In a first-of-its-kind opportunity, 100 NGOs doing critical and credible social impact work across the nation have been selected to receive grants from the GROW Fund, which is anchored by EdelGive Foundation along with several reputed funding partners.
Every NGO, chosen to be a part of the initiative's cohort of 100, will receive INR 80 lakhs over two years to direct resources to building its capabilities, resilience, and future-readiness. With registrations from over 2300 organisations, the NGOs will be assisted with mentoring, networking and leadership building.
It will also enable organisations to recover from the immediate challenges faced due to COVID-19 and sustaining operations by covering critical costs and promoting future readiness for long-term institutional well-being and sustainability.
The 100 NGOs have been selected from 20 states of India and work across 9 key focus areas - Advocacy, Governance and Research, Climate, Ecology and Animal Welfare, Community Development, Art and Culture, and Sports, Differently Abled, Education, Gender Rights and Equality, Health and Sanitation, Livelihood and Poverty.
Since the advent of COVID-19, in a global first, the grassroot organisations, serving different communities in India, have faced numerous challenges in their growth and sustenance including depleting funds and risk of forced closure. The GROW Fund is a unique financial initiative that aims to redefine philanthropy by committing to build a conducive ecosystem for organisations to grow resilient and future-ready, by addressing their organisational development needs.
The GROW Fund has received accolades and resources in its mission to make philanthropy more inclusive and accessible to small and mid-sized NGOs, from Indian and international funders including philanthropic institutions and eminent philanthropists known for their individual giving. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Manan Trust, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, MacArthur Foundation, A.T.E Chandra Foundation, Rainmatter Foundation, Dalyan Foundation, Oak Foundation, a private philanthropy partner, Indus Foundation of Utah, Omidyar Network India and Ashish Kacholia along with Edelweiss Group are a part of this initiative as core funders. Additionally, eminent businesspersons and changemakers such as Sanjay Purohit, Rati Forbes, the Bikhchandani Family, Helenka & Sunil Anand, Onward Foundation and Govind Iyer have also lent their support to GROW Fund.
Commenting on the announcement of the cohort, Vidya Shah, Executive Chairperson, EdelGive Foundation, said, "The cohort for GROW Fund grantees cover grassroot organisations working tirelessly with the underserved communities in diverse areas like poverty, health and sanitation, gender rights, education, climate, animal welfare and governance across 20 different states of the country. Apart from the monetary support, the selected NGOs would benefit immensely from trainings and sessions on technology, finance, human resources, fundraising and communications among others. This will be coupled with organisational development assessment tool, specialized 12-14 months program and GROW hub knowledge dissemination platform. We remain steadfast in our commitment to enable these changemakers to tide over the challenges faced due to COVID-19 and increase their on-ground impact exponentially."
Speaking about the objective of the GROW Fund, Naghma Mulla, CEO, EdelGive Foundation, commented, "We believe that the grassroots organisations working for the upliftment of underserved communities are most effective in devising sustainable solutions to various issues on-ground. Through GROW Fund, we aim to bring in collaborative philanthropy to strengthen and support the NGOs across India. Thanks to the generous support of our funder institutions and philanthropists, the current grant will certainly prove to be a great enabler for the selected 100 NGOs and will pave the way for such collaborations in future."
The 100 shortlisted NGOs were selected through an open and transparent online application process. Each application was evaluated on qualitative and quantitative information around parameters such as financial strength, fundraising capacity, reach, impact and critical gaps related to funding.
Ensuring equal representation from all parts of India, the cohort represents NGOs from diverse geographies including Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Nagaland, Assam, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
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( With inputs from ANI )
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