India Development Review

Tapping into individual giving in India

Posted on September 12, 2019September 12, 2019 by India Development Review

By Saahil Kejriwal The discourse around philanthropy tends to focus on giving by High Net-Worth Individuals (HNIs) or companies, through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arms. However, data tells us that neither has seen a significant rise in India in the last few years, and there are few reasons to expect a dramatic change in…

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Philanthropy in India is growing: Fact or fiction?

Posted on July 30, 2019July 30, 2019 by India Development Review

Smarinita Shetty points out the much-hyped but underwhelming contribution to philanthropy by the ultra-wealthy and CSR. Instead, Smarinita argues for greater attention to ‘smaller-ticket individual giving or retail giving’ to enable it to grow and develop appropriately so as to be able to support Indian civil society. India has no shortage of billionaires. We added…

Impact is not limited to big philanthropy

Posted on August 27, 2018August 27, 2018 by India Development Review

The Philanthropy in India report by Caroline Hartnell, published in October 2017, notes that the most promising aspect of new philanthropy in the country is the rise of giving by middle-class individual donors. However, the report also notes the lack of philanthropy infrastructure is hindering the growth of philanthropy in India. While ‘large philanthropists are supported by…

Ordinary people, extraordinary power

Posted on July 23, 2018 by India Development Review

While mainstream development practices are failing and problems of poverty, conflict and inequality endure, what alternatives are there that work? In this article on IDR Anshu Gupta talks about the importance of leveraging local agency in social change processes. By Anshu Gupta There’s a recent image that will remain etched in our collective memory for…

Put people first; development will follow

Posted on July 23, 2018July 23, 2018 by India Development Review

While philanthropy in India (and elsewhere) is focusing on efficiency such as due diligence paperwork, what tools are needed to make NGOs more effective and impactful? In this article on IDR, Nimesh Sumati of Caring Friends, India talks of the importance of trust, understanding the vision and context of the founders of grassroots organisations and…

Addressing inequality in India

Posted on May 8, 2018May 8, 2018 by India Development Review

India is said to be the world’s second most unequal country, after Russia. Despite tremendous progress in reducing absolute poverty in the past two decades, and despite India’s promising economic growth, 97 per cent of the country would still be considered poor or low-income by global standards. What can developed countries with high levels of poverty like the UK learn…

Funding small nonprofits can be a giant step for development

Posted on April 19, 2018May 2, 2018 by India Development Review

By Swarna Rajagopalan I founded and run a small nonprofit, Prajnya, far from the capital city and off the radar of foundation offices; our work features neither in CSR schedules nor in government schemes; we have no FCRA or marketing genius. All I had when I started off was a decent slate of academic and interpersonal skills,…

The balance of power needs to change

Posted on March 23, 2018May 2, 2018 by India Development Review

By Jerome D’Souza Philanthropy, in its broadest sense, is love for humanity. A philanthropist has to make an ‘active effort to promote human welfare’. This means that a philanthropist is not only someone who donates a lot of money to humanitarian causes; they must also make a significant effort to change a societal problem. Because, philanthropy is not…