Ruchi Nadkarni, 24, was almost on her way to pursuing her masters in Intellectual Property Law at Stanford University when she decided to stay back and start World for All (WFA). World for All Animal Care and Adoptions is a Mumbai-based NGO that helps dogs, pups, cats and kittens living on Mumbai’s streets find a permanent home. In the three years since WFA was founded, Ruchi and Taronish, 24, the founders — with their strong workforce of volunteers — have had 2,400 animals adopted. With a record of two animal adoptions everyday, WFA sees close to 10,000 people throng a single adoption drive.
“We were tired of feeling bad for homeless animals,” begins Ruchi. “Both Taronish and I were active volunteers with animal organisations and realised that none of them really have adoptions as their forte — an asset essential to keeping the population of homeless animals in check.” Starting off on Facebook, Ruchi and Taronish didn’t know how to run an organisation or, for that matter, keep it going. “We needed funds! We finally relied on the many professionals we knew and put together calendars that we sold, to get us started,” says Ruchi.
Ruchi quit her ambitions of a prestigious degree and Taronish gave up his career in advertising to pursue a life devoted to animal welfare. “To do this for the rest of our lives, we hope to expand this into a social entrepreneurship venture. We want to take this to the next level, where we have a corporate set-up and generate jobs to match every kind of skill-set,” says Ruchi. Going beyond rehabilitating Indian dogs and cats, WFA also finds homes for abandoned pedigree dogs and finding happy endings for animals such as cows, donkeys, even monkeys. Pre-adoption interviews, consent of all family members and a loving home environment are some of the markers for a successful adoption. “All adopting families are required to sign an adoption agreement where we stipulate some strict rules that enable us to visit the family after an adoption and look into things like sterilization,” she says.
While it may be a task to raise funds for the mammoth effort, Ruchi swears that people have become more aware of Indian breeds and are more willing to accept them into their homes. “It’s also the way we package the animals — they are groomed, cleaned and healthy when given for adoption. We have celebrity associations that help us spread the good word. We have charity auctions, garage sales, adoption camps, monthly donations, case sponsors and vets on concession — all of which help further the cause.” Ruchi is now all set for a degree in social entrepreneurship in the US, where she hopes spread awareness about Indian breeds amongst the Indian diaspora. “We are called World For All and when I return I hope to live up to that by expanding into women’s welfare, discrimination, etc,” she smiles.