Give launches its Institutional Giving Practice

TODAY, philanthropy is growing globally, and private giving has gained an important role in addressing human suffering, social justice, equitable economic growth, and so much more. As an organisation that is deeply passionate about addressing the inequalities and resolving social issues impairing our collective growth, it has been fascinating to see different approaches to philanthropy. One such system – institutional philanthropy or giving – has gained tremendous momentum in recent years across the world. Albeit gradually, this reflects a decisive shift away from charitable giving towards a more strategic framework to achieve measurable impact.

It is with this in mind that on 6th October 2021, Give launched the ‘Institutional Giving’ practice and platform during a virtual industry conference titled Better, Together – Covid-19 & Reimagining Institutional Giving, comprising some of the brightest minds of corporate India and impact organizations.

Give and corporate partners

Give began its journey along with corporate partners, bringing payroll giving to India, back in 2001-2002. We quickly became a one-stop, trusted platform for individuals and organisations all over the world to channel their philanthropic efforts, drive impact across a wide plethora of social and economic areas. In this journey, while we were focussed on retail giving, we also worked with corporates, getting their employees to come forward and donate money towards causes that were close to their heart.

With a rich, well researched, and verified network of thousands of non-profit organisations built over several years, we have established deep trust with our vast donor network of several leading corporates in the country. This has ensured total comfort in coming forward and donating – with the assurance that their hard-earned money reaches the right hands, driving impact and changing lives. This has helped us grow our network and forge deep relationships with non-profit organisations, corporates, and many individuals who would come forward and regularly contribute towards causes that resonate with them.

India Covid Response Fund (ICRF)

2020 brought with it one of the most catastrophic health and humanitarian crises that the world has ever seen – the Covid-19 pandemic. As a response to this, Give immediately pivoted and swung into action to address the needs of the people on ground. While on one hand we had a large number of our NGO partners reaching out to us for support, a lot of our corporate partners also came forward offering to contribute in a manner that would actually serve people on the ground.

Given the frenzied nature of the situation itself, there was no effective and easy way to quickly deploy the money on the ground and it was at this point that Give launched India Covid Response Fund (ICRF). It was indeed very encouraging to see the overwhelming support that came our way from the retail market, high net worth individuals, corporates and foundations alike, which resulted in us raising INR 1000+ crores in funds being deployed across 250+ organisations and NGOs.

Our Covid response was possibly one of the largest giving collaboratives that India has ever seen. The relief efforts brought to life an incredible network effect where several corporates within our network came forward and more joined later on. This reflects the power of collective action towards underwriting social change and driving enormous impact and has strengthened our belief that we are better together.

Why Institutional Giving Practice?

With the severity of the pandemic potentially behind us, how are we looking ahead? While the situation is better, India’s problems haven’t ceased, and the pandemic has exacerbated them in many cases. It is with these issues in mind, along with the need for India to focus on achieving its United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that we developed a dedicated tech supported platform through which we can facilitate and help institutions manage the entire social impact programme life-cycle to improve effective on-ground outcomes.

This practice and platform has been carefully built on a strategic framework with the following objectives in mind:

a) Cause alignment: Give will identify and recommend projects that align with business priorities and core values as much as they serve a social need, effectively engaging all stakeholders.

b) Create leverage: By building collectives, we can use the strengths of diverse stakeholders, leading to more impactful programmes that bring out sustained change.

c) Impact assurance: Through effective legal and governance structures with monitoring processes, we can seamlessly collaborate with funders, programme managers, and NGO partners to drive higher social impact.

We not only have built the capabilities to partner with corporates and nonprofits alike, but also, ensure that we are able to collect funds, forge effective partnerships, share insights on where the impact will be maximum, and make things happen. We invite anyone involved with corporate giving or any other form of institutional giving to allow us an opportunity to work with you and together deliver demonstrable results with tremendous impact on the ground.

Established in 2000, Give is the largest and most trusted giving platform in India. Our community of 2.6M+ donors have supported 2,800+ nonprofits, impacting 15M+ lives across India.

Aadeep