ImpactGuru In The New York Times

ImpactGuru has reinvented a more intricate language of crowdfunding, one that spoke to and united 20+ lakh (2 MN) changemakers in supporting causes belonging to quality medical care, societal upliftment, women empowerment, elderly care, animal welfare and more. This powerful language of crowdfunding has and continues to unite diverse people and communities on our platform, at a time when affordable healthcare is the need of the hour. This need was recognised as early as 2014 by the founders of ImpactGuru. CEO and co-founder, Piyush Jain, a Harvard and Wharton Business School alumni and COO, Khushboo Jain,  alumni of London College Of Fashion and Parsons School of Design in New York, realized that India needs a way to bridge the gap between several causes and the donors who are willing to help. 

ImpactGuru’s SMA journey

We led the momentum of medical fundraising with India’s well-known publications such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, CNBC and many more covering ImpactGuru’s live legacy. The last few years saw a rise in crowdfunding activities across the country with donations almost doubling as compared to pre-Covid days. On ImpactGuru, we observed and channeled this power up close by raising approximately ₹16 Crores ($2.1 MN) each for four babies diagnosed with one of the rarest diseases known to mankind - Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)! 

ImpactGuru, India’s leading integrated healthcare financing platform, raised ₹125+ crore through 1200+ crowdfunding campaigns in 14 months, i.e between January 2021 and February 2022, on its platform for patients fighting rare diseases, including Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA Type 1 and 2), Gaucher disease, Pompe disease, rare forms of cancer and others. Through the power of our state-of-the-art crowdfunding platform, we have had record-breaking successful fundraisers to cover the cost of gene replacement therapy for not just one but 4 children diagnosed with SMA. 

Our efforts to fund the world’s costliest treatment for baby Ayaansh Gupta moved many, garnering abundant media support and celebrity appeals which eventually helped the little one’s fundraiser raise close to ₹16 Crores ($2.1 MN)! Meanwhile, Baby Teera’s SMA campaign made history as Prime Minister Narendra Modi waived off  ₹6.5 Crores in customs for the rare disease’s treatment. Stories of ImpactGuru’s efforts have transcended boundaries with coverage in The New York Times post. 

With a $2.1 Million Cure Their Only Hope, Parents Plead for Help Online 

Key Achievements Around Rare Disease Crowdfunding On ImpactGuru

• Hosted 1200+ rare disease crowdfunding campaigns in 14 months

• Over 1,200,000 Donors came together to support patients fighting rare diseases

• Recorded one donation per second at its peak

• QR Code printed on T-Shirts, the innovative practice adopted for raising donations

• Paytm and Google Pay were observed as the most-preferred payment methods for donations 

• The maximum number of donations came from the age group between 25 to 45

In The New York Times Article 

As reported by The New York Post, ImpactGuru’s continuous endeavour of fighting SMA in association with CureSMA India is now witnessed by global publications. We are extremely happy to share that some of the SMA related fundraisers running on the ImpactGuru platform have been featured for the first time in The New York Times article that is focusing on raising awareness of SMA cases in India. This is a testament to the ImpactGuru team’s sheer determination and dedication to help and save lives every day! We are grateful that patients trust us to help finance their medical expenses and are thankful to our partner CureSMA Foundation India for the constant support to help rare disease patients. 

The need for crowdfunding was realized while Piyush Jain was still pursuing his higher education. After his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania - Wharton Business School, he pursued his career as an investment banker at J. P. Morgan in New York, Hong Kong, and London focusing on M&A in financial institutions and technology sectors. He soon recognized his interest in utilizing his financial skill sets as a social entrepreneur. He pursued his Master’s degree at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and co-authored a research paper at Harvard Business School on new ways to finance entrepreneurial ventures and learned about the concept of crowdfunding. ImpactGuru.com has helped over 25,000 patients, overall impacted 1 million+ lives with its global partners for varied causes with donations coming in nationally and globally. He has also completed his graduate course in Developing Economics from Standford University Graduate School of Business. Our founder’s exposure to global cultures led the momentum of innovation and technology at ImpactGuru. 

Incubated at the Harvard Innovation Lab, USA and PACT Incubator, Singapore in 2014, ImpactGuru started with the vision of promoting universal healthcare and has continued to learn and grow since. Our inspired and passionate board members have one thing in common - an unshakeable faith in the intuitive desire and ability present within every individual to make a difference. We want to give people a platform through which they can ensure accessibility and affordability of the best possible healthcare for every single individual who needs it. We envision an India, where everyone, independent of their financial background, can avail of quality secondary and tertiary healthcare, especially in case of a medical emergency or life-threatening illness. 

It is crowdfunding platforms like ImpactGuru along with its collaboration with CureSMA (a parent led advocacy group) that is bringing patients like baby Khyati a step closer to Zolgensma and a bright future. Otherwise, the cost of such a treatment is exorbitant even for parents who are well established financially, let alone for someone with limited resources. 

So far, ImpactGuru has hosted more than 1200 rare disease campaigns, only made possible with the driven support and love of an inspired community that is committed to making the world a better place. It truly humbles us to witness the success of multiple rare disease campaigns that translated into hope and new beginnings for patients and their families. Crowdfunding, in many ways, has changed people’s belief that no matter the cost, they are not alone in this fight against rare diseases. After all, that is why ImpactGuru was born - to steer the power of people, into making the difference of a lifetime.

As we move forward, we hope to continue transforming more lives affected with rare diseases while relentlessly pursuing our vision of making healthcare accessible and affordable for each and every patient in India.

Read the full article here - 

With a $2.1 Million Cure Their Only Hope, Parents Plead for Help Online