GiveIndia supports 56L Indians in response to the COVID crisis

Bangalore, India: GiveIndia has helped to support 56 lakh Indians during the pandemic, using the 220Cr contributed to the nonprofit's India COVID Response Fund (ICRF) by a collective of individuals and organisations. This has been the most impactful intervention executed by the platform in its 20-year history. 

Formed on April 10, 2020, the ICRF collective comprises corporates, foundations, digital platforms, government bodies, philanthropists, high networth individuals, and citizens at large. The fund has supported three key areas of intervention - providing monetary relief to cash-strapped families, humanitarian aid to communities in need, and addressing gaps in the healthcare system in protecting frontline workers in COVID-designated hospitals. 

For the flagship mission — Support COVID-19 Hit Families —  GiveIndia partnered with 250+ nonprofits across the country to help daily wagers and migrant workers who had lost their means of earning. Underpinned by a well-defined due diligence framework to verify and identify beneficiaries, a Steering Committee was established for approving the allocation of funds on a weekly basis. Over 49Cr was disbursed to provide support to more than 5.6 lakh Indians, with cash relief reaching approved beneficiaries within two weeks. 

Commenting on the need for ICRF, Atul Satija, Founder 2.0 and CEO of GiveIndia, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has taken a heavy toll on poor, disadvantaged communities. We realized early on that dealing with a pandemic as daunting as COVID-19 required broad collaboration and participation from a variety of people and organizations, a collaboration that would make it easy for everyone to chip in. And I am happy to say they did, the response has been quite staggering. I want to thank all our partners, and people who have donated - we are deeply grateful. But of course,  the pandemic is far from over and the months ahead will present more challenges which we will have to overcome.” 

For the humanitarian aid effort for which 57Cr+ has been disbursed, GiveIndia’s partner nonprofits have served over 40 lakh cooked meals to migrant laborers stranded at urban hubs, the homeless, sexual minorities, people living with terminal conditions and disabilities, and children. It has also funded the distribution of 8 lakh hygiene and ration kits to impoverished families. 

The healthcare mission was launched after identifying the most pressing needs of medical workers dealing with the crisis. GiveIndia, along with its non-profit partners, set out to solve the challenge of last-mile availability of PPE kits, N95 masks and other protective gear at COVID-designated hospitals. The ICRF fund also supported the running costs of six Mobile Medical Units in a couple of Mumbai’s densely populated slums, where 71,000 people were screened for COVID-19 symptoms, 6,000 were referred for testing, 665 COVID +ve patients were identified.

Shilpa Kumar, Investment Partner, Omidyar Network India, who is one among a 16-member Advisory Board of ICRF, said: “It’s one thing to raise money, it’s quite another to make sure that it’s spent appropriately. Team GiveIndia did a fabulous job of assembling experts to help them in making the right choices and balancing between various things - whether it’s relief, resilience or protecting the healthcare workers.”

Among  3.5 lakh citizen contributors to this fund, were almost 20,000 donors who gave on Facebook during I For India, a one-of-a-kind celebrity fundraising concert in collaboration with the social media platform. The show, anchored by Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar, included performances by Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, A.R. Rahman among other stars from India and abroad. 

More than 50 corporates, 15+ philanthropy foundations and over 25 HNIs and 10+ platform partners including Flipkart and PhonePe and their customers also gave generously. Some of the early donors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google.org, HSBC India, Omidyar Network India, UBS Optimus Foundation, Marico, and A.T.E. Chandra Foundation. 

PhonePe’s Director of Business, Ankit Gaur said: “The idea of galvanising the country has always resonated with our philosophy of giving back to society. We are humbled to be a part of this initiative and are thankful to GiveIndia for giving us the opportunity to make a difference in these trying times.”

GiveIndia remains at the forefront of initiatives to fight the adverse impact of COVID-19, while carrying on regular campaigns targeted at alleviating hunger, and supporting education and livelihood among the underprivileged. Backed by a robust due diligence process covering legal, compliance, financial and impact checks. GiveIndia aims to revolutionise traditional giving by providing a transparent donation process made possible by its technology - and ICRF is an example of this approach.