Back to resources

Indian Donor and Philanthropic Community Common Charter on COVID-19

Strategic Philanthropy | COVID-19 | Apr 7, 2020

Three respected leaders from the field of philanthropy and corporate sector in India have issued a joint appeal to the CSR Foundations, funding and philanthropic organisations to urgently come together and focus their efforts in protecting the most vulnerable people—the elderly, the sick, the physically challenged, the poor and informal sector, migrant workers—affected by the COVID19 crisis in India.

The joint appeal, signed by Rishad Premji, Wipro Chairman, Rohini Nilekani, well-known philanthropist and founder-chairperson of Arghyam, and Vidya Shah, CEO of EdelGive Foundation, has called for extraordinary and urgent measures to address the emerging crisis in the immediate term and over long run. “As funders rally around the public health response and drug development, we must also help workers and their families ensure they can continue to put food on the table, economic opportunity on hand , have the ability to stay home from work when they or a loved one are sick, and weather the economic and social storm that lies ahead,” they stated in the joint appeal. “This will call on all of us — philanthropy, government, business community and non-profit groups — to act in extraordinary ways, calling on muscles we have not used since the Great Depression, Global Financial Crises, or perhaps never have in recent history,” the appeal further states.

The appeal strongly underlines the need for CSR foundations and philanthropic organisations in India to join hands for a two-fold response to the global health pandemic. In the immediate term, it invites the large donor community in India to pledge for providing more effective support to and strengthening of their civil society partners by introducing flexibilities and undertaking measures in their grant-making and monitoring mechanisms. The flexibility measures include things like loosening or eliminating the restrictions on current grants, converting project-based grants to a framework funding or unrestricted support, accelerating payment schedules, and not holding grantees responsible if conferences, events, and other project deliverables are postponed or cancelled. It also called for making new grants as unrestricted as possible, so non-profit partners have maximum flexibility to respond to this crisis.

Outlook

Business Standard

Business Insider

CSR Mandate

More like this

Strategic Philanthropy

Philanthropy in India Is Taking Its Own Route

A debate was going on about a government proposal to make it compulsory for companies to spend 2% of their net pro?ts on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Rohini Nilekani, philanthropist and chairperson of Arghyam, a foundation she set up with a private endowment to work on water and sanitation issues in India, says she has […]
Mar 21, 2013 | Panel Discussions

Strategic Philanthropy  |  Civil Society  |  COVID-19

Samaaj, Sarkaar and Bazaar: The New Normal in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic

This is an edited version of Rohini Nilekani’s conversation with ET Now, about the Coronavirus pandemic and the changes it has brought in her work and in society at large. The pandemic has brought many changes in our lives, some for better and others for worse. The negative repercussions are being felt by people of […]
Jun 22, 2020 |

Strategic Philanthropy  |  Civil Society

Private Resources and the Public Interest: How can Philanthropy Enhance Social Good?

This is an edited version of Rohini Nilekani’s talk on how philanthropy can enhance social good given at CSDS, New Delhi. According to Credit Suisse, India’s richest 1% own 58% of the country’s wealth. Structural inequity is historically embedded in India, but it seems to be worsening. With this in mind, what is the public […]
Feb 21, 2018 | Speech

Strategic Philanthropy  |  Civil Society

My Philanthropic Journey: How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Embrace Failure

This is an edited version of Rohini Nilekani in conversation with Vidya Shah, Chairperson & CEO, EdelGive Foundation at EDGE 2020. They discuss Rohini’s insights from her philanthropic journey over the years. My work in philanthropy spans different spaces, from groundwater and sanitation, early learning, social justice and governance, to the arts. I have portfolios […]
Dec 17, 2020 |