Give exists to alleviate poverty by enabling to give. Established in 2000, it is known giving platform in India. It enables individuals and organisations to raise and donate funds conveniently to any cause they care about, with offerings including crowdfunding, corporate giving, cause marketing, and philanthropy consulting. Sumit Tayal, COO, Give discussing with IndiaCSR’s Rusen Kumar on recent development in organisaiton and the sector.
How is Give amplifying the power of giving with companies?
Give has had a long relationship with the corporate sector. In 2003 we started the payroll giving initiative – a novel idea in India at the time – where employees agree to have a chosen amount deducted from their salary every month as a donation to a cause/NGO of their choice. We have refined this process over the years, devised employee giving programmes to suit the culture of the company and their CSR policy, and enabled employees and employers to run fundraisers on Give.
During Covid, we found many corporates, including multinationals, with whom we had relationships and with some we didn’t, reaching out to us because they wanted to contribute to Covid relief efforts that our trusted NGO partners were carrying out on the ground. We made that happen as quickly and efficiently as possible – and now, to build on that experience and to scale impactful CSR initiatives we have acquired Goodera’s CSR management business, including their technology platform, used by corporates and NGOs globally.
What are the benefits to India Inc by supporting their CSR initiatives?
With our newly acquired platform and capabilities, we can now support corporates across the entire CSR life-cycle – from designing CSR programs to delivering them end-to-end. Our support to India Inc for CSR covers offerings like grant and program management, reporting, monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment.
The platform will facilitate data collection, automate processes and allow financial audit and social impact assessment for every CSR grant given for social intervention. This will provide transparency and clarity, lifting the fog of any misrepresentation that might occur.
Plus, together with Give’s experience in the development sector over two decades, CSR teams across India will benefit from our extensive network of NGO partners and working with them across a wide range of impact programmes, and the depth of knowledge, expertise, and guidance we can provide. Moreover, Give is committed to investing in products and services to grow the scope and impact of corporate social responsibility in India.
What are the future potential opportunities in India’s CSR landscape?
Since 2013, when Section 135 of the Companies Act legally mandated corporate social responsibility, Indian companies have spent more than US$12 billion in CSR, according to a study. As companies grow and more companies come into the CSR fold, this figure is set to multiply.
In a country that needs US$2.64 trillion to meet its United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, CSR represents a large pool of philanthropic capital which, if utilised well, has the potential to play a crucial role in addressing some of India’s most intractable social problems.
This was somewhat proven by the way India Inc came forward during Covid-19. A recent report claims that during 2020 50% of companies spent more than their prescribed CSR budget for the year. The percentage increased to 65% in 2021. India Inc’s conscience to do good seems to have prevailed over the negative impact of the pandemic on corporate financials. Nearly half the funds raised for our India Covid Response Fund over both waves of Covid, which totalled Rs. 1,000 crore, came from corporates.
How will the India CSR management business help Give grow more?
In all these years, Give has focused more on individual or retail giving – raising funds through workplace giving, monthly giving, crowdfunding, etc. During the pandemic we leveraged on our strong corporate relationships and worked extensively with CSR teams to manage large funding mandates for disaster relief.
The reason small and large companies worked with us is our credibility and the trust that Give brings to the philanthropic ecosystem. Plus, of course our large network of verified NGOs, our ability to work them across cause thematic areas, and for our fund management, fundraising and programme management skills.
As we start growing our presence in the CSR market, we know there are various buckets in which funders need support to make their giving to the social sector more efficient, impactful and agile. In this context, Goodera’s CSR management business is an addition to Give as it is a known, well-regarded tech platform that has been providing advisory, implementation, reporting and impact assessment services to corporates since its inception. It also comes with a 73-member team of professionals in the CSR space and 50 clients to add to Give’s pool of 200 corporate partners we have worked closely with in the last few years.
Which causes have Give supported over the years?
Currently, we have hundreds of NGO partners on our platform supporting almost every cause you can think of! Of course, most studies will tell you that education and health are the two causes that are the topmost in people’s minds when it comes to charitable giving – and that is also reflected in the larger percentage of NGOs addressing these issues.
In a survey we conducted at the end of 2021, hunger and food insecurity were also of huge concern to the respondents. In the two decades that Give has been in this space, the world too has changed and newer causes – such as climate change, LGBTQ+ or human trafficking – have come into focus, including ours. But the root cause of issues like homelessness, food insecurity, malnutrition, illiteracy, inadequate healthcare, etc is poverty. By addressing all these inherent problems, it will help decrease the burden of poverty on India’s social indices.
What is the vision of Give?
Our vision is to alleviate poverty by enabling to give. Along with our partners, we are trying to do that by bridging the gap between people who want to make a difference through giving back and those who are doing phenomenal work but need more support. Our focus has been to build trust for the social sector by strong due diligence of all our nonprofit partners, and transparency on how donations impact lives on the ground.
We will continue to stay tuned to the needs on the ground, innovate for scale, and find ways of inspiring every person, who can, to give back. India is a country that is rich in so many resources. There is no reason for 300 million citizens to continue to live below the poverty line.
(India CSR)
