels so he could move around without discomfort.
Another pooch that was abandoned by his owners suffered in a shelter for a lengthy period of time. Two-year old Oreo did eventually find people who wanted to take him in. However, there was a catch — this particular family lived abroad in Canada and moving him would involve considerable expenses. Dog lovers moved to action and allowed a visibly grateful Oreo to finally meet his emotional new family in Vancouver. Truly a heartwarming tale!
Supporting The Differently Abled
When it comes to sports and athletics, fundraisers shone attention to cases involving those that are differently-abled. The NGO Astha, which organized India’s 6th AITA Ranked Wheelchair Tennis Tournament at Bengaluru this month, raised Rs. 1,43,455 on Ketto towards the planning and logistics of that event.
Armed Forces
The martyrs of our military and police forces deserve special mention too. 31,000 Special Police Officers (SPOs) are currently rendering their services shoulder-to-shoulder with regular forces in combating terrorism and maintaining law & order. In the line of duty, as many as 499 SPOs have sacrificed their lives for the nation. To help support the deceased families, patriots in India donated Rs. 6,54,404.
Healthcare
Crowdfunding is increasingly being seen as a solution to make healthcare affordable for all, particularly in cancer, transplant, and pediatric cases. In one case, 7 year old Karthi was suffering from serious liver disease that left half of his organ completely damaged. The only solution to his predicament was to undergo a liver transplant operation. 1319 kind supporters ultimately raised over Rs. 25 lakh on Ketto for his treatment and helped save his life. Karthi and his parents are able to smile and laugh again due to the incredible power of a crowdfunding initiative.
Personal Causes
Creative endeavours were well supported as well. One major example of this was a movie about inclusion and family and togetherness called “Pluto In My Momos”. This movie is about how the Sikkim Himalayan Academy (SHA) holds all of these different characters together, much like a Momo does with its individual ingredients.
Finally, a group known as #StrawsSuck reached out to cafes, restaurants and bars across the globe requesting them to adopt a “Straws on Request” policy; to give straws to customers only when they specifically ask for one because of the environmental hazards of using plastic straws. Till date, they have managed to reach out to 40+ establishments in India, Canada & Thailand who have said no to straws and have adopted the “Straws on Request” policy.
To sum it all up, 2018 was a year of big leaps for Ketto:
The number of medical fundraisers doubled on our platform this year, compared to the year before.
Many campaigns raised funds in record time, like in the case of Anil, the manual scavenger
The number of donations from outside India more than doubled.
The UAE and Singapore broke into the Top 5 of donor countries
Contributions from the USA doubled
But it all came down to each person who took that first small step to start a Ketto fundraiser. We can’t wait to see what the future holds. Here’s to the future. Here’s to a better world. Here’s to seeing some incredible creative projects come to life. To infinity and beyond! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!
Ketto Blog remains committed to inspiring and compelling social change to India’s most pressing problems through the power of great stories and engaging our audiences to take meaningful action.
