SMALL CHANGE ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018

Some causes we support

WHY PLAY
IS VITAL FOR
A CHILD’S
PROGRESS
Project KHEL take
learning beyond the
MISSION TO
classroom for minors END TRIBAL
living in shelter homes,
slums and urban ghettos
POVERTY
Ending extreme poverty
in and around Lucknow,
and hunger in remote
and place it in activity-
tribal pockets of Odisha
based environments.
may sound like a singular
In a country where
mission, but CYSD learnt
teaching from textbooks
early on that it will be
dominates, KHEL’s model
a ‘mission impossible’
is a mix of ‘play for
if they don’t use every
development’ and ‘life
trick in the book. So they
skills education’ aimed
nurtured a network of
towards disadvantaged
non-profits already in the
youngsters deprived of
field, built a backbone
fun and games in their
of community based
daily lives.
organisations, and ensure
that government schemes
are deployed to tackle
such destitution.
 Message from the Founder

THIS has been another year of huge learning for us trustees, and the organisation - the
staff strength of which we can still count on one hand!
So first off, kudos to Shreya and Aisiri who have patiently but doggedly helped
SmallChange.ngo grow. Almost all the testimonials from our NGO partners in this Annual
Report speak of their effort at building a great working relationship to achieve a common
goal - that of raising funds by increasing awareness about the causes served.
But during the year we have also realised that just human qualities - of trust, in us and our
NGO partners, and empathy for the issues being addressed - are not enough to attain our
mission of ‘growing a new generation of givers’.
The watershed moment came after our participation in India’s first #GivingTuesday, a
global giving movement (see p. 4), when assessing the reasons behind the spike in figures
- both in donations and the number of donors - in a single month that we hadn’t ever
achieved before. Unwittingly, and organically, we had arrived at the exercise of gathering
and analysing simple data, something we hadn’t properly considered earlier.
To those whose entire operations are based on data, our communications-led approach to
reaching out to potential donors will seem naive. And it is - like believing in just the heart,
and discounting the head. Especially now when ‘marketing’, that uncomfortable word in
NGO parlance, is not just driven by data but also by artificial intelligence, the new kid on
the tech block.
So while last year, we grappled with the relevance of just numbers to measure our impact,
in the coming year it will be our endeavour to find a balance between head and heart;
between our faith in empathy in changing the world and depending on data to show us
the way.

Thank you for your support.

Warm regards

Sara Adhikari
Founder & Managing Trustee

ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 1

 Mission
Over the years, I have donated both
through other fundraising platforms
and directly to NGOs. When I stumbled
Raise awareness of nonprofits in India, engage givers in their upon Small Change, I was impressed with
causes, and help them raise funds. the dedication of a small team trying to bring
about a change. The various donation options

Vision
and experience of donating has been a breeze. The
instant receipts mean you don’t have to go chasing
around at the time of tax returns. Overall they’ve got
To grow a new generation of givers. their systems in place, are very professional and
doing great work in screening and aggregating
deserving NGOs. I wholeheartedly encourage
prospective donors sitting on the fence to
jump in!
Manish Shah, donor, Mumbai

It has been a pleasure crowdfunding on Small

Change. Having raised funds on several other online
platforms, what stood out for me was the high levels of
professionalism from the small team at Small Change.
There has not been a single mail that was not answered
promptly or a single concern that was not addressed.
Akshai Abraham, Founder-Director
Project KHEL, Lucknow

My colleagues Archit,
Biju, Neha, several others at
Amazon and I had the privilege of
spending time with the Small Change
team. Small Change is a great way to
connect good (causes, social development
organisations) to good (donors who
care and share). I feel confident they will
catalyse real impact by using technology,
communications and wisdom
to connect people.
Sriraman Jagannathan, volunteer,
former Vice-President, Amazon India
Highlights November 2017 December 2017 January 2018

of the Year
July 2017
June 2017
Happy first
birthday!
Fasting, feasting
June 17th marked one year
Tiljala SHED, who work with
since SmallChange.ngo went
ragpicker communities in
live!
Kolkata, ran a month-long
fundraiser to celebrate Iftar
with their beneficiaries. This
was our first campaign for a
special occasion, and what a
feast it was! The fundraiser was
able to raise almost ₹50,000 -
enough to organise Iftar for 300
of the city’s poorest ragpickers
to break their Ramadan fast at
the end of a long working day.
August 2017
We give 100%
Like every organisation, we also
have admin costs and hoped to
cover this by retaining 10% of
every donation to go towards
this overhead.
However, to encourage both
NGOs and givers, we are
now passing on 100% of the
donation amount to the NGO
and looking at other ways to
manage costs.
Our stand
against plastic
While at Small Change, our
main aim is to raise awareness
and funds for our NGO
partners, we also felt the need
to start a campaign of our own -
one that doesn’t require funds,
but instead encourages change
through action in our daily
lives.
So in November we started
our #NoPlasticTuesdays
campaign on our social media
to bring attention to the
harm our conspicuous plastic
consumption - and then the
waste - is causing. And how
to reduce use of this material
which does not disintegrate in
100 years.
This cause is very close to our
hearts - every #SmallChange
we make, can collectively have a
huge impact!
Transparency is
the key!
Until now, our foremost
requirement for featuring an
NGO on SmallChange.ngo was
Donations in that they be certified for their
kind to bring in legal and financial compliance
at the Platinum or Gold level by
New Year GuideStar India.
In December, we teamed up
But in January we decided
with Donatekart who deliver
to feature NGOs with all
in-kind donations directly
levels of certifications from
to the NGO and ran Festive
GuideStar India, including
Fundraisers to fulfill the wish
the Transparency Key in an
list of gifts of our partner NGOs
effort to help more non profits
for their beneficiaries.
and give donors more causes
- From nappies for toddlers in
and NGOs to choose from to
their care and back-to-school
support. And, like last year,
packs for abandoned girls,
Small Change too has been
to lighting up tribal training
awarded the GuideStar India
centres in rural Odisha, these
Gold level seal for transparency.
gifts, wrapped in love, ensured
2018 started with giving and
empathy.

#saynotoplastic Small Change has

October 2017 #NoPlasticTuesdays been MCF’s window
First taste of #GivingTuesdayIndia to the world of
#GivingTuesday, a global day of giving, was introduced in the US crowdfunding. We
in 2012. It followed the mega shopping events BlackFriday and have been shown new
CyberMonday, post Thanksgiving, to begin the charitable season. It
and innovative ways of
is now celebrated in over 150 countries. Legit, easy, and
fundraising. The best
#GivingTuesdayIndia made its debut in 2017, marked for the transparent. I would
Tuesday of #DaanUtsav, Joy of Giving week (Oct 2-8), a festival is that a 100% of the
Small Change has been celebrating every year since the trust was highly recommend
funds raised comes to
formed. donating through this
the organisation.
To encourage as much giving as possible for #GivingTuesdayIndia, we opened up the platform to NGOs on a platform.
temporary basis and onboarded 11 Gold and Platinum GuideStar India certified NGOs for a week so they could Aditi P. Kaur, President
participate in #GivingTuesdayIndia. Plus, we topped up by 20% upto ₹1,000 every donation received on the day Meghna Nayak, donor,
Mountain Children’s
and till Oct 8. This was a huge success, and we collectively raised ₹504,030 over six days, of which ₹182,688 was Kolkata
Foundation, Dehradun
raised on #GivingTuesdayIndia alone!

4 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 5

Highlights of the Year February 2018/March 2018
#UntaxYourGiving
Campaign
February 2018 We launched the
#UntaxYourGiving campaign
You spoke, we listened!
for donors to avail of the
We welcomed nine new NGOs on our platform in last-minute tax-saving
February, reached out to 245 others, and published opportunity at the end of
10 new Fundraisers. the tax year. To encourage
We also conducted a Small Change supporter survey participation, we boosted
and learned that our donors want more visibility on every donation made by 20%
how donations are being used. So we listened! At (up to a maximum ₹1,000)
the bottom of our Home Page, we now have Impact for the six-week period from
Updates on how funds raised through various February 17 to March 31 -
Fundraisers have been utilised. and raised ₹6,49,430!

what would make you want to

donate more on Small Change?
Better online For tax benefits
payment 10%
experience
with more Other
payment 20%
methods like
mobile wallets
2%

Reminders
on special
occasions like Provide more
birthdays and visbility to how
anniversaries my donation
14% is being used
54%

Small Change
has helped Shiksha
communicate the impact It was wonderful working with Small Change.
of our grassroots level work. They are a fabulous team of enthusiastic,
More than just raising funds, helpful and driven individuals. Our first ever
they have mobilised support crowdfunding campaign was on Small Change
for our cause. and we are happy to say that it was a great
success! Thank you!
Udai Malhotra, Trustee
Shiksha, Gurgaon Geetanjali Joshi, Head of Operations
ReReeti Foundation, Bengaluru

6 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 7

 Success Stories
Nothing can 450 children in Our first
stop them now! slums wedding
immunised fundraiser!

Long distances to school

and the risks that poses to
personal safety are major
barriers to education young
girls face - often leading
Mountain kids fighting climate change to them dropping out and
Climate change is clearly a cause close to our donors’ hearts if one of our most popular fundraisers is getting married young.
anything to go by. To prevent this fate, our
partner NGO, Institute of
Mountain Children’s Foundation (MCF), who empower young people to create positive change in
Health Management Pachod
their communities, are based in Uttarakhand. This region has been facing disastrous climatic events
launched a fundraiser to
such as flash floods and landslides in the last few years which, many say, are a result of unsustainable
Gift Cycles to Keep Girls
urbanisation.
in School which raised
MCF ran a fundraiser in July to Equip Children To Fight Climate Change and finding solutions against it ₹1,00,653.
to protect their futures. The funds raised from 32 donors helped in implementing the Climate Education
This important and worthy
for Adaptation programme in four villages.
cause has been one of the
most popular fundraisers
this year which 27 generous
donors supported. Thanks
to them, 25 cycles have been
distributed to 25 adolescent
girls who will no longer need
to drop out!
Early vaccination against
life-threatening diseases
keep children and
communities healthy. Our
partner NGO Calcutta
Rescue identified six Kolkata
slums with dangerously
low immunisation rates
to run drives to inoculate
its children - and set up a
campaign on our platform
to fund it. The fundraiser
achieved 100% of its target
- we couldn’t have done it
without the full support of
the Calcutta Rescue team
- and 450 kids were given
their jabs and the chance for
a healthier future.
Even before the online
launch of our Wedding
Fundraiser feature, Srikanth
and Mona celebrated their
union by giving back. They
collected a pot of donations
from their wedding guests
and gave it to Pardada
Pardadi Educational
Society’s fundraiser for
Desks To Get School Girls
Off Floor. Their generous
contribution was added to
the fundraiser, which raised
₹49,000 in total, enough
for 25 desks with attached
benches, improving comfort
and learning experiences
of 75 schoolgirls in U.P’s
Anupshahr.

Small Change has been a great partner for Medha in our fundraising efforts.
We have hosted a few campaigns for our Alumni Learning Journey and have
been very pleased with the response. Unlike other platforms, Small Change has
gone above and beyond to help us promote the fundraiser by connecting us to
social media influencers and corporate CSR heads. Highly recommend them!
Christopher Turillo, Co-Founder, Medha, Lucknow

8 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 9

Winning posts
Our blog, The Small Print, has THE SMALL PRINT STATS Visits: 436,981
really gathered pace! Between its
launch in January 2017 and the APRIL 2017 - MARCH 2018 Visitors: 60,910
end of this financial year it has had
67,000 unique visitors check out
our weekly Thursday read.
With our focus firmly on
and satirist Shovon Chowdhury, among others.
philanthropy, the development
sector and all aspects of social change, we have Some of our popular articles were about exploring
been proud to publish posts from some top-notch the lesser known ‘giving’ sides of well-known
writers. These include ‘Who Are We To Decide celebrities such as British singer George Michael
Who Deserves Charity?’ by Reader’s Digest editor and American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and
Sanghamitra Chakraborty, ‘Why You’re Unlikely bringing to focus unusual anecdotes on change-
To Notice The Less Affluent’ by author and keynote makers such as Dream A Dream founder Vishal
speaker Abhijit Bhaduri, and ‘Why You Should Talreja and Daily Dump’s chief Poonam Bir Kasturi.
Hand Over All Your Money Right Now’ by author
Watch this space!

Success Stories

I love the blog and

social media feed, as it
constantly reminds me not
to be indifferent to the world
around me. In a hostile
world, Small Change gives
me hope.
Chirag Malkani, volunteer,
Bengaluru
10 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 11
Figuratively Speaking
“Small Change is an absolutely genuine and trustworthy Insights from
organisation that is doing praiseworthy work to bring Supporter
about real change in the way donations and fundraising Survey
are looked at and managed in India.”
Parikshit Dalal, donor, Bengaluru

Small Change subscribers - by age How did you come to know of Small Change?

55+
8% Other Social network
16% 20%

18-34
41%

Through an
NGO I am
35-54 associated
51% with
16%
Through
friends
and family
42% Through an NGO
who was running
a campaign on
Small Change
6%

Small Change DONORS - by age what made you donate on Small Change?

Other I believe in
55+ 13% Small Change
8% and trust the
Wanted to NGOs on their
donate on a platfrom
special event 34%
(birthday,
18-34 anniversary,
35-54
33% in memory of Found the
59%
someone) right cause
3% I wanted to
donate to and
hence made
Found the the donation
NGO I trust and 32%
donated for the
active campaign
of that NGO
18%

12 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 13

Numbers at a Glance

7,178 10,472,511 44 18 ₹1,912,414 621 53% 42

Causes
Direct beneficiaries % of donations from Number of
Beneficiaries of our NGOs Fundraisers donations were Donation amount raised Donors
of our Fundraisers repeat donors NGO partners
made to

It was a great learning

experience to be part of
Small Change as an intern
as we got the opportunity to
work on Google analytics and do
market research. We are grateful
to the team for sharing industry
insights with us.
Mohit Juthani, intern, Narsee Monjee
Institute of Management Studies,
Bengaluru

Small Change has certainly

increased our impact. The set up and
on-boarding were pretty straightforward.
It was nice to know we could call with
any questions we had. Our bicycle campaign
helped adolescent girls in continuing their higher
education and it was great, with nearly three times
the usual response with online donations! Small
Change helped us run the whole thing. Small Change’s
services ‘professionalised’ our fundraising. It made
giving easier for donors. We know that with help
of Small Change, we’re not just going to have
good campaigns — we’re going to have the best
campaigns.
Priyal Dholepatil, Communication and Fundraising
Officer, Institute of Health Management
Pachod, Pune

14 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 15

Our Partners
Financial assistance for
Aatmaja Foundation disadvantaged girls towards their
education and career.
Empowering sex-workers and
AAWC providing welfare for their children.
Free student hostels and quality
AIM For Seva education for tribal and rural
children.
Arasan Rural Empowering the elderly,
Development marginalised women and children in
Society rural Tamil Nadu.
Providing education and a loving
Baale Mane Trust home for orphaned and abandoned
girls.
Bridging the educational gap by
Bhumi mentoring children in low-income
group schools.
Providing healthcare and education
Calcutta Rescue for slum communities in Kolkata.
Free primary healthcare centres for
Chikitsa Trust the urban poor of Delhi.
Education, nutrition and health for
CINI underprivileged mothers and their
children.
Addressing poverty and hunger
CYSD in tribal and rural communities of
Odisha.
Documenting and disseminating
Daricha knowledge on dying folk and tribal
art forms.
Using empathy to impart life skills
Dream A Dream to youth from slums and migrant
families.
Dream Girl Empowering underprivileged girls
Foundation through quality education
Fight Hunger Fighting child hunger and severe
Foundation acute malnutrition in India.
Securing freedom from
Freedom For You marginalisation for the most
underprivileged communities.
Helping school dropouts from low-
IDEA Foundation income families to resume their
education.
Institute of Health Preventing early marriage and
Management motherhood with health and
Pachod educational services.
Supporting rights of the girl child and
iPartner India preventing human-trafficking.
Empowering manual scavengers
Jan Sahas to secure justice and dignity for
themselves.
Skills development and employment
KIDS support for the elderly and disabled.
Bridging the gap between education
Medha and employment through skills
training.
16 SMALL change
Our Team
Free cleft surgeries for children Sara Adhikari, Managing Trustee
Mission Smile whose poor families cannot afford
the costs. Sara, a.k.a. Shagorika McManus, is an old hack. After working for almost 30 years
Empowering children to transform with publications such as The Times of India, Khaleej Times and The Sun, UK, she
Mountain Children’s the mountain communities to which
Foundation they belong. returned to India with the idea of Small Change and using her journalistic skills for
Career training for disadvantaged social good. She is an impatient workaholic, wastes too much time on details and has
New Resolution
India
youth unprepared for life after the become a real bore. All she talks about is: Small Change.
classroom.
Combating female illiteracy in rural
Pardada Pardadi India by providing education and
Educational Society more. Subir Das, Trustee
Harnessing the power of play to
Project KHEL educate young, disadvantaged Subir is a chartered accountant with over 30 years experience, was the CEO of a large
children. plantation firm and is on various company boards, including one that auctions tea. He
Revitalising museums and making
Rereeti started a consultancy business in sustainable energy and, as an expert in risk analysis,
them accessible to all.
has helped in the financial modelling of many renewable energy projects. Subir is a
Skills training to rural youth, and
Saarathi Society self-help groups for labourers and lover of the Bengali ‘adda’ and indulges in it every Sunday.
farmers.
Empowering women and children
Sahyog Care for You with knowledge and education to
ignite change.
Samraksha
Providing palliative care for people
living with HIV in rural Karnataka.
Anindita C. Ray, Trustee
Rescuing runaway railway children Toopsi: Anindita, or Toopsi as she is fondly known, has been in the field of education
SATHI and reuniting them with their
families.
for 40 years. As the Additional Vice Principal of a Kolkata school whose 12,000
students are encouraged to give to those less fortunate and think about how they
Securing a future for children with
Satya Special School intellectual disabilities through can make the world a better place, Toopsi is closely involved in all the outreach
education. programmes...this often means she overstretches herself for those who reach out to her.
Social, economic and legal rights for
SEWA Bharat informal women workers and their
families.
Free educational and vocational
Shreya Talwar, NGO Relations
Shiksha training centres for disadvantaged
children.
Shreya has a Masters degree in Development from the Azim Premji University. Prior
to joining Small Change, she worked in a few social sector organisations and continues
Community development initiatives
to write periodic project reports for some as an independent consultant. Shreya is
Sona Sarovar Trust addressing children’s needs in
Mumbai slums. currently struggling to perfect the art of keeping her houseplants alive and happy.
Holistic care and housing for
St. Jude India families with kids undergoing cancer
treatment.
Rescuing and providing medical care
Thane SPCA to sick and injured animals.
Aisiri Amin, NGO Relations
The Avasar Bridging the gender gap in higher
Foundation education for disadvantaged girls. Aisiri is a multimedia journalist who specialises in gender issues, social justice
Addressing the urban poor’s basic and culture. She holds a Master’s degree from Cardiff University and wrote for
The Credence needs, such as shelter, health and a few newspapers and magazines before finding her way in the social sector.
nutrition.
Co-founder of the blog, INKLINE, Aisiri is a dreamer under the sun, poet under
Dignity and education for rag-pickers
Tiljala SHED and their children in Kolkata.
the stars and lives on books, tea and hope.
Enabling a massive pool of volunteers
U&I
to mentor underprivileged children.
Photographs courtesy: Clare Arni
Providing loving homes and
Udayan Care education for orphaned and
abandoned children.
Special thanks to: Social Alpha,
Liberating women domestic workers
Vizhuthukal Trust and manual scavengers from an initiative of Tata Trusts
exploitation.
ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 17
 Financial Report Financial Report

18 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 19

 Financial Report Financial Report

20 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 21

 Financial Report Financial Report

22 SMALL change ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 23

 Thank you from
our hearts for your
care, determination and
perseverance to support
financially weaker NGOs like ours
who do a lot for society and can
do much more if we have better
financial stability.
Mercy Thomas, Administrator
Kottapuram Integrated
Development Society,
Kottapuram

24 SMALL change
Some causes we support

ANIMALS NEED
HEALTHCARE
TOO
In an urban jungle,
animals are often found
in helpless conditions FREEING DALIT
as a result of accidents,
disease or human cruelty.
WOMEN FROM
Thane SPCA believe no FILTHY JOB
animal should be denied The job of cleaning dry
treatment. Their motto latrines of human excreta
Rescue-Rehab-Release is a discriminatory, caste-
puts into perspective the based practice prevalent
work they do – rescue throughout rural and
animals from danger semi-urban India. Manual
by attending all calls of scavengers, 95% of whom
distress in and around are Dalit women, are
Thane, and then taking paid next to nothing and
care of them until they vulnerable to violence
are strong again. and eviction from the
community if they quit.
Jan Sahas counsel them,
make them aware of
alternative livelihoods
and help them give up
this filthy occupation.
 Admin office
c/o Social Alpha, 3, 14th Main Road, HSR Layout Sector 5,
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102
Regd office
Fort Lake 4th floor, 39A Lake Avenue,
Kolkata 700 026

contact@smallchange.ngo; +91 98301 16950

https://www.smallchange.ngo/