When you ask any Indian about charity and if they practice it in their lives, they always say that Indians have been practicing charity for ages. True and False. Charity has been a part of our culture for times immemorial but is that really charity or more like pitying others. Traditionally, we have been giving alms to beggars, food to hungry, leftovers to servants and animals. Very few have built temples, schools, colleges, orphanages, old age homes, widow homes and so on.
With the advent of 21st century, charity has also evolved in India. Alongside learning the western ways of living and earning, we are beginning to learn western ways of charity – the so called Philanthropy. We have begun to understand the difference between Charity and Philanthropy. Businesses are feeling responsible to society as they should and are trying to do their bit. Individuals and HNIs are going the philanthropic way rather than the charity way.
So how is Charity different from Philanthropy?
Charity mostly comes out of pity. Philanthropy comes out of an intention to make a better society for everyone. Charity as we traditionally know is small in-kind help to poor and the needy. It is often initiated out of emotions and is reactionary to some experience. Philanthropy is an attempt at trying to solve a social problem in a long term fashion. It is the result of understanding and analysis of a situation which is not befitting a living being.
Today, we have a well developed social sector in India. It still has a lot to learn and grow but we have come a long way. The NGO world is divided into grassroots NGOs, donors, consultants, and fundraising mediators. I will briefly cover the role of fundraising mediators and talk about leaders in this area.
With fund raising becoming more and more challenging and the most important requirement for the NGOs, existence of fundraising mediators have come about. With increasing competition in the social sector, fundraising has become very sophisticated and competitive. More and more NGOs are looking for higher contributions. These individuals or organizations assist NGOs with raising funds from donors – individuals, businesses, foundations, govt and UN agencies.
Charities Aid Foundation India (CAFI) – http://www.cafindia.org, Give India – http://www.giveindia.org, National Foundation for India (NFI) – http://www.nfi.org.in are a few such intermediaries who have raised millions for NGO sector in last 15 years of their existence. They are actually social investment advisors to their donors and not actually fund raisers for NGO sector. They advise the donors as to where the donor should put their money to get the maximum impact or social return on investment (SROI).
nice one..lambu? but u also forgot another dimension of Philanthropical charity..they give TAX REBATES!!!!
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