We are hosting a community initiative started by students at UC Berkeley. We are a growing network of individual founders, students, organizations, and academics around the world who are urgently working to support relief efforts going on in India.
People who work all day just to feed themselves and families at night have been ordered to stay home. Without an urgent, coordinated effort to get people what they need, millions of parents will watch their children die of starvation. We must work to mitigate the terrible situation in India. The actions we take could be the difference between life and death for those most affected by the curfews imposed in India due to COVID-19 plus:
37% of her population already suffers from stunting due to malnutrition
Decentralized agencies are not capable of managing a disaster of the magnitude that COVID-19 is causing, and there are few options for those in the margins.
The situation in India is complicated.
Everybody wants to help.
Nobody knows where to send their donations.
This is sticky:
There are reportedly 3.2 Million NGOs in India and corruption is known to be a big problem.
On the flip side:
At least 1,130,500,000 people in India (85%) are outside the formal economy and could really use some help. At least 266,000,000 (20%) are at risk of starvation and need our help immediately.
Here’s the scoop.
Many excellent implementation organizations in India are supported by grants and are not set up to accept individual donations.
Other perfectly amazing programs lack the ability to receive donations from outside India.
There are probably between 900,000 and 1.5 Million NGOs officially registered with the governing bodies in India.
There many super-legitimate organizations that, due to their longevity and integrity, we all trust and who have already been supporting organizations they have vetted. These organizations are a safe bet.
Other organizations have transparency so that we can see every move and are led by founders we all trust. These organizations are a safe bet.
With considerations for donations coming from outside India being FCRA and 80G
We are working to curate a list compiled with help from many excellent vetting organizations and will email it to anyone who asks. I’m updating the list as quickly as I can and it’s an auto-reply. The list will grow quickly. More quickly with more volunteers.
Our opinion:
While you could send a donation to a shiny multi-national NGO, smaller organizations often get more bang for your buck because their programs may be administered by passionate volunteers who don't have fancy office space. AND the money you spend doesn't go for yet another plastic water bottle with their logo, leaving more money for grains and pulses. Donations for smaller NGOs often need to be gathered and distributed through reliable, trustworthy administrators and we are working diligently to find more networks with transparent processes that we can put our name behind. Your donations benefit from the same due diligence we undertake to be confident about ours.
Please join us: [email protected]
