Give to nurture CSR Impact: Sumit Tayal, COO

Give was created to make it easier for people to donate. It is a well-known donating platform in India and was founded in 2000. Offerings including crowdfunding, corporate giving, cause marketing, and philanthropy consulting enable people and organisations to conveniently generate and donate money to any cause they care about. Rusen Kumar of IndiaCSR and Sumit Tayal, COO, discuss current developments in the organization and the industry.

Sumit Tayal

How can Give leverage corporate giving to increase impact?

Give India and the business community have a long history together. A novel concept in India at the time, our payroll giving initiative was launched in 2003. Under it, employees consent to having a predetermined sum withheld from their paychecks each month in order to donate to an NGO or cause of their choice. Over the years, we have improved this procedure, designed employee giving programmes that fit the corporate culture and CSR policy, and made it possible for both employees and employers to host fundraisers on Give.

During Covid, we discovered that many corporations, including multinationals, with whom we had relationships and with others we did not, were contacting us in order to support the relief efforts being carried out on the ground by our reliable NGO partners. We did that as quickly and effectively as we could, and now we have acquired Goodera’s CSR management business, including their technology platform, used by corporations and NGOs worldwide, to build on that experience and scale impactful CSR initiatives.

What advantages does India Inc. gain from sponsoring their CSR programmes?

We can now serve corporations across the full CSR life-cycle, from planning CSR programmes to implementing them from beginning to end, thanks to our recently acquired platform and capabilities. We provide services including grant and programme management, reporting, monitoring and evaluation, and impact assessment as part of our CSR support for India Inc.

What CSR opportunities might there be in the future for India?

A study found that Indian companies have invested more than US$12 billion in CSR since 2013, when Section 135 of the Companies Act became legally required. This number is expected to increase as companies develop and more businesses adopt CSR strategies.

CSR represents a sizable pool of philanthropic capital, which, if used wisely, has the potential to play a crucial role in addressing some of India’s most intractable social problems. India needs US$2.64 trillion to meet its United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

How will the CSR management industry in India help Give expand?

Give has primarily concentrated on individual or retail giving over the years, raising money through workplace giving, recurring giving, crowdfunding, etc. In order to execute significant financing mandates for disaster assistance during the epidemic, we heavily collaborated with CSR teams and drew on our solid corporate ties.

Because of our reputation and the confidence that Give instils in the charitable environment, both small and major businesses have chosen to partner with us. In addition, of course, to our extensive network of accredited NGOs, our proficiency in collaborating with them across cause-related themes, and our abilities in money administration, fundraising, and programme management.

What causes has Give consistently backed?

Currently, we support practically every cause you can imagine with the help of hundreds of NGO partners on our site! Of course, the majority of studies will tell you that health and education are the two causes that people think of first when considering a charitable donation. This is also evident in the higher proportion of NGOs that focus on these issues.

Hunger and food insecurity were also top concerns in a survey we did at the end of 2021. Since Give has occupied this location for the past 20 years, the world has changed and newer issues, like climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, and human trafficking, have gained attention. One of these issues is also our own. However, poverty is the main factor contributing to problems like homelessness, food insecurity, malnutrition, illiteracy, inadequate healthcare, etc. Taking care of all these underlying issues will help lessen the impact of poverty on India’s social indices.

What is the Give vision?

Our mission is to enable giving in order to reduce poverty. Together with our partners, we are attempting to do this by bridging the gap between those who want to change the world by giving back and those who are already making a significant contribution but could need additional assistance. By conducting thorough due diligence on all of our nonprofit partners and being open about how donations affect people’s lives in the real world, we have focused on fostering confidence in the social sector.

We will continue to pay attention to local needs, innovate for scale, and look for ways to motivate everyone who is able to give back. India is a resource-rich nation with a wide variety of resources.