Kunal K Kapoor: A lot more younger people are giving now

Kunal K Kapoor has seen crowdfunding go from something most Indians barely understood to a familiar way of raising money during a medical emergency. But one of the biggest changes he has noticed over the years isn't just technological — it is generational. Younger Indians, particularly Gen Z, are increasingly willing to donate, raise funds and support causes they believe in. And unlike earlier generations, they are not necessarily willing to give without asking questions.“A lot more younger people are giving now. And that's great because also younger people are not only giving but they also ask a lot more questions. That's a good thing to have. What you're trying to build is authenticity and transparency. The more questions you're asked, the better it is for the whole ecosystem,” says Kapoor, who co-founded Ketto in 2012.For him, that willingness to question is a sign that digital giving is maturing. When Ketto started, the concept itself needed explaining. Kapoor, along with Varun and Zaheer, had been working with NGOs and noticed how much traditional fundraising depended on offline networks. “Most of the fundraising happened offline, which meant that a large percentage of the money was going to people that were raising it for you. So sometimes 60-65 per cent of the money was being taken by people that raised the money and only 35 per cent was going to the NGO. So we felt like that was a bit unfair.”The other problem was more basic: people who wanted to help often had no idea how to find people who needed help. Technology offered a way to connect the two. “There were so many people that wanted to help, so many people that needed helping and these people weren't coming together. We felt like if we could use our interest in technology to build a bridge between these two people, it would be something powerful.”The pandemic accelerated the shift. People who had never donated before suddenly wanted to do something, and digital platforms made that possible. Kapoor remembers a particularly striking example — a friend's 10-year-old daughter who was watching the migrant crisis on television and told her father she didn't want to simply watch. She wanted to help. She eventually started a fundraiser and raised money for food and supplies. “I think the desire has always been there. The means haven't been there. And I think what we did was really just provide the means,” he says, as she gears up for MetaGo, Ketto's new metabolic-health venture. “We were meeting people in year 15 whereas we should have been meeting them in year one so that we never had this crisis or emergency,” he says pointing at welcoming technology to make help more accessible, only this time, before the crisis arrives.