Charity is a noble deed, but making it fashionable is its online avatar. Social networking games and CSR initiatives are getting the young Internet addict to contribute to a social cause.
One such fun and imaginative attempt to take social responsibility to an individual level is Karma Kingdom, a game on a social networking sites. It challenges players to create a healthy society— an attempt to connect beneficial actions in the game with real world causes. “This is a faster and better way. Anyone, from any part of the world to contribute,” says Ashok Desai, CEO, Asvathaa, the team behind Karma Kingdom. Once a player is aware of the cause, he can buy the apps to play further and part of the payment is contributed to the organisation that partners with Karma Kingdom.
Similar to Karma Kingdom’s initiative, Harsh Dhoot, a young marketing professional residing in Dubai, decided to ‘connect’ with her friends for the cause of kids in Somalia. After a series of emails and status messages on social sites, Harsh has managed to collect `10,000 plus from her friends in India. “Initially, it was difficult but today, not just friends, anonymous individuals have started transferring money online,” says Harsh. But what motivated the contributors was Harsh’s innovative idea of saving. “The amount she requested us to save was `5 per day and that motivated us a lot,” says George, a sales professional. Their contribution will be given to UNICEF.
Taking a cue from online networking, India Foundation For the Arts (IFA) has started the Gift a Friend of IFA (FIFA) initiative, one can make a contribution to various forms of art.
“A person can gift a friend with FIFA to support artists across the country,” says Menaka Rodriguez from IFA.