THE BACKDROP
India has the highest number of premature births in the world! There are several unique problems that babies are prone to. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one such problem and is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children worldwide. If untreated or treated late, it results in blindness in 50% of the cases.
PREMATURE BIRTHS IN INDIA = 3.6 MN CHILDREN EVERY YEAR.
WHAT IS ROP (RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY)?
It's an issue that premature babies face that can lead to blindness.
Currently, India is facing what is called the third epidemic of ROP in the world, with India contributing to a major part of the disease burden worldwide.
Private hospitals charge INR 20000 and upwards for surgery. Radhatri Nethralaya, a charity hospital in Chennai provides these surgeries at a much lower cost of INR 10000.
Unfortunately, a lot of families cannot afford the surgery even at this reduced cost.
THE INITIATIVE
Project Balanethra is an initiative of the Radhatri Nethralaya Hospital in Chennai under the aegis of its public charitable trust Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation. This initiative aims to ensure that no baby loses his/her vision due to a lack of funds to do an ROP surgery.
This campaign focuses on supporting the surgeries of these children from low-income homes.
Read the story of Rachael below. You can transform lives like this.
The money raised will be used to provide Laser surgeries for children who are mainly from rural Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
IF YOU FUND,
INR 10000, you impact one child.
INR 20000, you impact two children.
INR 40000, you impact four children.
All funding has 80G tax benefits.
ABOUT ME
My name is Swarnalatha Jothikumar . I am a concerned citizen.
Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is one of the major causes of childhood blindness. I really cannot imagine what it is to go blind at a very young age. That sounds terrible and traumatic.
Luckily it can be treated. However, those in villages and from low-income homes often cannot afford surgery or do not realize that their child has a problem. The folks at Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation regularly do eye camps to identify this problem. The fact that an amount of just INR 10000 can make a difference in the life of someone and give them back their sight made me realize that I must do something to help.
Laser surgeries not just restore the vision of a child but literally gives them a fresh lease on life. I strongly believe that we can help those who are needy and in the process, transform their lives.
Please support my campaign and let us together bring light into the lives of these children. I would like to raise much more than my goal and help more children see again. The Gift of Sight is the Gift of Life truly.
MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF BENEFICIARIES
ABOUT THE HOSPITAL
Radhatri Nethralaya, a Chennai-based tertiary eye hospital, launched its charitable trust Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation (GVRF), on the occasion of its first anniversary on September 13, 2009. The trust was started with the ardent hope of eliminating the principal causes of needless blindness. The trust has made provisions for free screening and treatment of infants with ROP belonging to the lower strata of society.
The trust also proposes to ensure lifelong free eye treatment for children belonging to orphanages as well as mentally challenged children. One of the long-term goals of the trust is to further combat the menace of ROP by screening infants in hitherto unscreened rural areas in Tamil Nadu. This has been made possible with the recent procurement of the Neo Retcam, a wide-field digital portable imaging camera, and using Tele-Ophthalmology to identify babies with ROP in the remote villages of Tamil Nadu.
TAX BENEFITS
Funding for this campaign is eligible for tax breaks as Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation is a registered NGO and you can avail of benefits under section 80G of IT act.
FEEDBACK
To ensure that there is complete transparency I shall get a report from NGO (this takes between 2 to 4 months usually after the funds are raised and transferred to them) telling me who benefitted from the funding. The details will then be posted in the UPDATES section of my campaign. As soon as I post an update, the platform will send an EMAIL alert to all the funders - i.e. to you. Click on the link in the email and you can read about who benefitted. That's transparent right?
The below image is an example of the FEEDBACK FORMAT that we will be shared with all my funders.
FAQs
Will we get to know the details of who benefitted?
Yes. After the money has been collected it will be transferred by Fueladream to Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation. They will update you on the details of how the money was spent as soon as possible. Once we get this information we shall upload a report on the UPDATES section of this campaign. You will then get an alert and can read details about where the money is being spent.
When do I get the receipts?
The receipts will start getting processed about 4 to 6 weeks AFTER the campaign is closed and will be sent to you directly.
How can we fund this campaign with a Cheque?
Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd account details are as below:
BANK NAME: HDFC Bank Limited.
BRANCH: Koramangala( Main Branch). City: Bengaluru - 560095.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 50200013106778
IFSC CODE: HDFC0000053
Please draw a cheque in favor of "Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd", and deposit the cheque into the Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank account (any branch across INDIA). After you deposit the cheque, please send an email to prasad@fueladream.com AND getintouch@fueladream.com with the following funder information.
1) Name of Funder:
2) Full address with Pin code:
3) Telephone/Mobile no and Email ID:
4) PAN of funder:
5) Cheque number:
6) Amount funded:
7) Whose campaign are you funding. (Name of the person OR campaign number/ID):
After the funds are received and the above details are verified, the fund amount will be transferred to the respective campaign. This can take from 1-3 working days.
How does crowdfunding work?
Crowdfunding in India is a relatively new concept and is growing very quickly.
It’s a concept that allows a large number of funders (like you) to fund an idea or a cause or event by giving small amounts of money online. Fueladream.com is a crowdfunding platform in India that allows for such pooling of funds. You can fund innovations and ideas on FuelADream and be the first to get these products or make them come true. You can also do a good turn by funding charities and causes through crowdfunding.
