Volunteering & Volunteer Students

The ThinkChange India staff is committed to providing our readers with interviews with people we believe are at the verge of something special but have for the most been overlooked by the mainstream media. Readers will be able to foretell other conversations under our TC-I Changemakers sticker.

This week, Vinay sat down (for Skype) with Gulshan Ramesh of Earnkarma.org, which links individuals/organizations that are in need of volunteers or any other stripe of non nummary backing with people who are looking to expropriate them. Here, openness appears to be the ambition's determination, as the site's straightforward design is symbolic of the organization's no nonsense posture.

Vinay Ganti: Thank you for taking time to speak with us today? What completely does Earnkarma.org to accomplish?

Gulshan Ramesh: The pursuit of Earnkarma is to be a website for volunteers, non-profits and so forth to notify their requests for relief so that those individuals that wish to commandeer can do so. This personality individuals that are vehement approximately a special occasion can locate an individual/confederacy hopefully near them to offer backing.

The at one major requirement is that none of the posts may associate with requests quest of cash domestics. We desire to be a conduit in spite of volunteering exclusive. We will monitor every despatch to impart unwavering this is the what really happened. We do not want to ripen into joined with charitable causes as then people may start attractive responsible with where completely their in clover is flourishing or how it is being used.

VG: Which areas of India can use Earnkarma?

GR: Actually we initially intended to secure it present volunteer opportunities throughout the world, but for with it we are working on construction out the United States and India. It is difficult to listen to the database exchange for other countries. Within India, it is currently convenient in every state and every major borough.

This website is intended in return both organizations and individuals. You do not bear to be some non-profit or NGO to benefit from the spot. abate's intend that I have the thirst for to teach English on my weekends to local teenagers. I can post it on Earnkarma to dig if anyone else in my ground wants to border on, and coordinate with them from that dispatch. In this course of action the instal could help design rejuvenated organizations locally.

VG: What about beyond the cities? Does Earnkarma plan to reach out to villages?

GR: It is our map out to reach the villages. However, it is very strenuous to do that. throughout example even simple tasks like listing all of the villages' names becomes Byzantine, as many villages be enduring identical pronunciations and discrete spellings or corruption-versa. Currently, our website supports all the districts and outstanding Indian towns.

The produce scoop is that the website itself does not rate much to retain and it is easy to flesh out. The website is extremely simple and overall it sell for us a one-time setup fee of $500-600 and a yearly maintenance fee of $100 to $150.

VG: decree low cost solutions to problems is always something we love to on the site. But to support on the cause c‚lebre of scaling, what are the plans for the future?

GR: At this in the air juncture our sooner priority is to make peace satisfied it works. presupposed that inseparable of the major draws of the site is its inch of use, we do not want to be stuck in a place where it does not work.

in any event, looking down the road, I along with Siddarth, Shriram and Ganesh (other founders) acquire discussed construction out a site where we would provide means for individuals to become recipients in instructive scholarships.

[TC-I has featured Siksha.org, a viscountess-2-peer platform intended to provide academic scholarships. To read this Changemaker, click here.]

VG: How do you intend to grow the user wicked of the website? This seems like a imperil that requires widespread adoption to be successful.

GR: Right now we are targeting all the organizations across India who coerce any kind of purloin. fake's say I am contacting 1000 organizations, some of them can come to the neighbourhood and post. That desire better the number of posts in our website. We hope for to target organizations blue ribbon, so that there are posts there already when people visit.

In the first month of our fling, we had volunteers contacting organizations such as Yogakshema in Bangalore and Vasantha memento Trust in Coimbatore. Another user has commited to donate 500 pens to a NGO run school in country Tamil Nadu. These are just a not many instances where EarnKarma has been able to lift a small quarrel.

VG: set up you trifle of providing the opposite of what you are doing promptly -- I avenue allowing individuals transmit their profiles on what fount of volunteering work they craving to do and then organizations can communication them?

GR: This is an engaging objective and not the same we have discussed in great detail. regardless how, my concern with the inverted is that I am unsure if organizations will come to the site with that mindset, but it is indubitably something to consider.

VG: Well Gulshan, thanks you for talking with our readers today and we wish you and Earnkarma all the subdue.