Who We Are

Venkat started his career with the media, working at the Times of India Group and the founding team at Sony Entertainment Television between 1993 and 1996. He cofounded Eklavya School in Ahmedabad till 1999. In 2000, he set up GiveIndia, which he ran till 2008. He also cofounded Educational Initiatives Pvt Ltd, which he exited in 2018. Venkat is a signatory to #LivingMyPromise and an active #DaanUtsav volunteer. He now spends 90+% of his time and money to promote volunteering & giving in India. Venkat graduated from IIMA in 1993.

 Aarti is the founder of Governance Counts, an initiative that helps strengthen the Boards of NGOs. She is an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore Aarti has worked both in India and abroad on the subject of good governance. Her work in governance includes identifying key Board related issues and recommending good practice guidelines. She also enables NGOs find appropriate Board members as part of this.   

Aarti is passionate about volunteering- she has founded and runs Whiteboard, an initiative within iVolunteer, that brings senior level corporate professionals together as a group to provide advice and strategic guidance completely probono to NGOs in their cities. She actively volunteers herself with the #DaanUtsav ( Joy of Giving week), India's largest giving festival. 

 Dharmaraj has previously worked with organizations such as Teach for India, ConnectFor, and The Times of India. Prior to IWT, he was a Chief Minister's Fellow with the Govt. of Maharashtra, where he worked on policies related to rural development, mental health, and entrepreneurship. He is also a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum. An engineer by training, he has also studied public policy, philosophy, and puppetry (#truestory), among other subjects.   

At IWT, he is a Relationship Manager, supporting initiatives such as #EveryIndianVolunteering and #DaanUtsav. Drop a quick hello (or aaeee haallooo, if you're fond of Gujarati) if you wish to discuss experiments in volunteering and giving at dharmaraj (dot) iwt (at) gmail (dot) com.   

When not eating Gujarati food, doing Gujarati dance, and participating in G̶u̶j̶a̶r̶a̶t̶i̶ marathons, Dharmaraj is found talking about himself in the third person (just like this) and laughing at his l̶a̶m̶e̶ jokes on social media. He also enjoys puns, s̶u̶r̶v̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶  travelling in Mumbai local trains,  ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶i̶k̶e̶t̶h̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶s̶, reading long-form articles, photography, sunsets at Marine Drive, and petting stray dogs. 

Gunjan comes with 15 years of work experience, a large part of it in Banking and Wealth Management at American Express NA, Citibank, and RBS. After a successful banking career, Gunjan pivoted to lead the Social impact agenda by co-founding Desi Origins, a digital platform for capacity building/employment generation to give women SHGs, farmers, NGOs, rural artisans @ grassroots an opportunity to market their products directly to end consumers. Gunjan is a Business graduate & has done MDP programs from IIM Bangalore and Chicago Booth. She is passionate about the economic independence of women and issues related to children and volunteers actively in this space.

At IWT, Gunjan is responsible for new initiatives, community engagement, building an environment to deepen learning, sharing and also help in creating and executing individual giving plans #LivingMyPromise. 

Gunjan can be reached at gunjant (dot) iwt (at) gmail (dot) com.

Gunjan enjoys traveling, folk art/music, and stand-up comedies.

Aishik completed his B-Sc in Economics and worked in the marketing/brand management space with Red Bull. He transitioned into the impact space by doing the Teach For India (TFI) Fellowship, where he taught 98 students in a government school in Mumbai. This experience piqued his curiosity about social innovation and got him closer to his passion for building and scaling impact-focused solutions/organizations. In 2018, he joined TFI as staff and co-built InnovatED (an education-focused incubator) and built the Social Innovation vertical at the national level. Aishik is an active volunteer and believes that 'change and innovation is the lifeblood of progress'.

At IWT, Aishik is responsible for building #eivolve - an incubator for startups that drive social change by engaging thousands of volunteers. Aishik can be reached at aishik.iwt@gmail.com.

Aishik enjoys photography, music, learning, technology, and finance.