13022020 Hyderabad, GoodClap:
- Looking for donors for a medical emergency
- Where to find people who will support my education
- Donations for a noble cause
- Cannot take the entire burden but can contribute a token
- How to ascertain my contribution is used for the right cause
These are a few questions running on many minds as donators and people in trouble. A medical bill amounting to a fortune is a big burden, but if like minded people come together, then nothing is impossible. On the other hand we come across various organisations asking money for a cause, but how far is it rightly spent for the donated cause. Who are the recipients and how did they tide over the hurdle with the small contribution made.
This an endless problem statement and the best solution jumped before me while I was addressing a gathering of students at the Anantapur Srinivasa Ramanujam Institute of Technology through my co speaker, Shashank Gandrapu, the Concept Founder of GoodClap.
This Chartered Accountant left his comfortable career domicile to harness tech for good. Thus was born GoodClap, a crowd funding platform for the needy. In a candid chat he ceremoniously unveiled his story which left an everlasting impression on me and thought it would repeat the miracle on readers as well.
Driven by his mother’s desire for him to excel in whatever he does, this young man accomplished the toughest academics and settled professionally. Yet his desire to be content through seeing others being content led him to design his own strategy to bring smiles on the less fortunate people in the society.
Thus was born a StartUp designed to help everybody, GoodClap, contribute for a noble cause and get satisfaction by a real feedback for the recipients. The team have been relentlessly working to help others tide over difficult times. For one person it might be humongous but when many come together nothing is impossible. This Hyderabad StartUp is almost a year old and has performed fairly well too.
How do you define the problem GoodClap is addressing?
There are millions of people in India and across the world who need support. While some need help to fulfil their basic necessities like food, shelter, health and education, some need backing to fulfil their dreams and fuel their passions. There are a lot of people wanting to support the genuine need/causes.
What could be dampeners for the needy?
The need/cause doesn’t receive the required help due to the below reasons 1) Often, people don’t find avenues listing out all genuine needs in one place. 2) People who need help exhaust their resources and are lost on whom to approach 3) Trust and authenticity issues.
How do you think GoodClap would fit in?
GoodClap has been initiated to bridge the gap between people in need of help and people who are willing to support a cause. Incorporating the below points, GoodClap is addressing the problems of donors and beneficiaries 1) Identifying genuine beneficiaries for various causes, verifying and on-boarding the beneficiaries 2) Integrating outreach tools on the platform so that it is easier for the beneficiary to reach out to a larger crowd. 3) Transparent, Authentic Payment processes.
Looks Interesting, tell us about the team working behind tis noble concept?
Apart from me, the passionate team includes Bhargava Sai Kiran, Sita Pavani, Raju, Anurag & Phani. Goodclap team is a diverse mix of finance, engineering, design and management experts. This entire team is mentored by Dr Raj, the CEO at HR Footprints Management Services Pvt Ltd.
In nutshell GoodClap please?
GoodClap is a crowdfunding platform for talents, innovations and causes. GoodClap’s crowdfunding platform facilitates the connection between the good hearts and people seeking support.
Being a flourishing professional Why GoodClap?
We wanted to bridge the gap between the donor and beneficiary. We planned to make “Doing Good” a habit in all the communities and society at large, in a structured manner.
Tell us something about the journey till date?
Establishing credibility as a Brand and Platform – Building a brand that people can trust and a website which is transparent and easy for the user to navigate. This has been the most important aspect of our Startup journey.
How do you think this would benefit GoodClap?
Trust drives the donors to contribute without stress or confusion about the legitimacy of the cause. This helps the cause receive quick support. To ensure this, we have designed the website to be transparent, ensure payments are all visible on the website for users to see. We work on making our processes and communications as transparent and easy to understand as possible. This has helped us overcome the struggle and establish credibility.
GoodClap Traction till date?
In the last one year, more than INR 1.5 Crores has been raised to support various causes and has helped over 150 people directly in need of emergency medical funds. This has impacted thousands of lives. Our purpose is to help people sustain lives and passions by connecting them to the goodness eco system.
How do people receive your initiative?
In this journey, we worked with some organizations like the Indian School of Business (ISB) and Rexnord (An MNC). Since inception, we have experienced some wonderful, heartfelt moments about people in need receiving help.
How do you plan to move forward?
We aim to become a Goodness Ecosystem that has deeply integrated the roots of doing good into every community out there – Schools, Colleges, Gated Communities, Corporates etc. and presenting them with models where giving is made extremely easy, trustworthy and transparent.
Assess your competitions?
There are a few crowdfunding platforms emerging in India, GoodClap is focused on going that extra mile to enable the people in need receive quick funds. We are focused on building an ecosystem of stakeholders such as schools, colleges, any community which can come together and provide quick help to the people in need.
Feathers in your cap?
GoodClap has been featured in multiple media coverage for the work being done through the platform. Below is a link of the Recognitions.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1c_1TmXWLzx8ep8fQPS73XiEPJrqW6fjC
We have received multiple heartfelt testimonials from the people who have received help through this platform and the people who have been able to help a cause of their choice through this platform.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TZLFAh5Q5I – HR Footprints support an NGO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJJftA8LAY8 – IndoSoul’s
For starters what’s your rule book?
1) Customer Feedback – Customer feedback is the best guide to make your idea successful. Do what the customer wants.
2) Fail fast, fail small – Be open to failures. Be more open to experimenting. But ensure you learn from those and modify your plans by using the inputs received from the failures.
3) Persistence – There will be lows and highs. In fact, for a startup, the lows could be more before you hit a high.
Finally your advice to upcoming founders?
Don’t give up. Persist and be at it. If you want your idea to become a reality, you need to be at it, irrespective of the lows.
Way2World prays and hopes such young minds work innovate to help the society turning out in to a successful ecosystem. Let’s all join to give a good clap to the GoodClap team for their inspiring initiative. Please like our pages: on Facebook & LinkedIn
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