Tag: Small Change

  • India’s Growing Sustainable Food Movement

    SUSTAINABILITY. It’s a popular catchphrase these days in the development sector that now includes food and agriculture. But what does it really mean? According to the American Public Health Association, a sustainable food system is one that “provides healthy food to meet current food needs while maintaining healthy ecosystems that can also provide food for…

  • Prometheus Unbound: Fire And Optimism In India

    By CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA —- EVEN in the United States, a country that’s no stranger to monumental acts of philanthropy, Azim Premji’s generous gift for primary education in India created a ripple, generating headlines such as “India’s Bill Gates donates $2 billion” and “India’s Warren Buffett…” Although the money went into a trust to fund education…

  • A Fresh Look At What We Eat

    IT was the autumn of 2004 when Canadian environmentalists Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon discovered a diet that would start a mini revolution in the way we think about the food we consume. The young couple were visiting their cabin in the wilderness of northern British Columbia when they realised they had nothing to put on…

  • The Princess Of Charity

    MEGHAN MARKLE, actress, philanthropist, activist, humanitarian, World Vision ambassador, UN Women’s advocate for political participation and leadership, now has another title: princess. Meghan married Prince Harry of Wales last Saturday, a royal event that had all of the world chattering. An American, an actress, in the British royal family? But Meghan is much more than just a…

  • Small Talk With Udai Malhotra

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four questions, not necessarily about their work, but about themselves. This week we catch up with Udai…

  • When Fundraisers Become Fun Raisers

    By MICAH BRANAMAN SHARMA —- AS a professional fundraiser in a previous life, we all strive for that ONE idea that will set our campaign up for success. You know you’ve hit gold when it’s all over the place, from celebrities to the news to Facebook, but what does it really mean to have a…

  • 5 simple inventions saving the environment

    5 simple inventions saving the environment

    WHEN it comes to saving the environment world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking once said, “We have given our planet the disastrous gift of climate change … “When we have reached similar crises, there has usually been somewhere else to colonise … But there is no new world, no utopia around the corner. We are running…

  • Cops Are Tops On Social Media

    POLICE have always been associated with a certain seriousness and their constant alerts about safety, traffic rules and drunken driving in the newspapers and billboards sound like the warnings on cigarette packs about smoking being injurious to health which we ignore, of course. But we are happy to report that, of late, the Indian police have figured the perfect way…

  • Poet Put His Stamp On The Subcontinent

    THE humanist spirit of Kazi Nazrul Islam, known as the “rebel” poet is alive and strong. Despite religious strife still common in our news, Nazrul remains a popular literary figure in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Revered for his words and fight for social justice, this is how these three countries, divided so many years ago…

  • Small Talk with Tejshvi Jain

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four questions, not necessarily about their work, but about themselves. This week we catch up with Tejshvi…

  • Is there a disconnect between donor giving and NGO needs?

    AS a donor, do you have a preconceived notion of what your giving experience should look like? In today’s culture of instant gratification, many want instant recognition of their gift. While it is heart-warming to see the appreciation of the person you are helping and watch them immediately benefit from warm socks or food, does…

  • The Oceans’ Speedo-ed Superhero

    LEWIS PUGH, a name you’ve probably never heard, is one of the most important unsung heroes of our planet. Gifted with the ability to raise his natural body heat prior to jumping into freezing waters, he uses his superpower to draw attention to looming environmental crises. At just 17 years old, he began his quest…

  • Small Talk With Maitreyee Kumar

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four questions, not necessarily about their work, but about themselves. This week we catch up with Maitreyee…

  • 5 Ads That Broke Gender Cliches In 2017

    DO you recall those ads where a woman is seen either in the kitchen or doing the laundry? Of course, you do! Ad campaigns for products that have anything to do with household chores inevitably feature, er, women. Be it a dish wash soap or a fairness cream, stereotypical characters are all too familiar – the ads mirror the society we…

  • Kerala’s Focus On Its People Has Paid Off

    KERALA is known to most of us for its touristy tagline, “God’s own country”. It is a sought after holiday destination to either cruise the backwaters or lounge on the palm tree-lined beaches of the Arabian Sea. However, more notably, in recent years it has made waves in the development arena for its ability to…

  • Small Talk With Nikita Gupta

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four questions, not necessarily about their work, but about themselves. This week we catch up with Nikita…

  • A Realisation Of My Privilege

    By WYONNA D’SOUZA —- WHEN I was in class 2, I remember breaking the shower while trying to fix it in my direction. So, I immediately placed it in the shower holder and pretended as if nothing had happened. Mom thought it was the domestic worker (Suman) at fault there, and I let her take…

  • Can We Trust NGOs?

    YOU might not have heard of this unusual form of measurement, but the Edelman Trust Barometer has been tracking trust since 2001. The responses for this annual survey are collected from 28 countries, which are then used to evaluate the public’s level of trust in governments, businesses, NGOs, and the media. This year’s results were…

  • Action on words that went viral

    YOU might have seen people posting #MeToo on their social media accounts lately. You may have even thought, “What’s the big deal if someone flirted a little or made a pass at a cute girl? Boys will be boys after all. It was just a ‘joke’. Besides, they probably brought it on themselves.” This hashtag…

  • Small Talk With Vishal Talreja

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four questions. This week we catch up with VISHAL TALREJA, co-founder and CEO of Dream A Dream.…

  • Small Talk With Chris Harrison

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four quirky questions. This week we catch up with CHRIS HARRISON, the chairman of The Friends of Baale…

  • Why You Should Hand Over All Your Money Right Now

    By SHOVON CHOWDHURY —- MONEY is important, and we think about it a lot. This is normal. But we need to recognise certain truths, which are self evident, and take action accordingly. One of them is this. You can make lots of money, and let’s hope you do, but you can’t take it with you. Whether you’re…

  • Your 500 Bucks Deconstructed: How Small Donations Help

    ONE thing that often stops us from donating to a cause we find meaningful is believing we are too broke to make a significant contribution. And that is because we don’t always understand how small amounts can make a difference in the lives of others. At Small Change, every fundraiser we start has different targets aimed at acquiring different…

  • Who Are We To Decide Who Deserves Charity?

    By SANGHAMITRA CHAKRABORTY —- THERE is a time in your life when your child asks you questions. Lots of questions, repeatedly and relentlessly, about everything they see or hear. They then go on to validate and verify your answers like a keen fact-checker would. It was during such a time, when our son Josh had learnt to…

  • Giving Is Actually (Scientifically) Good For You

    WE’VE all experienced how great it feels to give to someone we love or who is genuinely in need. But did you know there’s scientific validation that it does a whole lot more than just help people in need and feed our egos? Ever since scientists discovered fMRI scanners, understanding what parts of the brain are…