TATVA 2019

IGiftLife is an initiative which aims to save lives via organ donation. If 1 person
can save up to 8 lives imagine what we 1.2 billion Indians can do – Naina Batra
Introduction

The phone rang, she picked it up and said hello. The voice on the other end said, Hi I got
your number from one of my friend who had attended one of your sessions, I need some help,
can you help!

Of course she said, how can I help!

One of my relatives is in need of a Kidney transplant, what do I do!

She explained the whole process of having to getting the attending doctor to confirm that Kidney
transplant was the only option, getting the name on waiting list. But at the same time check with
relatives and friends if someone was willing to donate

She would attend to calls like this quite frequently and was happy to help.

Few months back the phone rang, and she picked it up and for the first time she heard,

“I have just lost my relative and would want to donate her organs, can you help me on how to go
about it”

She explained and give relevant phone numbers and thanked the caller for the amazing decision they
have taken

She kept the phone down and smiled, the social change she had dreamed of seem to be taking seed,
one step a time she said. Its each drop in ocean which makes it an ocean.

This is what they had dreamt of and this is what drives IGiftLife team
“I Gift Life”, is focused on saving lives and bringing in social change where organ donation
will be acceptable. Ms Naina Batra and Mr. Tejpal Batra co-founded this non-profit
organisation back in 2016 with the initial thought of spreading awareness about organ
donation within their close circle. They had no idea on what started as a self-funded, simple
thought would turn out to be an initiative where by 2018 they would have done 130+ sessions
and engaged close to 30000+ people (and via them their families), across 10 cities in India.
Ms Naina Batra, who is also a management student, spends considerable time in this
initiative.
Tejpal Singh Batra who has worked in the Industry for about 28 years and apart from co-
leading this NGA, is also currently teaching in various B-Schools.
Both realise and know that if they have to make a difference and bring in the social change
then they have to do much more than they have done till now and its only when they reach
out to 5 to 10 times more people then only a fraction of them will start thinking about organ
donation

How it all Started

In 2016 when this both came up with this idea, they did realise immediately that it was not a
standard way of doing social service and it will be a tough way ahead. As they were
themselves not at all aware of specifics of Organ donation, they started their research and
found an amazing mentor in Ms Vrunda Pusalkar. With her help they learn various aspect of
organ donation and learned all nuisances. They ended up agreeing that the way to start will
be to do sessions and engage people.
They started to reach out to people they know and were lucky enough to find 2 supporters
who invited them to do sessions in their organizations. It when they went there and found
only 20-30 people having more than 300-500 people, that they realise the seriousness of
current situation. Instead of getting demotivated they use this to push for more sessions.
As Tejpal Singh would say, even if there is 1 person we will take out session, for one we
have a captive audience and two, via him/her we are talking to their entire family.
During initial session Naina and Tejpal, realised that they need to cover the whole lifecycle
i.e. not only to donate but also know the process of receiving organs.

Phase 1
With the passion they had for the subject they focused on spreading awareness via sessions
and started to reach out to more and more people. Also, some very amazing people started to
spread the word and soon they were doing sessions almost 2-3- times a month.

2016
 Content Design:
o With guidance from Ms Vrunda Pusalkar, they came up with a new concept of
doing sessions, it was more about talking about LIFE and not DEATH, it was
more about talking and engaging then just give facts. Lots of Audio and Video
aspect was bought it.
 o They decided not to take pledge forms with them, as their expectation was to
make people understand and speak about the subject.
o This aspect surprised many in audience, and as there was no expectation, talking
became easy
 In first year itself they did about 50 sessions and reached out to 5000+ people and via
them their families.
 They would have sessions where they had 2-3 people in a MNC to a session where there
would be 300+ people. They were learning the real side of how much the word ‘Organ
Donation’ is not acceptable as a topic of discussion.
One of the key aspect they would explain people would be
1. The waiting list is in 6 digits and organ availability is in 3 digits! Why you think this
is
2. People will respond – ‘people don’t donate
3. We would ask – ‘why don’t they donate’
4. They would say – ‘because of existing myths and perceptions’
5. We would ask – ‘how can we break them’
6. They would say – ‘by spreading awareness’
7. We would ask – ‘are what we are doing helping’
8. They would say – ‘Yes’
9. We would say – ‘will you go home and talk to family’
10. They would say – ‘I would think about it’ or ‘may be’

This for us was the start of a long long journey, as Tejpal Singh would say
2017
 In the second year they did 25 sessions and reached out to about 2500+ people.
 This was the year when there was lots of retrospective and additional research and
generating income to self-fund this initiative.
 This is the year when Naina joined her MBA and her time got limited for this
initiative.
 This is the year when they started interacting with NOTTO (apex body for organ
donation in India, and got their backing to keep working and trying to make a
difference)

This is the year they came up with the CONCEPT

- “Think.. what if you were not a GIVER but a RECEIVER.
- “Do you have right to RECEIVE, if you are not willing to GIVE”
This resonated very well with the audience as they began to understand that that they or
someone from their family could also need an organ transplants
2018 – First attempt at scaling
This is the year which turned out to be a catalyst for them, they decided to scale up their
operations and by Dec 2018 they could achieve the following
 They changed their approach in 3 parts
o Making people curious about Organ Donation
o Engaging people (taking sessions)
o Taking up key projects
 68+ sessions engaged 30000+ people, a few folds improved over last couple of years.
o The mode of delivery changed from only Sessions to even include
 Gaming based interaction
 Street play based interaction
 2 Events (one at airport and one at a IT park) which had about 160000 people,
potentially thousands and thousands looking at activities related to organ donation.
 Made 3 videos on Brain Death (Hindi, Marathi and Konkani)
 Have about 8-10 amazing people supporting them and making lots of above happen
 They had 45+ volunteers joining them, thus making their reach bigger
 Reached to 10 cities within India

Phase II – Planning for next 3 years

Encourage by the success of 2018, Tejpal and Naina are now actively thinking on whether
they should look scaling their initiative further. One other keys aspect that is keeping them
awake at night is whether to still self fund or to go in for funding externally
Measuring Impact - In order to measure impact, they have now taken up a research, so that
they can using proper research technique measure what impact they efforts had had till now.
This report is expected to be ready by March 2019.
They are at the cross roads, should they keep the operations at the level it is now and keep on
doing passionately or in order to make a bigger social change should they scale.
The plans they have been discussing is as under

Initial touch points would include: Create curiosity about organ donation, Make the word
acceptable and Create a brand by doing activities like awareness at Airports, IT parks,
OLA/UBER, family doctor clinics
Engaging people would include: engage people at Organizations, B-schools, Schools,
villages, teachers etc.

Projects they have in mind is

Projects-2018 Projects-2019 Projects-2020 Project-2021 Projects-2022

 Brain  Chat bot  Centralised  Centralised  Centralised
death  AI enabled donor- donor- donor-
Videos Brain death receiver receiver receiver
 Chat bot identificati system system system
 Gaming on tool  Sensitising on  Sensitising
App  Gaming soft skill on soft skill
App
 Songs
 Micro
movie

Cities they would love to have their teams will be, Pune will continue to be their base
Human Resources – what should be the strategy, keep going on with Volunteers or look for
full time

The initial budget they have worked out for coming years is as under
2019 – 40 Lakhs
2020- 75 Lakhs
2021- 1.5 Crores
2022 – 2.5 Crores

Problem Statement

1. Do you think Organ donation is requirement of the day in India! Do you think NGO’s
like IGiftLife can make a difference?
2. What you think can bridge the gap between Givers and Receivers, If you had to give
some more ideas to them, what will they be!
3. Keeping the budget requirements, what would your recommendation be, still self-fund
or go in for external funding.
a. If its self-funding which activities would you prioritise, in case funding falls
short
b. What source of external funding would you recommend
c. If you have any other recommendation, then do outline
4. What people (HR) strategy would you recommend to IGiftLife to manage their
operations

As a consultant, address the problem statements. You may also include any other
idea/strategy that you think can help IGiftLife develop their organisation.

Note: This case is written by the Academic Cell of Symbiosis Institute of Management
Studies, Pune for “TATVA 2019” in association with “I Gift Life”. No part of this document
can be reproduced in any form. Any resemblance in the case in any form is purely
coincidental.
Annexure – Additional Information

Annexure
“From the realms of mythology to the futuristic pages of sci-fi books, transplantation of
organs from one human being to another has always been written about, talked about and
debated about intensely. Organ donation is a gracious act; it reaffirms our faith in
humanity. However, over the last 10 to 15 years the organ donation process is marred in
India due to the stigma attached to kidney donation. The law of the land prohibits any
commercial dealing in organs - such as purchase of kidney from a donor from economically
weaker section, but because the demand is so high, the law is difficult to implement and
kidney scandals continue to haunt the country where a donor is not adequately compensated.

Parallel to these problems although there has been a very interesting advancement in the field
of transplantation in India in the last 12 years, however this is seldom discussed or talked
about. For the first time in our country organs have been donated and transplanted from
patients who are brain dead the so called cadaver or deceased organ donation.
This organisation is recognised by “National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation”.

Industry Outlook
Fifty-three years after the first organ transplant was carried out in India in a Mumbai hospital,
at least 12 states are yet to clock their first transplant surgeries, reflecting the dismal
evolution of organ donation in the country. Health and Welfare Ministry statistics show that
less than 1 per cent patients in need of heart, liver and kidney transplants received the organs
last year.
According to WHO 14.5 organs are transplanted every hour in the world. Organ donors could
be deceased or living. There were 28,258 deceased organ donors in the world in 2016,
contributing to 68.8% of the kidney transplants, 89.4% of liver transplants and all the heart,
lung and pancreas transplants. In India, on the other hand, majority of transplant programs are
based on living donors. Less than 5% patients requiring a transplant actually manage to get
one. Deceased donation rate in India is low at 0.8 per million populations as compared to
30.9 per million in United States and 43.9 per million in Spain. Close to 800 deceased
donations took place in India in 2016. It is estimated that deceased donors account for only
10% of kidney transplants and 30% of liver transplants in India.
Organ transplant in India has largely remained a private sector activity. Neither major
government tertiary care centres nor medical colleges have given the needed attention as it
demands.

You can also visit the following websites for more information

www.igiftlife.com
www.notto.gov.in