Eleven leading organizations to stress cooperation and collaboration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alex Counts, Senior Adviser, India Philanthropy Alliance
Phone: (202) 257-8739
Email: alex@indiaspora.org
WASHINGTON, DC, October 2— On the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, eleven organizations announced the formation of a new India Philanthropy Alliance (IPA) to further advance humanitarian and development goals in India through increased collaboration. They did so at the Indiaspora Philanthropy Summit held on the first day of ChaloGive, a week celebrating Indian diaspora philanthropy.
The organizations that comprise the new Alliance are the Akanksha Fund, American India Foundation (AIF), Arogya World, CRY America, Dasra, Ekal USA, Foundation for Excellence (FFE), Indiaspora, Magic Bus USA, Pratham USA, and VisionSpring. These organizations collectively raise $125 million annually in philanthropic donations, including more than $50 million in the United States. Their most generous donors are Indian-American entrepreneurs and professionals as well as companies doing business in both the United States and India. Together, these 11 organizations have cumulatively impacted more than 67 million people with their evidence-based programs spanning education, health care, livelihood support, and other essential services. The pre-launch activities of the Alliance began two years ago and were generously supported by Indiaspora.
To help India meeting its United Nations Sustainable Development Goal commitments, the organizations that are part of the Alliance will work more closely together in their constituency-building efforts in the United States and in their work in India. An article detailing their activities and objectives was published on October 1 in the prestigious Stanford Social Innovation Review.
“We’re excited about this effort to join forces today as a new alliance committed to the ideal of making a collective impact. Working together, using our combined philanthropic reach and innovative ideas, we can help India in far greater ways than each of us could accomplish working on our own,” said Deepak Raj, a New Jersey-based entrepreneur and investor. Raj is the chairman of the Alliance, and also the chairman of Pratham USA, a leading education-focused nonprofit in India that has reached more than 50 million children and youth over the last 25 years. “The time is right for building a more robust culture of philanthropy among Indian-Americans and I am positive that our efforts will help accelerate social progress in India.”
“Organizations working towards the goal of educating all Indians regardless of their family’s wealth cannot work in isolation from others with similar goals, or from efforts of the government,” said Minoo Gupta, vice-chair of the Alliance and the president of Foundation for Excellence (FFE), which has supported 20,000 low-income Indian scholars to pursue higher education. “The opportunities for transformation are vast and a collective impact approach is now needed.”
“Our generous donors have been telling us for years that greater collaboration among professionally run nonprofits focused on India made sense, and that a narrative of complementarity has been missing from our sector,” said Nishant Pandey, vice-chair of the Alliance and CEO of American India Foundation (AIF), which is a nearly two-decade old collective platform for philanthropy benefitting India that has raised $129 million benefitting more than 5.6 million underprivileged people in India through its work in education, health, and livelihoods. “AIF is pleased to respond in a pragmatic and visionary way to our friends and supporters by being a founding member of the Alliance.”
The India Philanthropy Alliance’s mission is: “To enhance collaboration among organizations working to advance the development agenda in India. We work together to foster a more robust and better recognized culture of giving among Indian-Americans and over time, increase the scale and impact of philanthropy benefiting India.”
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