Wadhwani Foundation: Second phase of $1 million in grants to charities and NGOs

NEW DELHI: Wadhwani Foundation (WF) announced the next phase of its $1 million in grants to charities and NGOs to help alleviate the devastating impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in India. These grants support the rapid delivery of medical resources and support to COVID-19 patients and their families.

For phase-2 of these grants, the Wadhwani Foundation has selected the following:

• Million ICU Initiative
• RCRC: Rapid Community Response to COVID-19
• Youth for Sewa: COVID-19 PAN India Relief Activities
• Doctors without Borders: COVID-19 response
• Mission ICU

“India must strive for a comprehensive approach to stop the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable,” said Padma Shri Dr Romesh Wadhwani, Founder and Chairman of Wadhwani Foundation. “We are helping to focus on the ‘last mile’ of immediate relief. This delivers maximum impact and adds greater capacity to address future shocks.”

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For phase-1 of the grants, Wadhwani Foundation selected the following charities and partners:

• WISH Foundation: The Wadhwani Initiative for Sustainable Healthcare
• Goonj: Rahat COVID 2021
• American Indian Foundation: #AIFCOVID19Response
• Indiaspora: Chalo Give initiative

Wadhwani Foundation established the criteria to select organizations based on their ability to deliver immediate impact to patients and families and measure that impact. These include:

• Deliver direct relief, including medical assistance, food, and loans/grants to patients and families
• Have more than five years of experience supporting healthcare and basic needs with the infrastructure to deploy to groups in need
• The ability to provide transparency, reporting, governance, and quantify the impact
• Be recognized as a registered charity in the country of operation

Employee Sourced and Supported

The selection was aided by employees at both Wadhwani Foundation and SymphonyAI, the U.S.-based enterprise AI company founded by Dr Wadhwani. In addition to these grants, the Wadhwani Foundation matches donations to any of the supported organizations by SymphonyAI and Wadhwani Foundation employees through September 1, 2021.

This $1 million grant follows the Sahayata initiative by the Wadhwani Foundation, delivering skilling and innovation programs to small and medium enterprises and public health workers through the pandemic. The initiative was announced in July 2020 in India and November 2020 in Mexico.

Wadhwani Foundation was founded in 2000 by Dr Romesh Wadhwani, with the primary mission of accelerating job creation in India and other emerging economies through large-scale initiatives in entrepreneurship, small business growth, innovation, and skilling. The Wadhwani Foundation operates in 20 countries, including India, South East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines), East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda), Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia), West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana), Egypt, and Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile). The Wadhwani Foundation works in partnership with governments, foundations, corporations, and educational institutes.