Quitting for a cause

Volunteering is becoming attractive, with many from the corporate sectortaking it up fulltime

It’s not often that you hear of young, high-earning professionals quitting their jobs to volunteer or work fulltime in the social sector.

But, of late, several in the city seem to be opting for this unconventional choice.

Last month, Karthee Vidya, who works with an IT major in the city, put up a Facebook post announcing his resignation in order to volunteer. The post received 12,600 ‘likes’ and over 1,000 ‘shares’. His experience mirrors that of several others from corporate backgrounds who have left lucrative jobs to join non-governmental organisations.

Padmini Srinivasan, for instance, has been a volunteer at Eureka Child Foundation since 2009. A former trainer in the banking industry, Padmini found that many of the young people from tier II and III cities that she trained needed help with English.

“That got me thinking. I had never seen myself as a person who would fit into the social sector, but when an opportunity came to train teachers in rural areas, I went for it. It’s only when I was in the field that I saw the sheer number of children struggling to read or do basic Maths,” she says.

Today, Padmini helps develop content for Eureka’s after-school centres. Does she miss her salary? “From time to time,” she says, adding, “But I feel like I make much more of a difference here.”

After eight years of working, and earning over Rs. 7 lakh per annum at present, quitting is quite a scary step says 29-year-old Karthee. “I have some savings and in 2015, I will work part-time at my firm, but after that, I will essentially be without a salary,” he says. Karthee, who began a small NGO —Team Everest India — while working in 2006, plans to expand the work to provide more scholarships to children. He also wants to promote volunteering among the youth.

“Even one day a month per person can make a huge difference,” he says.

Four years ago, Arun Krishnamurthy, now 27, quit his job at Google to take forward an initiative he had begun in college — the Environmentalist Foundation of India. Today, Arun says, he spends most of his time restoring lakes in and around Chennai, Hyderabad and Coimbatore.

Corporate backgrounds often help in social work. For Radha Aravamudhan, an engineer who worked in a semi-conductors company, her knowledge of technology has helped with project implementation at Eureka Child Foundation. “We are trying to use tablets to teach children and track their skills. We even made science videos, which were shown using handheld projectors,” she says.

Shalabh Sahai, co-founder and director of ivolunteer, a platform that brings individuals and organisations together, says a lot more people from the corporate sector now want to volunteer. “Traditionally, volunteering was seen as the domain of students, homemakers or senior citizens. But, skill- and impact-based volunteering is on the rise,” he says.