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 India Giving Day – Celebrating the Joy of Giving

March 1, 2024 is the Magic Date to Do Good!

 

We all know that the secret of a meaningful life is to multiply our good fortune by dividing it and sharing it with others, and so expand our abundance of well-being and happiness.  I share with you the most efficient and effective way to do this – by joining hands with the larger community on India Giving Day on March 1.

For years Indian-Americans contributed in small individual ways to the causes they cared about in India but were never sure if they were reaching their goals. In the crowded environment of countless non-profit organizations, they didn’t know which were the genuine causes and whether their funds were being well-utilized. Also, many in the second generation of givers had not even been to India and were not sure if their donations are reaching the truly need-based communities and were unable to research the causes they wanted to donate to.

Enter India Giving Day.

This is a novel concept of community giving where dozens of nonprofit organizations are showcased on a common platform and make it so much easier for you to discover the cause you really want to support. For busy individuals it is a little like Crib notes for a school exam – or the detailed menu of a versatile restaurant with many, many choices!

The participating nonprofits are thoroughly vetted organizations, many of whom have been doing their unheralded work in India’s villages and slums for decades. India Giving Day is organized by the India Philanthropy Alliance (IPA), a 5-year-old coalition of India-focused nonprofits active across the United States. IPA’s chairman is Deepak Raj, of Raj Associates, and its vice-chairs are Nishant Pandey of AIF, Minoo Gupta of FFE, and Jay Sehgal of Sehgal Foundation. IPA’s director is Alex Counts.

When India Giving Day began, there were just 25 nonprofits which had come together in a coalition. The effort was so successful not only in fund-raising but in the comfort of collaboration and congeniality that this year it has attracted 33 nonprofits.

“We took a chance that there was an appetite and interest for a national movement to grow American philanthropy to India, and that top nonprofits would see this as an opportunity rather than as a threat,” says Alex Counts.

 “We believe it is inevitable that Indian-American philanthropy grows from $1 billion to $3 billion annually, and through India Giving Day we seek to speed up that growth and make the resulting philanthropy more impactful and more joyful. We believe that with more than 1,000 donors contributing more than$1.3 million in our very first year, we proved that it was the right decision. Everyone came together and made it a success and learned a lot.”

India’s population is vast – it has some of the most affluent communities and also a massive vulnerable populace of old and young battling illiteracy, malnutrition and poverty, as well as the challenges of health, housing and the environment. There are so many pressing issues that need our support and the good news is that there are many good organizations addressing each of these causes.

Watch this Video on India Giving Day!

Through India Giving Day, the positive work of dozens of nonprofits will receive more support and be able to have a bigger impact on problems. For education alone, there are so many great organizations addressing this major need in an India where the youth far outnumber the old.

In education there are organizations like AIF, Pratham, Akanksha  and Children’s Hope India as well as smaller, newer ones which are doing excellent work and deserve to be helped. For science-based education which invokes curiosity in every child there is the august Agastya Foundation which is dedicated to transforming the educational landscape in India, focusing on underserved school children and government school teachers.

For blind children, often forgotten in everyday life, there is Ek Kadam Aur to give them a sense of independence. Nor are the elderly (American Friends for HelpAge India) forgotten – all are necessary for a well-functioning community.  

 Our own organization Children’s Hope India which Dr. Dina Pahlajani and I co-founded 32 years ago has grown from a small mom and mom organization created by nine women professionals in New York to enable slum and village children get education like our own children were getting in America. In those days, these vulnerable children were lucky even to get a slate and chalk and a makeshift classroom.

From those grassroot days to Now, through years of gathering resources and dedicated service to them, many are headed to high school, to college and even to medical school! Today children’s Hope India has over 20 projects in 10 states across India with 5 schools and more than 10 non-formal learning centers. It is our pride and delight when these students get into an engineering or medical school or land a corporate job. Education has become our mantra and badge of service.

At the moment we are very excited about introducing early learning through our 30 by 30 Educative Initiative into schools – for this will give all children the best building blocks of pre-school learning and lay the foundations of higher education. We will be so excited to have you as our partner in the India Giving Day venture by joining us here. https://www.indiagivingday.org/organizations/children-s-hope-india

No amount is too small and there are many ways you and your children can be a part of this movement, through donations, and through volunteering your time and expertise. You can organize local and virtual events focused on India and its nonprofits and help introduce your own children on the giving tradition. You can even launch a personal fundraising page or  host an event in your community.

How do you go about choosing an organization because you are almost spoilt by too many choices?

 “I urge donors to look at as many organizations as they can. All of them are different and all of them are vetted and all of them are terrific!” says Counts. “These are world class organizations bringing the best of India and the U.S. to their approach to positive societal change. But if a donor is short on time, he or she can give to the India Development Fund which benefits all 33 organizations.”

Rural India Supporting Trust and The MacArthur Foundation are both contributing crucial campaign support to India Giving Day.

As India Giving Day draws closer, there has been an array of volunteer events and happenings and a recent online one that I attended with comedian Anish Shah as emcee was particularly engaging and light-hearted. As he joked, with an Indian-American vice president, three Indian-Americans running for president, over 60 heads of major corporations from Google to Microsoft, and with young Indian-Americans ruling the Spelling Bee, Indians were close to World Domination! Seriously he added, “There’s a big focus on youth and smaller donors and we really see the collective impact of South Asians coming together to do something as a group, which as we know, when South Asians come together, we can have major, major impact, right?”

Sejal Desai, co-chair of India Giving Day and co-chair of Akanksha Education Fund,  observed, “This s a movement to meaningfully inspire and engage a large group of people across the US. We strongly believe that it’s very important to give where we live and many of us do this – as you know, we’re very actively engaged in US-centric giving and service. But we also strongly believe that the diaspora can and must also engage with India’s most pressing issues. So many of us are connected to India in different ways. So why not celebrate and honor that connection through a responsible act of collective giving and be part of something larger than ourselves?”

 As she points out, last year was an experiment in giving on the India Giving Day and it was an experiment which went well. It received over 1000 donations that added up to more than a million dollars in collective giving, and whether you gave $25 or $25,000, you were part of the same giving movement.

In an impressive article in CSR Review Counts pointed to the potential power of the Indian-American donor. “At IPA, we believe that Indian-Americans are the sleeping giant of American philanthropy. Studies indicate that over the coming years, an additional $2 billion is expected to be donated annually by Indian-Americans, as their per capita contributions approach those of the American population in general. That is roughly the equivalent of adding a second Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”

So, what would he tell people who are thinking of donating for the first time?

Counts gives one sentence of simple, easy to follow advice:

“Don’t overthink it, do it joyfully, share your joy with others, and take satisfaction in moving India towards being a poverty-free country living in harmony with its environment.”

Related Article: CHI Joins Hands on India Giving Day

Watch this video about Children’s Hope India and tell us what are your experiences about giving to Indian nonprofits. We would love to share your comments with our readers!