World Giving Index Report launched by CAF Alliance holds good news for all of our NGO partners and corporate donors. India is growing, not only as an economy but as a generous nation too. Indians over the past year, donated more, volunteered more and bestowed random acts of kindness by helping strangers more too. All of it goes together in and as the World Giving Index, 2014 that shares interesting insights into charitable behavior of people globally. WGI report explores global trends and practices around giving behavior by asking three simple questions, at heart of which giving prospers.

Have you done any of the following in the past month?

Donated money to a charity? Volunteered your time to an organization? Helped a stranger or someone you didn’t know who needed help?

Fifth edition of the report is a read to cherish, rejoice and remark and encourages people across the world to give in order to improve lives of millions of impoverished fellow citizens out there. India’s has progressed quite well across all of these three giving behaviors covered in the index.

I would like to share some of the highlights around giving in the Indian context from the report:

• The percentage of people helping a stranger in India, has increased by 10 percentage points, as 93 million more Indians performed an act of kindness in 2013.
• The number of Indians volunteering time is also up by three percentage points as 29 million more people gave up their time than in 2012.
• More people volunteer in India than anywhere else in the world, as a total of 186.5 million people support NGOs in this way.
• Over four million more Indians are estimated to have donated money in 2013 than in 2012.

Meenakshi Batra, Chief Executive – OneStage, shared her views on India’s improved position and said “The WGI 2014 report shows an unprecedented growth in Indian generosity in recent years. It is encouraging to see that as our economy develops, people are increasingly using their resources to tackle the needs of others. With charities making more use of technology, people definitely seem to be responding more quickly to appeals for help and provide relief and rehabilitation support to victims of natural disasters, across the country. Let’s hope this momentum continues to build and more Indians continue to find new and more sustainable ways to support voluntary organizations.”

So, what stakes the WGI 2014 report holds for both sides of a philanthropic equation? I believe, any change in the society thrives on tracing the progress and WGI report 2014 does exactly that by asking the questions that matter. Three simple questions can unfold interesting tales and stories and improvise people to give more and more! Giving, is what OneStage encourages for a better India.

World Giving Index 2014 Launch celebrates India’s improved giving and through it, sends a warm message to corporate and NGO partners to sustain their development initiatives as India continues to put her helping hands forward to share more and more.

Read the full report on OneStage website