India Giving Day Promotes Indian American Engagement in Diaspora Philanthropy
Organizers and donors are currently preparing for India Giving Day on March 2, 2023. In a recent article in The Conversation, I described this first ever effort in the U.S. as diaspora philanthropy. Diaspora philanthropy is the transfer of private donations—resources such as money, time, labor, and knowledge—back to one’s homeland. My research on diaspora philanthropy has found, consistent to other studies, that Indian diaspora philanthropy has enormous potential and is ripe for growth.
CRY India Program Manager Krishna Bansal and I with Prem Shankar (Director) and Kum Kum Sharma (Program Director) and other SJJKS support staff at their main offices in Nagar.
Before I consider Indian diaspora philanthropy, you might be interested in the literal meaning of ‘diaspora philanthropy’ itself. ‘Diaspora’ are groups that have migrant origins and live in host countries but keep mostly consistent, and at times strong, ties with their countries of origin—their homelands. ‘Diaspora’ derives from the Greek words dia which means ‘through’ or ‘over’ and speiro which means ‘dispersal’. ‘Philanthropy’ is the giving of private resources—often money and time—for public purposes. Its precise meaning is love of humankind, also derived from Greek: philein (love) and anthropos (humankind). Thus together, diaspora philanthropy can literally be understood as the compelling phrase: love of homeland.
I study how philanthropy is contributing to global development and humanitarian efforts. I research diaspora philanthropy, studying diaspora communities from around the world: from Latin America, Africa and Asia. I have talked to donors, aid workers and leaders, government officials and beneficiaries in Mexico and Colombia as well as in Kenya and most recently in India. I focus on the intermediaries of diaspora philanthropy which range from hometown associations and grassroots nonprofit organizations to highly professionalized nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and many others, which channel funding to projects in countries of origin. My comparative research is confirming a promising pattern: a true desire of diaspora communities to contribute to their homelands.
The SJJKS Project, Supported by CRY America Donors
Me and CRY India Program Manager Krishna Bansal being welcomed by Nangla Shayam community members.
I am presently based in New Delhi, affiliated with the Centre of Social Impact and Philanthropy at Ashoka University funded with a Fulbright Global Scholar Award. To understand diaspora philanthropy in the Indian case, I turned to the Indian NGO, Child Rights and You (CRY, see more below). Being in New Delhi, I have been able to meet with CRY India’s Delhi office about their North region programming and it came time to take a trip. I headed to Alwar and Bharatpur districts, Rajesthan in what was 4-hour trip with CRY India Program Manager, Krishna Bansal. We set out to visit U.S.-based diaspora funded projects, as my research intends to see both the U.S. and homeland sides of diaspora philanthropy.
Two points of background.
First, CRY India Program Manager, Krishna Bansal, is a model Indian NGO worker. He is highly educated with degrees in political science and social work, a certification in leadership, and currently studying law. He has dedicated his career to child protection, rights and advocacy. On this day, his task was to be a liaison for me with projects, helping with translation—both linguistic and cultural. I have a lot of respect for his work and was grateful to learn from him.
Second, a note about CRY. CRY India was started by in 1978 by Rippan Kapur in India, not a rich businessperson nor from a wealthy family. Rather, an educated flight attendant with a vision to alleviate suffering by India’s children. From that vision to galvanizing people of all kinds into action, CRY has created a professionalized and valued NGO in India. Indian philanthropic sector expert, and former CRY director (and a colleague I hold in very high esteem!), Ingrid Srinath, says CRY’s success has been due to drawing on diverse sources of expertise, an early consolidation of its brand and through its investment in building capacity. With this combo, it has created an NGO focused on solutions to combat child labor, the mistreatment of girls, malnutrition, poverty, poor education and illiteracy, child marriage and trafficking, and gender inequality. Its US-based office—CRY America—focuses on fundraising to support its mission and project areas.
Sign at the Child Resource Centre in Nangla Shayam village
With Krishna, I had the privilege to visit some of these CRY America-supported projects and CRY’s partner, Shree Jan Jeevan Kalyan Sansthan (SJJKS). Through the SJJKS Project, the organization has partnered with CRY since 2007 and has its main offices in Nagar, where I met several of the dedicated staff (see photo 1). Handling various organizational tasks, together they work toward SJJKS’s mission: “Empowering the underserved and marginalized individuals and communities, especially women, through gender-sensitive and rights-based participatory processes, for achieving optimal and sustainable development.”
The SJJKS Project serves dozens of villages in the area with programming such as Child Resource Centres, like the one we visited in Nangla Shayam village (see photo 2). It was our first stop of the day and we were warmly welcomed (see photo 3). These Centres seek to reinforce and help with schooling, get dropped-out girls and boys back on track and re-enrolled in school, and provide community members access to available government services. Together, CRY and SJJKS are working to end some of India’s major development challenges through education; namely, child marriage and the turn to petty criminal activity by youth.
Additional programs in the villages include active women and adolescent girls’ groups. For example, facilitated in Bandhede village by CRY, these groups gather women and girls for educational programming. The women and girls with whom I spoke were proud to share with me that all the girls have pledged to each other that they will not marry before 18 years of age. In fact, they explained, they aim to be a child-marriage-free village, citing they have not had a child marriage in the village in at least three years.
More About The SJJKS Project
I asked something I ask all NGOs on the ground in my research to SJJKS’s Director, Prem Shankar. I asked what he wanted diaspora donors to know about the SJJKS Project. He took a moment to think and collect his thoughts. He started then to tell me about the trust built with the village communities, which was clear during my time there. He showed me how SJJKS is monitoring progress, for example, through data on academic performance.
He also took the chance to outline some of the needs that he believes SJJKS has the capacity to address should funding become available. Based on SJJKS’s experience, he underlined the link between the health of girls and their education. A major issue for girls and women in the villages in the region where CRY is present is that many are anemic. (The National Family Health Survey in India finds up to 60% girls and 40% of women in the region suffer anemia.) Prem knows this is in part because of a lack of information about anemia and nutrition. On the drive to our visits, he continued to explain (with Krishna’s gracious translation) the chain of events: girls are anemic and then due to a decline in health, they do not attend to school, and this opens further the risk of early marriage. They marry as children and then this leads to pregnancy and continues the cycle of women and girls being denied education. SJJKS works to disrupt this cycle. Its staff propose that providing more health education on anemia and nutrition can keep more girls in school.
Diaspora Philanthropy Matters for Funding and More
The CRY America-supported projects I visited speak to what are identified as especially important issue areas to Indian American donors: education, healthcare, and gender equality. In fact, so many of the U.S.-based NGOs which support India development and humanitarian projects are responding to needs specific to these areas. On March 2, 2023, India Giving Day will collect charitable donations for projects, like these by CRY America and many others. This funding will be critical for countless projects and the communities they serve. I will mention however that, as an example of diaspora philanthropy and based on my ongoing research, events like India Giving Day are more than just funding. Collective giving—of time, money and other resources—is rooted in the values of solidarity and responsibility. For diaspora communities, it can demonstrate love of the homeland. More generally, it puts front and center the need for and the potential of greater global generosity.
Susan Appe is Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany, SUNY in the US. Her research focuses on government–nonprofit relations and the dimensions and evolution of the nonprofit sector. She also examines the relationship between civil society, foreign aid, and development. She is currently working on research projects related to diaspora philanthropy as well as about the roles of public administration and nonprofit organizations in mass atrocity prevention. Professor Appe has been awarded five Fulbright Awards, the most recent is for her current research in India.
