Sonika always used to tell her mom that “I want to do something for society”, especially for the underprivileged children who are trying to survive in the shantytowns. Coming from a middle-class family, she lived a fulfilling independent life with her corporate job and traveled to countries.
Born and brought up in Chandigarh, Sonika Gahlot completed her MBA from Pune. She always believed in simplicity, compassion, and hard work. After her nuptial-life, she moved to Bengaluru in 2017. In the meantime, she was looking for some NGOs nearby to her house to donate clothes, but unfortunately, there were very limited resources to search for.
“Most of the time, their contacts never worked. Sometimes, certain NGOs didn’t even exist physically when I visited there”, said Sonika, and that surprised her. That’s when the idea of HappieeSouls was born.
Speaking to LifeBeyondNumbers, Sonika looks back at how it all started and the kind of impact HappieeSouls is making, shares the current challenges and the road ahead.
HappieeSouls – the beginning
‘HappieeSouls’ is an online platform to donate in-kind to local grassroots NGOs. The donations in kind can be old unwanted household items or supplies like groceries, stationery that NGOs need. The main motto of the startup is to create a sustainable lifestyle as a culture across India and make a difference in the ecosystem.
Before she laid the foundation stone for HappieeSouls, she had done her own research.
“I myself visited more than 100+ NGOs within Bengaluru to understand the challenges they face. The local grassroots NGOs struggle to get funds. Some of them were unable to raise funds for their daily expenses and maintenance. So, they preferred to accept donations in cash-mode only”, says Sonika.
With the advancement of technology and access to multiple delivery platforms online, Sonika believed that this has to change. “All I needed to do was bring the ecosystem of donors across the country and NGOs closer to each other”, and that’s how she fixed the common loophole for millions of NGOs through her not-for-profit startup, ‘HappieeSouls’.
How does it work?
Now with the rise of online shopping, our houses today are cluttered with unwanted goods, ranging from clothes, toys, furniture, books, and utensils. Happieesouls picks up these unused, unwanted goods and delivers them directly to the NGO of your choice. The customers also get real-time updates and confirmation of their delivery to NGOs.
She further added, “I feel this can be avoided at the very first stage when the donor knows what they are donating. Most importantly, the donor needs to get away with the thought of considering declutter as a slag of the heap but as a luxury to less fortunate ones.” Hence, HappieeSouls listed the products on their website to make sure customers have no qualms about what they are donating.
As the concept of HappieeSouls is to connect the appropriate NGO who’s in need of support, each NGO gets a dashboard to list their requirements. Users on HappieeSouls can check, search, and discover these NGOs and donate the right supplies they need at the right time. Thereby ensuring transparency, sustainability, and creating maximum impact.
Digitizing and doorstep pickup
Considering the busy life of millennials and social distancing as the new norm due to the COVID-19, they started a doorstep pickup facility, where individuals can donate from the safety of their homes and get it delivered directly to their NGO partners who are in need.
They are making all these happen via digital media, where an individual can directly select the quantity they are donating gender-wise based on their age groups. An individual can donate utensils, books, toys, furniture, and medical supplies as well on this platform.
“We have a network of 300+ grassroots NGOs in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, and Kolkata. We deliver the right supplies to our NGO partners so that it is maximumly recycled and reused, hence ensuring sustainability”, avers Sonika.
Started as a search and discovery platform for the grassroots level NGOs at once, today, it lists verified orphanages, old age homes, animal shelter homes, and schools for the underprivileged. Also, the platform is absolutely free for NGOs who accept donations of in-kind supplies.
So far, they have delivered more than 15,000 items, such as clothing for men, women, and kids, Books, Furniture (beds, study tables, almirahs), ACs, Refrigerators, Wheelchairs, Nebuliser, and many medical supplies as well to their 70+ NGO partners impacting 7000+ Lives across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
They will be soon launching their services in Pune. “We keep getting requirements from Kolkata, Nasik, and Jaipur. We have provided more than 50,000 ration kits, sanitary napkins, and groceries to many of our NGO partners in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad”, professed Sonika.
“Doorstep pick up is the need of the hour even in Tier 2 cities now from where we keep getting requests”, added Sonika. Even post-pandemic, they decided to continue with their doorstep pick-up services. “We get more than 200 pick-up requests every month and the demand keeps growing. And people can’t stop shopping even post-pandemic. So, we all need to declutter once in a quarter to live a sustainable lifestyle”.
Challenges to deal
However, to run the operations for any startup, they need money or funding in the initial stages. When asked the same to Sonika, she swiftly replied, “Happieesouls is currently bootstrapped by me and I have a team of wonderful women interns who support me with website maintenance, daily operations, and social media marketing. It is challenging to meet financials as we need to improve our product and reach more audiences to scale.”
Moreover, she also mentioned that there is a monthly cost involved in website maintenance, daily operations, and managing the team. “We currently face a monetary challenge where we need partners and funds to be able to scale our operations across more cities in the country and make a difference to the NGOs in need and be able to make a bigger difference.”
Some of the other challenges include managing logistics, making free pickups happen smoothly, and transparency. “We face challenges frequently but we come up with a solution and that’s what keeps us moving forward. There is no looking back”, asserts Sonika.
Memorable moments
“Every day we are partnering with NGOs and enterprises who are also into upcycling and work for the upliftment of underprivileged women”, and overall, extremely positive feedback from all the NGOs and customers says Sonika. To date, Happieesouls has enabled over 700 customers to donate over 15,000 pieces of masks, apparel, utensils, stationery, and a variety of other supplies.
Kids at our partner NGO @khushirainbowhomes received Guitar and clothes in donation from one of our donor and they can’t…
Posted by HappieeSouls on Thursday, March 18, 2021
Sonika also avows that some of their customers have donated their furniture, study tables, cupboards, beds, and sofas. “These goods are considered as luxury goods for smaller-scale NGOs and enable them to operate more efficiently and help more underprivileged people.”
The power of “giving” has a huge impact on our society and as a country with over 1.4B citizens, we can move towards a more sustainable future, where we recycle, reuse and help each other live a more holistic and fulfilling life.
What’s next?
More than 100 NGOs have benefitted from HappieeSouls by receiving supplies either old goods or supplies via the bucket list. Happieesoul’s motto and the aim are to create a sustainable lifestyle as a culture across India.
Sonika concludes by saying, “We are in the process of partnering with new-age companies and social impact businesses who enable recycling and upcycling of second-hand goods. We aim to expand our business model in the Reuse-Recycle-Donate space, by supporting NGOs with the right supplies and encouraging more large-scale companies to move towards sustainable business models.”