Champions4Change: Making charity go viral

“We can’t help everyone but everyone can help someone.” This philosophy was the inspiration behind Champions4Change. Created by student Krishang Khandelwal, this platform strives to empower young people to make a change in their own communities.

The world is too big and complex for any of us to change it alone. But we can take the initial step towards changing the world by helping people in our immediate ecosystem, because when we change what we can, we end up changing the world while inspiring others.

Initially, the idea of helping others was incubated during the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA) program in the summer of 2019 which helped provide a structure to this social cause. The idea was well received and helped Krishang to secure a 2nd prize of INR 30,000 to help him build on it along with his studies.

But as the concept was being developed, the Covid 19 Pandemic struck the world. It was during this time that Krishang and his parents went the extra mile to help their house help Reena Didi, and took her 10-year-old son, Manoranjan, under their guardianship and brought him from his village in West Bengal to their own home in Gurgaon.

Seeing the transformation and joy brought about in the lives of the mother-son duo, Krishang soon realised that there were many more such people in his immediate ecosystem who needed help and there were friends and family members willing to contribute but not knowing how to do so in an organised and transparent manner. Krishang cites this to be a great motivating factor in Champions4Changes pivot from a business idea to a social cause. Furthermore, it was a driving factor for him to make sure his platform succeeds since this would mean helping many more underpriviledged people secure a better future during and after the pandemic.

Having realised the need to give Champions4Change a better spread rather than just word-of-mouth publicity, Krishang used his spare time during the Covid lockdown to build his coding skills through coursework like Harvard CS50: Introduction to Computer Science, which he used to design the product and develop the website, Champions4change.org so that it becomes a fully functional, easy to use platform.

Since going live with the website, the platform has helped campaigners organise and host various fundraising events, including charity sports tournaments, birthday celebrations, and anniversary dinners where, instead of gifts, people donate money to a cause. “Together, these have raised tens of thousands of rupees for various charitable causes. Recently, Champions4Change helped to raise money for a social cause to help underprivileged kids under Nukkad Paathshaala by organising a soccer event with his school friends who donated to participate in this event. So, this helps make charity ‘enjoyable yet effortless’.”

Similarly, a wedding anniversary event was championed by Shubham to host a family dinner while raising money (instead of gifts) for his social cause. The money so collected using a payment gateway was then paid out to this charity and updates provided to all concerned.

Krishangs’s vision for Champions4Change is to make charity go viral. Just like the ice bucket challenge made charity fun while creating awareness about the cause, he would like the platform to create a ripple effect that starts with one champion and expands to friends, friends of friends, and beyond.

As far as tips for people who want to become champions for a social cause close to their heart or help the needy in their network, but don’t know where to begin, Krishang offers the following:

- Start with something that people are already excited about and want to do - for example, marathons or football matches. People want to take part in these, and making them a charitable event only adds to the motivation for people.
- Another way to make charity enjoyable is to turn your special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries into charitable events! Ask your friends to donate to your cause instead of buying you gifts for a more meaningful celebration.
- Recognize volunteers and donors. Tangible rewards such as shoutouts on your Instagram pages or recognition for their volunteering show people that you appreciate their contribution and give them further incentive to get involved.

Whether it’s your gardener who needs help buying health insurance or your driver who needs funds to send his child to a better school or raise money for a bigger social or environmental cause, these can all be championed by you to help make a difference in your community, one person at a time.