CSIP Conference highlights key aspects of Research on Indian Philanthropy and Giving
Wealthy Indians 20 times less generous than American peers; Power imbalance between donors and NGOs impedes social impact; Need for greater investment in knowledge building
The Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Ashoka University, hosted its first Research Conference on Philanthropy and Giving in India. The two-day conference (April 28-29, 2022) was organised to serve as an avenue to inform as well as re-shape discourses towards building a more resilient post-pandemic third sector.
With more than 500 registrations, the conference witnessed nine presentations by Indian as well as international participants, a panel on ‘Research on Philanthropy’ and workshops on research methods for budding as well as aspiring researchers.
The panel comprising of Anant Bhagwati, partner, The Bridgespan Group; Dr Sara Konrath, social psychologist, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Gayatri Lobo, COO ATE Chandra Foundation, deliberated upon the reasons why people volunteer and give to charity, the issues in the nonprofit sector and the how data and research can support the sector in reaching its potential. Read More
Click the play button to watch the recording
How do companies in India approach their CSR mandate and what can they do to make their approach more coherent while also covering multiple SDGs?
Ingrid Srinath, Director CSIP answers the questions and speaks on various other aspects of CSR in this video.
The Significance of Giving
Indian philanthropy has grown over the past two decades, however, research on Indian philanthropy is still limited. To address this The CSIP Research Fellowship in Philanthropy was instituted in 2020. Shaivya Verma, Senior Research Manager at CSIP writes how the significance of ‘giving’ became even clearer to CSIP because of the tremendous work done by the research fellows. Read Here
Also, the research papers by the 2021 cohort can be accessed here
Hack and Learn
CSIP hosted ‘Challenge #21’ at the biennial Hack and Learn event organised by Government Outcomes Lab at Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.
Diverse community of practitioners, researchers, policy makers, students and data enthusiasts get together at the international event and work towards tackling pressing questions in the field of social outcomes using data.
The challenge hosted by CSIP was on analysing the trend of foreign philanthropy in India.
India’s richest give less than 1% of their wealth to philanthropy, but there is a ray of hope
Forbes India
Younger philanthropists, especially those who come from the tech sector, are more risk-taking and agnostic about form. They do not care about whether one takes the non-profit, for-profit or social enterprise route to achieve the desired impact
Providing an enabling policy atmosphere’
The Pioneer
How do India’s tax incentives compare to that of other countries? Factors such as tax rates, the form in which incentives are given, the tax incentive rate, etc., determine the generosity of tax incentives offered for charitable donations. That is what incentivises donors.
20% jump in philanthropic activities in FY21 due to govt spending: Report
Business Today
Economic volatility and an increase in contributions to quasi-official funds coupled with lack of reliable information on where to give especially during COVID has affected the inflow of funds into the sector
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Coming Soon
The next few months are going to be full of discoveries, reports and convenings. To mention some:
How India Gives: How India Gives is a comprehensive study of 80,000 households across India and how do they give. The study will bring about an understanding on attitudes on ‘giving’. It will delve into questions like how people across various geographies and with diverse financial resources ‘give’ and to whom do they ‘give’. The findings from the study will benefit the social impact sector.
Resilience Strategies for Nonprofits (RSN): Designed specifically for Indian nonprofit leaders to deal with the challenges unleashed by the COVID 19 pandemic, the programme will be organised for the third time in August 2022. Just like the two previous editions, RSN 3.0 is being designed by CSIP in partnership with professors from the Harvard Business School and technical experts. RSN 2.0 received accolades from the participants for its curriculum, faculty and cohort. The call for applications for RSN 3.0 will be live on CSIP website an d its social media handles in the month of July.
In Case You Missed
Tax Incentives for Philanthropic Giving: A Study of Twelve Countries
The Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP), and Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) conducted a study on the relationship between tax incentives and philanthropic giving. The study compared India’s incentive policy with that of 11 countries selected for the diversity of their economic status and models, namely Bangladesh, Brazil, China, France, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, UK and US. The study found, that France, Singapore, and the UK had the most generous tax incentive structures, while Bangladesh, Brazil and Mexico were at the other end of the spectrum. India was placed somewhere in the middle because the rate of incentives offered had declined due to tax policy changes of 2017 and the introduction of a ‘dual tax structure’ in 2020. Read the full report