Hong Kong, Sep 9 Addressing a packed audience at the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) summit in Hong Kong, Dr Priti Adani, chairperson of the Adani Foundation, delivered a stirring call for philanthropy to move beyond charity and become a collaborative mission rooted in responsibility.
She began with a story from the deserts of Kutch, recalling a woman she once saw planting seeds in dry, barren soil.
When asked why she would plant in such unforgiving conditions, the woman had replied that one day the rains would come, and if the seeds were not planted, there would be nothing for the rains to awaken.
It was this image of resilience and faith that Dr Adani used as a metaphor for the work of philanthropists, describing AVPN not merely as a network but as a movement of rivers flowing into a powerful ocean of change.
Dr Adani reflected on her personal journey from being a young dentist in Ahmedabad to giving up her profession to support her husband Gautam Adani’s vision of nation-building.
She recalled his conviction that the true worth of development lay not in what was constructed but in what was sustained -- schools, hospitals, and livelihoods that uplift communities.
That conviction, she said, shaped the creation of the Adani Foundation in 1996, which has since grown into one of India’s largest social impact organisations, backed by a $7 billion family pledge to philanthropy.
The Foundation now works across education, healthcare and nutrition, sustainable livelihoods, community infrastructure, and climate action, reaching 7,000 villages and over 9.6 million people.
Yet, as she stressed, the Foundation’s true measure of success is not in numbers but in the stories behind them.
She recounted the case of Vansh, a three-year-old from Gujarat who weighed just eight kilograms and was slowly wasting away until a local woman trained by the Foundation intervened, guided his mother, and ensured he regained his health.
She spoke of Rekha, a widowed mother of two from Maharashtra who overcame despair to become the first woman to run her village’s milk chilling centre, inspiring more than a hundred others to follow her lead.
She narrated the journey of Sonal, a girl from Mundra who studied at an Adani school, went on to pursue a master’s degree in Ireland, and now works at Apple, ranking among the best globally in a prestigious finance competition.
These stories, Dr Adani said, show that beneficiaries need not remain mere recipients of help but can themselves become creators of hope and multipliers of impact.
Her message to the philanthropy community was pointed.
“This is not a moment to clap; it is a moment to commit,” she told the audience.
Real change, she argued, lies in becoming co-builders rather than mere donors, in ensuring that every contribution is part of a larger partnership with governments, businesses, and communities.
It lies in transforming beneficiaries into multipliers who can spread the impact further. And it lies in uniting skills with values so that growth is not only about opportunity but also about purpose.
Dr Adani concluded her address by returning to her central metaphor of planting in faith.
“We must be the generation that sowed in the drought, that believed before the rains came, and that built a harvest of dignity and opportunity for all,” she said. The rains, she reminded the gathering, will come, and when they do, history must remember that it was the people in that room who planted the seeds, merged their rivers into an ocean of collaboration, and multiplied hope for millions.
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