Prank for a cause; Ola banks on April 1st phenomenon to crowdfund toilets for 20,000 people

• Ola customers to have the option of donating Re. 1 per ride towards the cause
• The campaign will run for a period of 6 months, starting today and will end on October 2nd, 2019
• Partners with Gramalaya to support on-going efforts of building toilets across India

Bengaluru, April 1, 2019: Ola, one of the world’s largest ride-hailing platforms, today launched a nationwide crowdfunding campaign to enable building toilets across India to positively impact over 20,000 people across India. Launched under Ola’s ‘My Ride. My Cause’ program, users will be able to contribute Re. 1 per ride from April 2nd until October 2nd, 2019. Ola has partnered with Gramalaya, an approved key resource centre from the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, who will use the proceeds in their on-going efforts to build toilets for the under-privileged across India.  

The announcement follows the launch of Ola’s April Fool’s video, “Ola Restrooms”, which aimed at building awareness around the need for accessible and hygienic lavatories in India. Highlighting the need for more public toilets in the country, the digital campaign introduces ‘Ola Restrooms’, a new solution that seeks to address the dearth of facilities. Known for its unconventional campaigns, Ola used the occasion to draw attention to a social issue and turn it into a cause based initiative.

Speaking about the initiative, Anand Subramanian, Sr. Director – Marketing Communications said, “Since inception, Ola has been committed to supporting causes that deeply impact our cities and citizens. Access to toilets and sanitation can significantly improve hygiene and quality of life for people. Through this campaign, we aim to heighten awareness amongst educated audiences and enable them to contribute meaningfully.” He further added, “We are proud to partner with the team at Gramalaya who have been leading efforts to build sustainable sanitation infrastructure for the past 30 years in rural India.”  

S.Damodaran, Founder & CEO of Gramalaya, said, “Sanitation provides safety, security and privacy for women and adolescent girls and we envision a society where everyone has access to safe sanitation facilities that empower individuals and communities. Gramalaya has successfully demonstrated sustainable sanitation models over the past 30 years and plans to expand these facilities to other parts of India. We are grateful to Ola for facilitating the crowdfunding campaign to help us achieve the goal of making India cleaner and healthier.”

There is a dire need to eliminate open defecation and urination in India which is a leading cause of diarrheal infection affecting women and children in rural India. Lack of adequate toilets that adhere to the scientific sanitary standards is detrimental to India’s mission to be free of Open Defecation by 2019. Through this initiative, Ola aims to bridge the gap with the support of millions of users that take rides on the Ola platform everyday.

Here’s how customers can start contributing:
Step 1: Once a ride is booked, customers will be able to see an option to contribute INR 1 on the ride booking screen
Step 2: Upon clicking ‘see how,’ customers will be able to see detailed information about Gramalya and how their contributions will be used
Step 3: The button at the bottom of the screen that says ‘Donate INR 1 on every ride’ enables the contributions
Step 4: Once accepted, customers will see their contribution towards the initiative in the ride details screen for every ride. Customers can choose to opt in and out at any point of time
Step 5: Alternatively, customers can activate contributions from the ‘Donations’ section, under Profiles in the global menu

About Ola
Founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola is one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies. Ola integrates city transportation for customers and drivers onto a mobile technology platform ensuring convenient, transparent, safe and quick service fulfillment. Ola is focused on leveraging the best of technology and building innovative mobility solutions ground-up, that are relevant at a global scale and in transforming commuting experiences by setting the tone for global innovation in this space. Using the Ola mobile app, users across 125+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, can connect with over 1.3 million drivers with a diverse range of vehicles. Driven by a hyperlocal approach, Ola is committed to its mission of building mobility for a billion people.

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About Gramalaya
Gramalaya was established in 1987 with a group of committed youths in the field of rural development. Led by CEO S. Damodaran, Gramalaya envisions a society in which all people will have equal rights and access to protected water, sanitation, health and improved income status without gender discrimination. For over 30 years, Gramalaya has been actively involved in building several rural and urban sanitation models for individual households and schools. So far, Gramalaya has constructed more than 1,00,000 toilets with funding support under different sanitation schemes of Government and worked with WaterAid, Water.org, Arghyam and UNICEF in promoting sanitation in India. For more details, visit www.gramalaya.org