PitchIn Club: A platform where people can volunteer their time for a one-on-one meeting, and while doing so can contribute to a charity of their choice.

People feel that they’re productive when they uplift other people directly or indirectly and indeed; in the process find the much needed motivation and inspiration to help themselves as well. Large numbers of people are still currently facing the hardships caused by the health and economic downfall among large parts of India’s communities. As a society, India has faced many crises since its independence and the current one is surely one of its worst. As always, India’s people have risen to the occasion to complement the efforts of multiple NGOs who’re on the ground, frontline healthcare workers and state and central governments.

A collective effort towards a common cause has always been the hallmark of many social, cultural and political movements over the course of hundreds of years; yet this time being a part of a collective effort is about safeguarding humans from one of nature’s creations; rather than any ideology or particular or community. Therefore, day to day differences ought to be ironed out and egos nipped in the bud because when death stares at one in the face; such differences seem trivial. Today, at Bangalore Insider we spoke to Riddhi Khanna and Rhea Karuturi, the founders of Pitchin Club who have created their own way of raising funds for the relief effort in addition to bringing together people over 1 on 1 conversation as a networking and social platform. Below are the excerpts from our interaction.

Do you manually arrange the 1 to 1 meetings between the people? How does it work?

We are a tech platform so this is automated. People come on the platform and search for a conversation topic or mentor who interests them and can book the session by the click of a button. Once they upload a screenshot of their donation the platform connects them automatically.

Why did you decide to combine networking and covid relief together? Was the rationale like saying that covid is bringing together many people together?

We felt that everyone wants to do something to help, but may no have the skills that directly translate into being a front line worker or may be too far to do anything on the ground. Not only does this give people the ability to help whilst also talking about what they do best but also, we felt by meeting new people – whether for professional networking or for a fun conversation about an interest/passion would be a bright spot in people’s day and uplift them.

We firmly believe that we are offering two services – the first being enabling people to fundraise more for covid relief and the second and as important, is connecting people to have meaning conversations with interesting people.

How do you plan to keep the momentum in sign-ups going?

Our biggest driver has been the community – we believe when we offer a meaningful and special service to people by enabling their fundraisers and connecting them to people, they will become our ambassadors to bring their communities into our platform.

How many organizations have you partnered with so far?

We don’t directly partner with organisations. The people volunteering their time also set a fundraising goal and the organisations they want to raise for – so they are choosing which organisations the money goes to. So far over 10 different organisations have gotten donations through our platform.

What’s the kind of impact that Pitchin Club aims to create? Is there a unique point in the networking aspect? Or is it purely about the money raised?

Our goal for the impact we want to create has always been two fold, the first being the impact of the conversation on both sides. We want our users to feel like they got something out of it and that their time was used in a meaningful way. We also want to have an impact on our community around us and donations help drive that. We strive to impact not just the lives of our members through conversations but also those around us that need support through our donations.

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