Domestic philanthropy in India is expanding rapidly, driven by the growth in individual and corporate giving. Between 2011 and 2016, social sector funding in India grew at an annual rate of nine percent, from INR 145,960 crores to INR 218,968 crores. This upward trend is largely driven by the growth in domestic individual philanthropy, which is the second largest source of social sector funding in India after government spending. The CSR mandate of the Companies Act, 2013 has helped in the rise of corporate giving.
Increasingly, philanthropists are focusing their giving on addressing specific social change issues. Their approach to giving has transformed from the more conventional ‘chequebook giving’ to thinking strategically about how to achieve better outcomes in society. They define clear goals, set out a pathway for change, and put in place mechanisms to measure progress and results. Some are tackling deeply entrenched social challenges to help create population-level change in areas of large social need.
Philanthropists have moved from ‘chequebook giving’ to thinking strategically about better outcomes.This type of ‘bold philanthropy’ has been gathering momentum in India, but there has not yet been all that much written on the subject. For its new report—Bold Philanthropy: Insights from Eight Social Change Initiatives—The Bridgespan Group examined nearly 100 philanthropic initiatives in India, and chose eight that were determined to be bold on the basis of several parameters: giving size, clear social change goals which deliver population-level change, white space of unmet needs, and a clearly defined pathway toward addressing a seemingly intractable social problem.
The report shares insights from these examples and highlights challenges and lessons learned in order to inform and potentially inspire other Indian philanthropists who might be inclined to give boldly for social change.
Courtesy: The Bridgespan Group
The report’s eight initiatives fall under six identified archetypes of giving—which may go beyond the Indian context and be thought of as global archetypes of bold giving.
The six archetypes of bold philanthropy | Courtesy: The Bridgespan Group
1. Build innovative solutions
This type of giving seeks to disrupt status quo approaches in order to develop novel initiatives, and demonstrate potential for impact at scale. Efforts could include innovative market-based models or technology-based solutions that accelerate behaviour change.
Internet Saathi: A large majority of rural women in India lack access to the internet, and miss out on a host of digital social services and opportunities to improve their economic conditions. Google and Tata Trusts’ digital literacy initiative, Internet Saathi, aims to bridge the digital divide by training rural women to access the internet through smartphones. These women, or Saathis, then travel from village to village, passing on their knowledge and expertise.
The impact appears to be both social and technological. A 2017 study by IPSOS, a global marketing firm, found that over one-third of women who attended trainings reported enhanced economic wellbeing on account of these Saathi trainings. In the three years since the initiative’s launch, more than 15 million women have benefitted across 17 states of India.
Key learnings:
Use philanthropy to test high potential but risky solutions that others would not consider
As on-the ground conditions change, evolve the initiative’s approaches for deeper impact
Build partnerships based on common values and goals but distinctive capabilities
Engage champions in the community to increase the initiative’s scale and deepen its impact
More than 15 million women have benefitted across 17 Indian states | Photo courtesy: Womenwill
2. Scale proven solutions
The basic premise of scale is to identify existing interventions that are working, and extend their impact to new geographic areas or target groups. This could mean retaining some of the essential elements of the intervention, while customising others to accommodate changing conditions where the impact is being scaled. Scaling could involve collaborating with nonprofits, governments, the private sector, and multi-stakeholder partnerships.
Digital Green’s Video-Based Knowledge Sharing: Farmers’ income, health, and welfare depends on getting timely information on good agricultural practices. There are networks of agriculture experts and frontline extension workers who disseminate knowledge to farmers in order to improve crop yield, and prepare for food supply shocks and natural disasters. But these networks are time-consuming, resource-intensive, and difficult to scale.
Digital Green, with initial support from Microsoft Research, and then the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, piloted a model in 2008 to produce and disseminate instructional videos featuring local farmers describing high-yielding practices. They deliver their video-based model through existing government agriculture-extension systems (National and State Rural Livelihoods Missions in India, and Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock Development in Ethiopia), and government-employed video production teams create locally relevant videos that are screened in villages. To date, three controlled trial studies have found that this video-based approach drives higher adoption rates of farming best practices compared to traditional agriculture extension systems. For example, In Karnataka, the initiative helped smallholder farmers adopt best practices at seven times the rate of traditional systems.
Using innovative technology and working through government systems to spread more cost-effective practices, the initiative has scaled its reach to 1.9 million smallholder farmers globally, and is now expanding its focus to include dissemination of health and nutrition best practices to remote populations.
Key learnings:
Invest philanthropic capital in piloting innovations and scaling what works
Use technology to help frontline workers deliver and scale programs more effectively
Tailor messaging to maximise engagement and motivate behaviour change
Identify and partner with government entities that have wide reach and share similar goals in order to scale
Continuously refine, adapt, and build on a model to accelerate its impact
Community-driven development (CDD) involves collectively working on a social problem from the bottom up, and thoroughly understanding a community’s needs. The approach requires knowledge about the community’s demographics, political economy, socio-economic conditions, behaviours, and preferences. CDD needs to be fluid to suit the community’s specific needs.
Lakhpati Kisan: Almost half of the scheduled tribes in rural India live below the poverty line, and around 65 percent are landless. Tata Trusts, in association with Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), launched the Lakhpati Kisan initiative, aimed at making more than 101,000 tribal households ‘lakhpatis’. The initiative envisions that by 2020, each of its target households would earn more than INR 120,000 per annum, the estimated amount to keep rural families from slipping back into poverty.
Since its inception in 2015, Lakhpati Kisan has reached more than 100,000 households across 800 villages in the Central India Belt, and 20,000 households have reached their target INR 120,000 threshold.
Key learnings:
Mobilise around a clear and meaningful goal
Empower the community to lead
Involve the doers in the decision-making
Collaborate with broader ecosystem of funders and partners for greater impact
Adapt continuously and course-correct based on realities on the ground
Long lasting change can be achieved by influencing the underlying structures, relationships, and beliefs that characterise a social ecosystem. This usually involves developing insights into how a system operates, how various actors interact, and the best way to coordinate the efforts of diverse stakeholders.
Rajasthan Adarsh Yojana: Until very recently, Rajasthan’s public education system was one of the country’s poorest performing. In 2014, the state government came up with the Rajasthan Adarsh Yojana, an ambitious initiative that would establish an adarsh (ideal) school in each village cluster across the state. These schools would provide high-quality education and serve as a model for all other state public schools.
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, with technical support from the Central Square Foundation(CSF), invested in the initiative, which seeks to improve the quality of education for 4.6 million students in 9,895 government schools across Rajasthan. Since its launch in 2014, Rajasthan Adarsh Yojana has converted nearly 95 percent of the designated schools to the adarsh model. Teacher vacancies in those schools have dropped from about 50 percent in 2014 to 20 percent in 2017.
Key learnings:
Collaborate effectively with key government stakeholders for systemic change
Focus on strengthening administrative infrastructure, which provides a foundation for other reforms
Build the system’s capacity to sustain change
Use data to support behavioural change at multiple levels
5. Build a field
Building a field involves investing in efforts to fill a gap, or bringing together stakeholders pursuing the same problem. Activities may include building the capacity of leaders and institutions, developing a knowledge base, and creating an intermediary that supports other actors in the field.
Centre for Brain Research: It is estimated that more than 30 million Indians live with some type of cognitive disability, and the incidence of neurological disorders in the country continues to grow. But India lacks the research infrastructure that could support large-scale exploration into brain function and genomics.
In 2014, Kris Gopalakrishnan launched the Centre for Brain Research (CBR), one of the only institutions in the country focusing on long-term, longitudinal research to understand how the brain ages and conducting clinical neuroscience studies focused on brain disorders among the Indian population. CBR’s first project addresses ageing-related brain disorders. CBR is a critical field builder, and emphasises collaborative public-private partnership within and outside India to further its mission.
Key learnings:
Use philanthropic funding as risk capital to seed less-funded initiatives
Fill knowledge gaps that catalyse efforts across the field
Collaborate with partners to accelerate progress
6. Inform public policy
These types of efforts provide focus on shaping legislative, administrative, and judicial reforms. Activities may include developing an evidence base through research, producing policy briefs, and mobilising stakeholders to support a cause.
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER): Until recently, educators lacked conclusive data on whether better attendance led to more learning. The ASER Centre’s nationwide annual survey, a product of collaboration between the Hewlett Foundation and Pratham, takes a radically different approach from other learning assessments. Volunteers conduct surveys orally within families’ homes, thereby accounting for all children, including absentees and unenrolled children.
The discourse has shifted from focusing on enrolment rates to improving learning outcomes | Photo courtesy: Charlotte Anderson
Through its pioneering approach, ASER is using data to make starkly evident the extent of India’s education crisis. This data has shifted India’s national discourse from focusing on enrolment rates to improving learning outcomes.
Key learnings:
Use philanthropy to create an evidence base and drive advocacy efforts around an issue
Develop novel and inclusive tools when existing ones do not serve your purpose
Continuously experiment with new approaches to addressing a problem
Much of philanthropy in India is willing to invest capital patiently in order to help the country achieve its long-term social goals. Whilst bold philanthropy clearly involves risks, small, cautious efforts can rarely drive population-level change.
Four years after the CSR mandate, here's a look at the geographies and sectors funds were directed towards; what has changed in the way companies give; and how we can address the gaps that still exist.
Section 135 of the Indian Companies Act, 2013, or the CSR clause, came into effect on April 1, 2014. The recent announcement by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to set up a High-Level Committee to review its provisions provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on its impact.
This piece explores the impact and practice of the CSR clause based on various analyses available in the public domain, conversations with nonprofits, and from the vantage point of a corporate group that has been practising CSR well before it was legislated; in this case, the Tata group, where the author led the sustainability function till August 2017.
Understanding CSR
In India, CSR was always understood as corporate philanthropy or corporate initiatives in the community; the CSR clause merely codified this. This notion of CSR is very different from the global understanding of it, which is more akin to concepts like sustainability and the triple bottom line.
In 2011, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had released the National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs) that outlined the social, environmental, and economic responsibilities of business. These are, in a sense, more aligned with the global understanding of corporate responsibility. Had the CSR clause referred to Principle 8 (on inclusive growth) of the NVGs, the link would have been complete.
Fundamentally, CSR was, and continues to be, about social and human development. Therefore, in terms of purpose, it is similar to the work that nonprofits do. Arguably, CSR approaches do not reflect the state-of-the-art in terms of development thinking, perhaps because development is not the core competence of companies.
While companies do want their CSR activities to positively impact communities, most look for a ‘business benefit’.However, what significantly differentiates CSR from nonprofit work is that it is driven by a company’s thinking, priorities, and worldview. While companies do want their CSR activities to positively impact communities, most look for a ‘business benefit’. While they do not seek profits from their CSR work, they do look for benefits such as ‘community license to operate’ (critical for manufacturing companies who focus on communities and the environment around their plants to mitigate the negative impacts inherent in manufacturing), and deepening employee engagement (which enables them to attract and retain talent as increasingly, employees want to work with companies that care).
All analyses suggest that compliance with the provisions of the clause has been steadily improving. Various reports state that 95-99 percent of companies comply with procedures such as forming a CSR committee with at least one independent director and three board members; and formulating a CSR policy and making it available on the company website.
KPMG’s report identified three principal areas of non-compliance, though there is no information on the reasons for this non-compliance:
Disclosure of direct and overhead expenditure on projects
Details of overhead expenses, and
Keeping these overhead expenses below five percent of total CSR spends
Spends
Spending has increased. The CSR Tracker 2017 which tracked 1,522 companies, showed 92 percent spends, up from 80 percent in 2015. KPMG’s report of the top 100 listed companies showed 97 percent spends in the same year.
In fact, the KPMG report indicates that 22 of the top 100 companies—twice as many as in the previous year—spent more than the two percent, suggesting perhaps that the underspending was coming from small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This seems logical as the latter are still new to CSR, and their amounts are so small that spending their funds effectively can pose a challenge.
Looking back at the past four years, we see how CSR has expanded | Photo courtesy: Flickr
Interestingly, contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund as a percentage of total CSR spends, were very small to begin with, and have been steadily declining over the years (the KPMG study reported INR 2 crores in 2016-17 compared to INR 56 crores in 2014-15), suggesting that it is a last resort.
The analysis suggests that CSR spends were concentrated on a few geographies and sectors. Five Indian states—Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Odisha—received anywhere from 60-70 percent of total spends* and these were not necessarily the ones that were most underdeveloped, a criticism of the ‘local area preference’ of Section 135.
The KPMG report observed that five states with 15 percent of underdeveloped districts received 70 percent of CSR funds, while six states—Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh—while 60 percent of underdeveloped districts received only 15 percent of CSR funds.
Three sectors—health, education, and rural development attracted 70 percent of CSR funds.In terms of sectors too, there was a definite preference. Three sectors—health (including water and sanitation), education (including skills), and rural development attracted 70 percent of CSR funds. This is not surprising in itself, given India’s poor performance in these sectors. But the fact that few companies reported undertaking a community needs assessment before launching their CSR interventions, as disclosed in the Corporate Watch Report, suggests that CSR efforts tended to be driven top-down rather than the more logical bottom-up.
There is not enough data on the actual activities done as a part of CSR, but indications are that many of them are pretty routine, for instance, spending on school uniforms, scholarships and skilling under education; mobile health camps, building toilets, blood donations camps, and so on. Companies have traditionally preferred to build physical structures because apart from being, quite literally concrete, they can also carry branding.
Beneficiaries not defined or counted
Who benefits from CSR? Interestingly, the mandated reporting format neither asks for numbers nor the profile of those who benefit. Data suggests that more and more companies are disclosing the numbers, in some cases even project-wise.
While useful, this is done in an aggregated way rather than by gender, ethnicity or disability, which many consider the three markers of social exclusion, and hence poverty. In the absence of this, it is very difficult to make even preliminary assessments as to who benefits from CSR.
Mode of implementation
The CSR rules indicated several ways that companies could implement their CSR activities—directly though their own trusts or foundations, in partnership with other companies, and through implementing partners.
The KPMG report found that 91 of the top 100 companies preferred working through nonprofits, or a combination of their own trusts/foundations and nonprofit organisations. The CII CESD report, which covers a larger number of companies, indicated that 53 percent of the 700 or so companies that disclosed this data also preferred these two routes.
Thus, nonprofits are a key element of the mix. This also suggests that the fear that all companies will set up their own foundations is not supported by evidence; this is logical because an implementing foundation is viable only if the CSR spend is significant. Most large and old companies like the Tata group set up their own implementing foundations largely because back then, grassroots nonprofits were few and far between.
Opportunities for improvement
Based on practice and conversations, some suggested modifications to the CSR clause may be:
CSR must be seen in the larger context of business in society. Linking it with Principle 8 (on inclusive growth) of the NVGs will enable this.
The ‘local area’ preference suggestion in Section 135 sometimes inhibits companies from supporting work beyond their ‘backyards’ and hence should be de-emphasised.
The reporting format should be reviewed to include items such as ‘population benefited’.
The five percent limit on administrative expenses must be reviewed and clarified so that this is not used to restrict non-profit expenditures to unreasonable limits.
There is no doubt that Section 135 has given company employees and the board an opportunity to reflect on the role of a company beyond making profits and to explore how these profits can be used to benefit society. The track record of companies the past few years suggests that the act has both good aspects and opportunities for improvement, and the latter need to be urgently addressed.
While financially, there is little doubt that CSR funds cannot solve India’s development challenges—its biggest contribution perhaps will be to influence the outlook of the company so that the thinking moves beyond how much profit, to how profits are made.
India is currently at a unique and exciting time, economically and socially, and philanthropy is also riding this wave. From data that is available, including the Bain report on philanthropy, India is positioned to make rapid progress on a variety of social issues. There is a thriving and vibrant civil society, CSR is beginning to evolve, new monies are being made available, and innovative solutions and partnerships are being formed to address a host of social issues.
Globally, while the flow of capital and information has mostly been one way, now we are seeing that India also has a lot to offer, especially given our experience with social issue solutions.
The landscape of philanthropy in India has changed significantly
Capital
There appears to be more new money today than there has been in a long time. Regardless of the sources where this money is coming from (CSRs, next generation donors, indigenous foundations, high net worth individuals), or perhaps because of it, there is an appetite to look at riskier opportunities, in the form of new ideas and sectors.
Talent
For a sector to survive, innovate, and grow, it requires people with a range of skill sets. Philanthropy is beginning to attract talent from across professions, which was not the case some decades ago. The desire to ‘give back’ while inherent in the Indian ethos, is now compelling enough, to convince young and mid-career professionals, to move from corporate careers, to ones where the driving mission is social.
Business model
Partnerships are being forged across and within the three primary stakeholders—corporate, civil society, and government.The model of giving—the way in which philanthropy structures itself—is itself changing. In addition to allocating resources (primarily money and time) in conventional ways, we are also beginning to see people and organisations starting to collaborate, and doing this with an intent and formality which has been missing. Partnerships are being forged across and within the three primary stakeholders—corporate, civil society, and government. There is a certain sense of maturity that has developed, that puts the cause and issues ahead of individual agendas.
Within CSR, we are beginning to see companies reaching out to civil society and private foundations, to learn and collaborate, to together achieve the maximum impact on concerned issues.
There is also the realisation that besides providing grants and money, initiatives focused on data generation, research, and convenings are also powerful tools in this space.
“CSR is beginning to evolve, new monies are being made available, and innovative solutions and partnerships are being formed” | Photo courtesy: Pixabay
Given that new money is looking at social issues and solutions, with a new set of lenses, a useful approach may be to begin by examining the existing data, and identifying opportunities that might address either specific gaps, or complement existing strategies. And in instances where the data might not exist, maybe look at collecting this data and making it public.
Invest in ‘failures’ and patient initiatives
While philanthropy cannot ever have the reach or capital provided by governments, to find solutions to the most pernicious social problems, we need to encourage social entrepreneurs, knowledge creation, and seeding of new ideas, that may not show immediate results and may have a high probability of potential failure.
Philanthropy must step in and fund innovatively, even if this means funding projects that are risky.Philanthropy must step in and fund innovatively, even if this means funding projects that are risky; both financially risky in that you may not see immediate returns—you may need to invest patiently in areas that are not glamorous; or in areas that probably won’t help you curry political favour. But these are both still very important.
We also need to build the capacities of these social entrepreneurs to be able to experiment and take on the risks of possible failure, rather than continuing down paths which have not delivered results.
Fund issues and organisations that foreign funders aren’t allowed to.
Foreign philanthropists are not allowed to fund social organisations that don’t have an FCRA licence, even if their strategies align. As a result, the universe of civil society organisations that they can support is limited.
Indian philanthropists however, don’t have this restriction and so should be open to addressing this gap—organisations who align with their strategies, and are seeking local funding.
It is also important for both foreign and Indian philanthropists, however, to make sure that what’s on their list is aligned with their own priorities as well. What you fund should therefore fall into the sweet spot of what needs funding, and what you want to fund.
Support innovation, support entrepreneurs
In a country like India, it is imperative to support all kinds of social ventures and entrepreneurs, even those working on solutions that may be small, new, narrow focused etc. There is so much work to be done, and the right approach should be to be open to all kinds of ideas and interventions.
Philanthropists need to be open to exploring new partnerships.If we want to see measurable changes to some of these pressing issues, we also need to be data-driven. We need to set clear outcomes, and then work backwards, outlining clear strategies to move forward. We may have to ask uncomfortable questions, and really be driven towards our goal, irrespective of how long it might take. And if this means exploring new ways of delivering impact, enabling for-profit entrepreneurs and businesses, then philanthropists need to be open to exploring new partnerships.
Philanthropy has finally truly arrived on our shores, and India is firmly poised to be a leader in perhaps churning out solutions that could be applicable globally. For this, we need to continue innovating, collaborating and learning from our experience, and all us working in this sector, has this huge responsibility in ensuring this.
Corporates ,NGO's, Consultants are Invited for Partnership,CSR Planning , Social Investing,Funding . Please do Contact us. We are lending services apart from Social intervention . Two (2) NGO's has Partnered with us. Hope many more will follow- 1. Gramya Foundation 2.Nischal Thematic Area- 1. Education 2. Health 3. Construction of Toilet 4. Sanitation & Behaviour Change 5. Environment & Green Solar Energy 6. Skill Development & Job Placement #Corporate Partnership #Fundraising #Resource Mobilization #NGO Partnership #Project Management #Social Management
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged electronics and IT (information technology) corporates to organize initiatives for social work during the launch of a website and an app, Self4Society-Mai Nahi Hum, with the aim of fostering inclusive growth in the country.
The platform will enable various organizations to conduct employee engagements related to social work and also create their own initiatives to serve the society better. The platform aims to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) more collaborative and meaningful, said Modi.
The official website shows that 87 IT and fintech organizations have already participated across 117 initiatives ranging from cleaning India, conserving wildlife, Digital India and child labour eradication.
People can also participate in the initiative through apps available for Android and iOS users. “ It is important to create an India where everyone has equal opportunities,” he said.
Modi interacted with various CSR teams of different IT sector companies, including Infosys Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, Cisco Systems and Cognizant, from different parts of the country through video conferencing. He also praised the work of different start-ups in the social sector. “More power to youngsters doing such wonderful things.”
Modi also used the occasion to reiterate that the number of taxpayers in the country has risen over the years, a day after the income tax department released data of taxpayers in the country. “More people are paying taxes because they have faith that their money is being used properly and for the welfare of the people.”
More than 140,000 taxpayers, including companies, declared incomes of more than ₹1 crore in their tax returns for 2016-17, a rise of over 60% from 2013-14, according to data released by the income tax department on Monday. Of these, individual taxpayers reporting an income of more than ₹1 crore increased by 68% to 81,344 in these three years.
The government attributes this trend to better compliance with tax rules and stricter enforcement.
The Prime Minister also called for collaborative efforts in the agricultural sector to help solve the problems of farmers.
Slowly & Gradually Varanasi is going to be Business Economic Hub of Eastern UP. New Roads & widening are underway, Water way is also planned and shorly going to start from Varanasi to kolkatta and going to extended to Prayag/Allahabad.
Handicraft, Varanasi Sarees and Madhoi Carpets are on high and Ring Road and connectivity is bringing far sighted locations closer to Big cities like Varanasi , Azamgarh and Gorkhpur ,Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Ballia.
All complete package of Development is gradually happening and People are witnessing and happy with .Development finally happening on ground level.
Many more to be done on Entrepreneurship .
1. New way of Agriculture farming
2. New Products & Packaging
3. Agriculture Processing Products
4. Dairy Promotion & products
5. Pickles
6. Skill Development and related sectors
7. Environment Awareness & care
Many more Industrial Hub to be created for complete Business Hub for more Product Sale from Varanasi.
आज वाराणसी के नाम एक और तमका जुड़ गया। दुनिया की सबसे पौराणिक शहर में बाहरी खम्भों वाली विद्दुतिकरण को भूमिगत कर दिया गया जिससे शहर के शौन्दिकरण में चार चाँद लग गए। सभी सम्बंधित विभागों को धन्यवाद्।
Even Politics blocks a Uniform Civil Code Supreme Court Speaks up for Individual Right. In a significant decision the Supreme Court allowed a single mother, who happened to be Christian, the right to apply for sole guardian ship of her young son without needing the consent of his biological father. It spoke of the relative disadvantage of Christian unwed mothers, who are not presumed to be the natural guardians of their children by the Guardians and Wards Act that governs these matters. The court also observed that the Uniform Civil Code envisioned in the Constitution's directive principles remains an unaddressed expectation. This is a welcome ruling, one that comes down on the side of personal freedom and equal rights of citizenship. Like a similar judgment last year when the Supreme Court gave religious minorities the right to legally adopt children even if personal law contradicted it, this judgment expands freedom in the familial domain. It shows the way forward even as political debate on the Uniform Civil Code remains stuck in old arguments between right wing voices that want to use it as a weapon to efface minority personal laws now that the Hindu code has had to fall in line, and minorities who see it as an attempt to ride roughshod over their right to protect their religious tenets and cultural distinctiveness. Either way, this situation hurts women from minority communities.
