Youth-led Palorah Capital helps students launch nonprofits

Imagine being a high school student with a promising idea for a new nonprofit organization. Now imagine not knowing where to start to turn that dream into reality. How do you plan? Who might donate? What resources will you need to carry out the group’s goals?

Now, students with a big idea don’t have to wait, wonder or worry. That’s thanks to Palorah Capital – a consulting group created by students, for students – that helps launch or expand 501(c)(3) organizations by offering guidance on free marketing, funding and other valuable resources.

“Students want to make a difference,” said Paras Nemani, COO of Palorah Capital and a junior at Eden Prairie High School. “That’s why we created the first-ever consulting firm for youth-led organizations that want to create positive change.”

Nemani said the idea of Palorah Capital came from a series of experiences at speech and debate tournaments. Devarsh Borah and Nithin Palani noticed that participants from rural areas were sometimes at a disadvantage due to long travel times, which cut into valuable rehearsal opportunities. They also saw that some students from lower-income communities had fewer resources to prepare.

“We were tired of seeing entrepreneurial innovators be disadvantaged because of where they grew up,” Nemani said.

That led to the decision to start an organization to provide free resources to other students. Palani and Borah combined parts of their last names, and “Palorah” Capital was born.

Although the organization uses the word “Capital” in its name, it doesn’t lend money. Instead, it connects students to intellectual capital that shows youth-led startups how to raise funds and grow their social presence on Instagram and other platforms.

The founders gathered a group of talented friends – classmates from Eden Prairie High School – to help lead the organization. Palani, a senior, is chief executive officer; Nemani, a junior, serves as chief operating officer. Devarsh Borah, also a senior, is chief financial officer. Devanshu Shah and Spandan Datta, both juniors, are the chief technical and information officers, respectively.

Other staff members include Armaan Sethi, who oversees human resources. He is a junior at The Potomac School in McLean, Virginia. Sethi became an intern for Palorah Capital in 2024 after meeting Borah at national debate tournaments. Web developer Andrew Nguyen is a senior at Eden Prairie High School, and web intern Ariana Tiscareno is a senior at the International Studies Learning Center in South Gate, California. She learned about the group and applied for the internship online.

The group is currently reviewing leadership applications to replace seniors who will be heading to college in the fall.

Palani and Nemani pooled $50 to launch the Palorah Capital website. “We could have spent it on a few Chipotle bowls,” Nemani says with a laugh. The pair assembled a student team with the necessary skills to help other youth start or maintain a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 

The Palorah Capital team researches a variety of topics, curating free materials from across the internet on how to create a business plan, secure funding, market a brand, build a social media following and more. They hold virtual meetings with clients via Zoom. All services are free.

Palorah Capital formed its initial client base by identifying 22 youth-led organizations they found online. They emailed all 22, asking what organizational challenges they were having. Besides providing research and resources, the organizations said they needed help sourcing grants, creating budgets, deciding how to allocate resources, creating financial plans, and more. 

“We provided accessible education thru free resources,” Palani said. Within three months, Palorah Capital had more than 1,000 followers on its Instagram account. 

Although Palorah Capital initially set out to assist local groups, its reach grew quickly. One client, Illness Not Weakness North Carolina (INW NC), is part of an international mental health-focused nonprofit. The North Carolina group was founded by Titas Mukherjee in October 2023, during Titas’ junior year of high school. It provides teenagers across the state with opportunities to get involved in mental health advocacy. One such activity has volunteers make and donate wellness cards to hospitals. Another offers a chance to participate in mental health panels with local facilities that specialize in supporting teens with psychological and emotional challenges.

Palorah Capital helped INW NC create a detailed plan aligning the group’s organizational goals with its social media advocacy efforts. It also provided guidance on setting up fundraising events in partnership with other organizations, both immediately and in the future.

“Our online presence grew immensely after working with Palorah Capital,” said Mukherjee. “This helped us gain more credibility, increasing our ability to invite professionals and college students as speakers. It would have been difficult for us to expand otherwise, as our audience and resources were limited.”

In the ensuing months, Palorah Capital’s client demand continued to increase. The volunteer team soon found they could not assist everyone seeking their help. In response, they launched “PalorahAI,” a free app that acts as a library of resources for their clients. 

“It gives them a customized five-step plan that helps them structure their first 30 days as a new organization,” Nemani said. 

The app also includes interactive tutorials, quizzes, and a calendar. It’s available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The artificial intelligence powering the app was built by the Palorah Capital team, led by Spandan Datta and Devanshu Shah.

“PalorahAI is the simplest and most affordable way to get a hyper-personalized plan to help youth-led nonprofits create a long-lasting positive impact within their community,” Datta said. “It uses a powerful large language model, a form of artificial intelligence that can recognize texts, answer questions, summarize, translate and write content.” 

Well-known products that use large language models include ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI and Microsoft Copilot.

“The AI used in our app can understand and process all the unique challenges a budding nonprofit may face on a case-by-case basis,” Datta said. “It then creates a plan for the user which, if followed, will foster change within a community while offering all the tools necessary to succeed.”

Users of the PalorahAI app first complete a survey about their nonprofit organization. Next, the app uses artificial intelligence to generate a tailored, five-step plan to help the organization implement its goals. Every step includes several sub-steps, each with its own individual timeline and goal. Steps and goals are then integrated into a built-in calendar. The app also includes an email writer to assist in reaching out to donors or attendees at events, and a “personal assistant” bot feature to assist with unique questions and needs.

The app includes video tutorials on topics such as grant applications and website improvement. After each tutorial, users are prompted to take situational quizzes and receive custom walkthroughs. “This ensures they can apply what they learned,” Datta said.

He said the app was designed for those starting a non-profit organization, struggling to grow one, or just to gain advice. “Other apps seldom focus on youth-led initiatives,” Datta explains. “And other AI resources like ChatGPT cannot offer the same level of personalization we can.  The result is that we can deliver high-quality resources that can immediately be implemented.”  

The app launched in October 2024 after 10 months of development. Since then, it has gained 150 active users across Google Play and the Apple App Store. It also placed in the top three in the 2024 4th Congressional District App Challenge – a local version of the national Congressional App Challenge, which is run by Congress in participating districts. U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents Minnesota’s 4th District, participates in the program to give her constituents a chance to compete.

One of the clients using the Palorah AI app is Reacher’s Organization, founded by Alyssa Lauren Lopez. The group connects students to opportunities in business, encouraging them to explore multiple fields. It also provides consulting and marketing services to students.

“It was important to have helpful resources on hand,” Lopez says. In addition, she said, “Palorah Capital is strong in the area of time management; they provide efficient, helpful solutions. Overall, as an agency, they have excellent experience for anyone looking to grow their goals.”

The Palorah Capital team recently competed in the Minnesota DECA State Competition at the Minneapolis Hyatt. DECA is a national business program for high school students that emphasizes public speaking, professionalism and critical thinking. The Palorah Capital team took first place in both events it entered: Business Start Up and Financial Literacy Project Management

The Start Up competition required the group to create a marketable idea and present it in a “Shark Tank” approach to a panel of judges.  To support their presentation, the team had to write a 10-page paper that included marketing, projected revenue streams and operations. 

For the Financial Literacy competition, the team conducted a six-month project for Palorah Capital titled “Educate to Empower,” where they conducted events to help students create passion project ideas or grow ones they had started previously.  The Palorah group wrote a 20-page paper showing how they reached each milestone in their award-winning project management process.

“Our goal is to make the world a better place,” Nemani says.

For more information, visit palorahcapital.com.