India Giving Report 2019

Growing the Culture of Giving in India

In a world increasingly propelled by technology and data, philanthropy too is rapidly evolving. Bolstered by the changing behaviour of giving; assuredly, the nature of philanthropy will change drastically in the near future. Simone De Beauvoir wrote, “The present is not a potential past; it is the moment of choice and action.” As a country, this is the moment that holds huge potential for development in this area as we make wiser choices in the way we shape philanthropy. Our India Giving Report 2019 shows that to ensure continued growth for giving, there have to be large scale interventions that assist donors, volunteers and not-for-profit organisations.

One of the biggest changes in philanthropy has been the advent of fund raising platforms. These are mainly designed to simplify and increase access to donating and volunteering opportunities. Moreover, technologies such as block chain and artificial intelligence will play a big role in the future of impact-oriented philanthropic interventions.

With approximately 500 million people in the labour force, we see immense potential in India for philanthropic endeavours especially through online platforms. However, there is more potential for growth as only about 72% of those surveyed for the report contributed money during 2018-2019. Of these, 32 per cent state that they would donate more if there was more transparency and 38 per cent are willing to donate more if they know how their donations are being spent.

At OneStage, our efforts in this direction have been quite successful. We have created online platforms such as Give4Good that provides a credible space for giving to NGOs. Several leading corporations have adopted our employee giving program called Give As You Earn (GAYE) to help their employees give back to the society strategically with flexibility of time and choice. Disaster support to disaster-stricken areas is another facet of OneStage’s work in the giving space. Through our appeals, we encourage donors to come forward and lend support to disaster struck communities. Time to time, our initiatives are also complimented by celebrities. In our continuous endeavor to nurture the culture of giving, we have curated numerous fundraising campaigns in partnership with corporates and media houses such as DHFL Republic TV Behtar India, Coca Cola NDTV Support My School etc. Our giving endeavors are empowered by our robust NGO due diligence process that ensures donating and volunteering become accessible, transparent and accountable for all concerned. All our initiatives have been an attempt to provide donors opportunities and avenues to do good the right way.

The other major factor shaping philanthropy is intergenerational difference. The nature of giving for individuals who are Millennials is quite different from their predecessors. Globally, Millennials’ philanthropic interests take into account their ability to impact global issues such as climate change and sustainability; they are also more interested in impact- and cause-oriented products such as Fairtrade. The preceding generation is more aligned to spend time on volunteering and are loyal to philanthropic causes and organizations they have been associated with throughout their lives.

Moreover, the Survey reveals, individuals are more likely to donate a small amount for a good cause as 56% of the people who participated in the Survey donated because it made them feel good. This is encouraging for us as we aim to nurture the culture of giving in India through our end-to-end solutions for volunteering and donating by employees and individuals.

To support growth on a larger scale and more localisation of philanthropy, it is imperative to address institutional and infrastructural deficiencies. According to our survey, nearly 52% have volunteered during 2018-2019. We therefore need to create institutional infrastructure to promote local philanthropy for local causes. The continued commitment of corporate organizations and philanthropists is essential in this regard.

Charitable giving will continue to drive social growth both locally and globally; OneStage aims to catalyse changes to lives of many. To ensure transformation, more organisations will need to adopt the online model of giving. The time for choice and action is now, let us make full use of the opportunity to step into the future of philanthropy and move always onwards.