According to Sarang Bobade, Co-Founder & CEO at Donatekart, kindness is most powerful when it’s put into action.
Early on, this social entrepreneur realised that you cannot hope to change the world unless you step out of your comfort zone. And from that noble thought, Donatekart, one of India’s leading crowdfunding platforms that raises donations in kind, took shape.
While Sarang credits many mentors whose lives inspired the Donatekart idea, the most instrumental among them was Baba Amte.
He explains, “I grew up in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. Most of my summer vacations were spent in my village, Chandankheda. Growing up in a village shows you the realities that exist on the ground.”
The state’s Vidarbha belt, in particular, is home to various tribes; healthcare, access to resources, and urban luxuries are a distant dream in most of these pockets. But, as Sarang was quick to note, where there are challenges, there are bound to be changemakers.
Donatekart has more than 10,000 NGO partners across India.
“The region has been home to so many revolutionaries who’ve worked for the communities here,” he shares, going on to cite the examples of Dr Abhay and Rani Bang, who revolutionised rural healthcare in Gadchiroli, Padma Shri Sindhutai Sapkal who raised orphaned children, and Baba Amte (Murlidhar Devidas Amte) who started Anandwan, a self-sustaining community for leprosy patients and the physically disabled.
And in Baba Amte, Sarang found his hero.
When greatness inspires greatness
When Sarang was in Class 8, Baba Amte passed away. This was in 2008.
Sarang’s father told him a story. In the 1940s, people who had leprosy were treated as outcasts. There was a social stigma around them. In a bid to truly understand the pain that these people went through, Baba Amte injected himself with the bacilli under medical supervision. This also enabled him to dispel the stigma and prove that leprosy was not highly contagious. “My father told me that Baba Amte believed that you can’t find a solution to a problem unless you see the problem from close quarters,” Sarang shares.
It’s a lesson Baba Amte would often share with Sarang’s father, who would join him on a morning walk while studying at the Anandwan ashram(shelter home) that Baba Amte had started in Warora, Chandrapur.
As Sarang reasons, “I realised that his [Baba Amte’s] conviction as a social entrepreneur was so high for him that it led him to do this.” This lesson stayed with Sarang.
From raising funds to help treat wild animals to supporting shelter homes, Donatekart has expanded its intent across causes.
“Years later, several stories like these shaped my move into the social impact space. While working with non-profits, I began to see where systems broke down. The turning point came during the 2015 Chennai floods. Donations poured in, but there was a clear disconnect between what people donated and what was actually needed on the ground. That gap led to the creation of Donatekart. We realised that need-based giving was missing,” he shares.
Nearly a decade since that realisation, the numbers tell their own story.
The team at Donatekart.
Today, the platform has clocked Rs 400 crore in goods, has more than 10,000 NGO partners, and has recorded 25 lakh donor transactions. Instead of asking people for open-ended donations, Sarang says, they focus on helping them fund specific, verified needs. “We built the platform to translate intent into action, grounded in empathy but structured through systems. It is essentially the idea of using e-commerce and technology for social good.”
Emphasising that trust is central to Donatekart’s model, Sarang says it’s built through transparency, verification, and clear storytelling. “Early on, we realised people connect most with changemakers like taxi drivers running orphanages and grassroot NGOs, rather than high-profile figures. Instead of making big NGOs bigger, we work with those grassroots organisations whose stories are worth sharing. In the last 10 years, we have filmed close to 3,000-4,000 changemakers across India,” he adds.
‘Profit should be the outcome of the purpose we serve.’
Fun fact: It was a story in The Better India that led Sarang to meet his co-founders.
He explains, “In my final year of engineering, I was reading about different founders and entrepreneurs. I wanted to understand how people make companies. I even opted out of placement — telling the vice chancellor of my college, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, that, while I did not want to be placed, I would coordinate the placements for other students so that I could understand how the industry worked.”
Donatekart focuses on collaborating with grassroot NGOs and changemakers whose work often lies in the shadows.
It was during that time that Sarang stumbled upon a story published in The Better Indiaabout Sandeep Sharma and Anil Kumar Reddy. “I connected with the duo, and we spoke about what we could create in the social impact space. That conversation led us to start building Donatekart together in 2017,” he explains.
Through the years, The Better India and Donatekart have come together to see multiple social impact campaigns take shape.
From addressing environmental concerns to meeting everyday human needs, each initiative has been rooted in urgency and empathy. Last winter, the two collaborated with the Healing Himalayas Foundation to tackle waste in Kinnaur, raising over Rs 5 lakh to support the collection and segregation of plastic waste.
Around Children’s Day, funds were mobilised for Pragathi Charitable Trust in Bengaluru, helping sustain three learning centres and supporting 110 children with essential school supplies.
Festive moments became opportunities for change — during Diwali, over 600 homes in Pune’s Mulshi region were lit up with solar solutions in collaboration with Mission Urja.
The Better India and Donatekart have collaborated for social impact campaigns across sectors and regions.
In times of crisis, communities came together. Flood relief in Punjab enabled the distribution of essential kits and rescue boats, while heatwave campaigns in Uttar Pradesh supported vulnerable labourers with summer essentials. Other efforts ranged from improving road safety for stray animals to building safe learning spaces and supporting workers with necessities — each campaign reinforcing the power of collective action to create tangible, lasting impact.
Through the years, these collaborations have helped communities, ensuring lasting impact in the regions they touch. And it wouldn’t be possible without you stepping in.
Because, as Sarang puts it, kindness without action is just a feeling.
Explore social impact campaigns where The Better India and Donatekart came together for a cause, here.
All pictures courtesy Donatekart
