A rupee, for most of us, is insignificant. But for Delhi-based Tarun Bharadwaj and Arvind Vats, every rupee matters. On a mission to prove the world wrong by raising funds through Facebook, one rupee at a time, they have shown that philanthropy can come in small doses and make a big impact. And that's how One Rupee Foundation began three years ago. How it works is quite simple. And ingenious. The team identifies genuine causes that people need money for — a surgery, a deserving student's education expenses — and they post the fundraising goal. Anyone who'd like to contribute can just do their bit by donating one rupee. And you can do it through pretty much any online payment gateway.
Tarun explains how the idea of what they could achieve if everyone pitched in one solitary rupee every day, drove them to start this project, "In a world where people think that only big money can create a change, we prove that with just a rupee we can create a greater change. We had this the idea that none of us is stronger than all of us, which meant if each of us can provide one rupee a day, it would help for a good cause." All of them are engineers who run this page on Facebook during their free time, "Our first initiative was a tree plantation. This event helped us develop contacts through social media pages. Most of us are engineers and work for different organisations and we all come together for a cause and do it under the name One Rupee Foundation". This foundation aims to fulfil the basic needs of people, protect the environment and spread awareness among people. Help for an absolute cause is never overlooked. He says, "We are charitable to anyone who has a genuine reason. It does not fit any specific group of people. We donate clothes, masks for rickshaw pullers and roadside vendors, conduct health awareness camps for kids, provide gloves to roadside vendors, donate books and do a lot more".
Anyone who's interested can volunteer with them by just pinging them on their Facebook page. He adds, "We have created an open platform for anyone who wants to help the needy. We provide our volunteers with the required assistance. We also want our volunteers to actively participate in all of our initiatives". All their fundraisers are hosted and run only through social media. “We connect to people from all over the country only through social websites and do not spend on digital advertising. When people are informed of the work that we do they are willing to help us in the cause. Our main aim is to pool in people who can help in the welfare of the truly needy," he says.
But how did this idea come to Tarun? He reveals, "In 2014-15, I was appearing for an interview for the post of defence officer in the Air Force Selection Board, Gujarat. The interviewer asked me why I wanted to join the Forces. I replied that I wanted to serve my motherland this way. He further questioned me about what I had done until then. This got me thinking about what difference I can make to my surroundings. But as a separate individual, I couldn't fund the entire initiative myself. I told my friend Arvind my idea and he loved it. He propagated it among his friends in college and it was a spark that grew into something huge".
Once they'd seen how many people were interested in contributing when the sum was as small as they'd asked for, they realised that they could scale up the range of projects they had in mind. He says, "We want to focus on things that can create a bigger impact in the lives of the children. Recently we constructed a football field in a village. We are also planning on building a community centre, first in Delhi, which will help kids improve their skills free of cost. We would also like to see this as a platform for senior citizens to work after retirement".
