‘Tier II cities like Coimbatore yet to embrace crowdfunding’

Coimbatore: While more and more people in metro cities are warming up to the concept of crowdfunding, those in tier II cities like Coimbatore are yet to embrace the new tool that provides essentials like drinking water, education and health to the less privileged, says Anoj Viswanathan, co-founder of popular crowdfunding platform Milaap.

Anoj, who was born and schooled in Coimbatore, was in the city on Friday to promote crowdfunding. "Though Milaap was started seven years ago, Coimbatore was added to our portfolio hardly seven to eight months back. We have begun working with organisations like the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, raising funds for treating some of their patients, especially children. We have raised around Rs 15 lakh for them. We also raised around Rs 3.5 lakh for Coimbatore-based Humane Animal Society," he says.

Almost 50% to 55% of people donating funds and starting campaigns to raise funds come from the four metro cities—Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, says Anoj. "'We are actively focusing on tier II cities like Coimbatore, Mangalore, Mysore and Bhuvaneshwar because we have realised that though the campaign starters are based in metros, the beneficiaries are from tier II cities," he says.

Some of the main reasons behind the slow acceptance of the concept is lack of awareness and online transactions being low. "While many people are ready to help others and be generous in contributions, they don't know that crowdfunding platforms exist. We are approaching many hospitals and higher education institutions in the city to approach us to raise funds for special patients. Only if we have campaigns originating in Coimbatore, will we start seeing more sponsors and donations from the city because it is the campaigners and victims' friends and family, who will initially share the campaign on social media and through emails," Anoj says.

Almost 25% of donations Milaap receive come from repeat sponsors. It have raised Rs 220 crore from 1 lakh donors over the past seven years. "The critical step is to establish trust and credibility for the platform and that is done by foolproofing the genuineness of a campaign, which we have done. We, in fact, place a cap of Rs 50,000 for individual fund raisers and Rs 1 lakh for NGOs and organisations for the first raise, and only after they update the use of funds can they raise more funds," according to Anoj.

Funds raised on crowdfunding platforms seem to have increased multifold since demonetisation. Almost 50% of the Rs 220 crore Milaap has raised in donations for various causes, was raised since this January. The platform saw Rs 1.6 crore being raised during the Chennai floods by 70 individuals for various projects and also raised almost Rs 1 crore for a patient suffering from a genetic disorder and had to go to Netherlands for treatment. " We regularly raise anywhere between Rs 3 to Rs 30 lakh for medical treatments a month," says Anoj.

Platforms like Milaap charge a fee of around 5% to 6% of funds raised for their services including curating the campaign.