Who says charitable causes
have to be Spartan and
boring? Increasingly, many
charities are capitalizing on
Indian-American affluence
and using glamour, celebrities,
privilege, and entertainment to
fund their causes. Here’s an
up-close look at how the rich
and famous are banding
together for the benefit of the
poor and afflicted.
How would you like to hobnob with
the ever charismatic, ever friendly former
President Bill Clinton? Meet former
First Daughter Chelsea Clinton on
board the warship Intrepid? Perhaps
rub shoulders with corporate superstars
Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo and Ajay
Banga of Mastercard? Or Indian barons
like Mukesh Ambani? Chat with celebs
like Salman Rushdie, Mira Nair, Shabana
Azmi, or Jhumpa Lahiri? Pose for a picture
with Miss America Nina Davuluri?
Hobnobbing with the
likes of Sir Salman Rushdie—one typical perk of attending
grand galas. (Source: AIF)
That’s life in the gala fundraiser
circuit in the U.S.—where you can actually
feel good about social climbing and
celebrity chasing. After all, you become
part of a machinery that’s raising millions
of dollars for some of the most
pressing needs of the less fortunate in
India and the U.S. While most elite private
clubs exist for personal gain and
professional networking, the remarkable
aspect about these glamorous galas
is that they don’t monitor the graphs of
big business or mergers, but rather, generate
large sums of donations for those
who need it the most.
You could call these initiatives the
Do-Gooders’ Billion Dollar Club, which,
through high profile events, get high
net worth individuals and corporations
to write large checks for providing
education, food, medical procedures,
clean water, and a lot more for those
who would otherwise have no hope for
these. Several nonprofit organizations
like American India Foundation (AIF),
Pratham-USA, Akshaya Patra Foundation,
and Share and Care Foundation
help channel wealth from Silicon Valley
and Wall Street moguls to the villages
and slums of India.
While glamour and glitter may be
the motivation for many who attend
these events, underlying is usually a
founder or founders who are truly inspired
to make an impact on the lives of
those who are less fortunate. In a moving
speech at this year’s gala at New York
City’s Capitale in Manhattan, Sam Desai
of the Desai Foundation explained his
impetus behind his Foundation and the
work it does in rural India: ““I was born and brought up through high school
in a village. There was no electricity,
running water, paved roads, motorized
vehicles, or many things that we
take for granted. For example, playgrounds,
toys, pre-school and Kindergarten
learning, or a library, showers,
good toilets, and the telephone were
nowhere to be found.” Now that abundance
characterizes his life, he feels
obliged to share his good fortune. The
attendees at his gala—high-profile entrepreneurs,
regional and national community
leaders, technology and entertainment
industry moguls, filmmakers,
and musicians, among others—are all
ready to help whether it be with their
checkbooks or their celebrity statuses.
Exponential
Philanthropy
When one of the world’s richest diaspora
communities undertakes charitable
causes to benefit some of the neediest,
it is already a potent formula. Add
to it the exchange rate differential, and
pretty soon landscapes and lives can be
transformed in a massive way.
America’s reputation for being the
most generous nation in the world is
widely acknowledged. In fact, according
to a study conducted by the Center on
Philanthropy at Indiana University, it is
estimated that the projected charitable
contributions from 1998 to 2052 will total
between $21.2 to $55.4 trillion. The
figures of charitable giving in the U.S.
are larger than the GDP of some nations!
Who can forget Warren Buffett’s gift
of $43.5 billion in Berkshire Hathaway
stock to charities, including $31 billion
to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—the largest single charitable gift
in history? Three Indian-American business
moguls—Vinod Khosla, Romesh
Wadhwani and Manoj Bhargava—have
signed up with Giving Pledge, founded
by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda
Gates, a commitment by the world’s
wealthiest individuals and families to
dedicate the major part of their wealth
to philanthropy.
While most individual Indian-Americans are nowhere near those
levels when it comes to giving, they
have collectively given millions of
dollars to causes in India and the U.S.,
including establishing chairs at American
universities.
Fundraising with fun,
food, and fanfare!
The fundraising gala has been a
staple of American philanthropy, serving
the dual purpose of raising funds for
important causes, while also allowing
opportunities for the upwardly mobile
to network and form connections. Glamour
and style are the hallmark of these
events, organized at upscale venues
with celebrity guests, dinners by noted
chefs, and entertainment by big names.
The cost of these indulgences are typically
underwritten by supporters and
sponsors. They draw inspiration from
the American foundations which use
the gala model with their high net worth
supporters to raise huge amounts. The
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts,
for instance, holds eight to nine galas a year to raise funds in New York City.
Recently, the Robin Hood Foundation
raised $60 million in just one evening.
“Raising charitable funds through
galas is a particularly American way of
getting people to donate money to various
causes,” says Dinyar Devitre, Chairman
of Pratham-USA. “Even in the UK,
which is a generous country, the gala
concept is still emerging. The formula is
straightforward: use an attractive venue,
invite a well known keynote speaker,
and make the evening fun. The Indian
diaspora in the USA is becoming richer
and increasingly philanthropic. They
want to give money to good causes and
they want to have fun whilst doing so.
This is particularly true of second generation
Indian Americans.”
President Bill Clinton, who was instrumental in the formation of AIF, remains an ardent supporter.
(Source: AIF)
American India Foundation—numero uno in giving
In the Indian-American community,
the grand-daddy of them all is the
American India Foundation (AIF) which
was founded with the support of President
Clinton in 2001 in the aftermath
of the Gujarat earthquake. According to
Pradeep Kashyap, the vice chair of AIF,
“As members of the Indian diaspora settle
into their journey of becoming Americans,
they do adopt American ways in
most aspects of their lives—including
practicing socially aware philanthropy.
By seeking similarly valued members
of the diaspora we have built volunteer
chapters across the major urban areas
in the U.S. As chapters achieve higher
levels of engagement and success, we
ensure that they are appropriately represented
in the governance infrastructure
of AIF. That allows for a broader ownership
of brand AIF.”
Best-selling cookery author
and actress Madhur Jaffrey
greets the revered economist
and philosopher, Amartya Sen.
(Source: AIF)
AIF fundraisers have raised the bar
for bragging rights with high profile
guests like President Clinton, Mukesh
Ambani, prominent Indian socialites
and philanthropists Adi and Parmeshwar
Godrej, and CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt.
Gala committees often chaired
by ex-Citibank Chairman Victor Menezes
have been graced by top names in
American finance and business. Food
and film personality Madhur Jaffrey is
an AIF ambassador. Panel discussions
hosted by AIF have seen the presence of
heavy hitters like N. R. Narayana Murthy,
Indra Nooyi, and Fareed Zakaria.
At this year’s gala, Dinesh Paliwal, president
and CEO, Harman International
and his wife Ila were the co-chairs, and
the honorees were Dan Hesse (CEO,
Sprint) and T. K. Kurien, (CEO, Wipro
Limited). With guests from the worlds
of business, arts, and entrepreneurship,
it was a power gathering in every sense
of the word.
Actor Richard Gere making an
appearance at the AIF gala.
(Source: AIF)
AIF’s president Lata Krishnan, a
hugely successful entrepreneur in Silicon
Valley, has brought in passion and
commitment to growing the organization.
Some of the biggest fundraisers
have been held in Silicon Valley, events
with over 600 people, dancing and dinning,
while collecting valuable dollars for
valuable and pressing causes. AIF’s most
recent gala, with Cognizant Technology’s
Frank D’Souza as guest of honor, raised
over $1 million. Their locales are always
stunning. The Chicago gala for instance,
was organized inside the magnificent
Union Station hall.
Over the years, AIF has raised $87
million and continues to raise $7-10 million
yearly. It has built national chapters and held annual galas in multiple locations
across the U.S., from San Francisco
and Chicago to Washington, D.C.
and Boston. AIF board members visit
projects in India early in the year and
from April onwards hold various galas
and panels to help raise funds. According
to AIF’S CEO Ravi Kumar, “AIF has
a record of raising millions of dollars
over the years through projects in education,
livelihood, and public health. It
has transformed the lives of 1.9 million
of India’s underserved in 23 states.
The six signature programs present a
portfolio for supporters who are focused
on ensuring that their contributions
are spent well, efficiently, and leveraged
to the maximum.”
Pratham: shining the
light of literacy
Pratham is another powerhouse
organization; its very active American
base, Pratham USA, raised over $10
million in 2012. Committed to bringing
universal literacy to India, its board is
comprised of prominent corporate leaders,
many of whom contribute $100,000
each to the organization’s programs.
Pratham USA has on its board
Dinyar Devitre, its chairman, a special
advisor to General Atlantic Partners, a
private equity group in New York and
is a member of the Board of Directors
of Altria Group, Inc. Some of the other
successful Indian-Americans on the
Board are Arvind Sanger, Jaideep Khanna,
Vijay Goradia, Avinash Ahuja, Suren
Gupta, Sudesh Arora, Paul Pandian,
Deepak Raj, and Swatantra Jain. Fareed
Zakaria recently joined the board.
Pratham has 14 chapters across the
USA and fundraising galas are held in
most of these locations with high profile
personalities from the worlds of business
and the arts.
Dinyar Devitre, Chairman
of Pratham USA, with
Chelsea Clinton, at a gala
aboard the USS Intrepid.
(Source: Pratham USA)
Last year it held a dazzling gala
on the warship Intrepid in New York
harbor with Chelsea Clinton as chief
guest, raising over $2 million. More
grand galas are on the way this year,
including one in Washington DC
where Ajay Banga of MasterCard will
be honored. Another event in New York
will be held in the prestigious Museum
of Modern Art where Fareed Zakaria
will be the keynote speaker.
Akshaya Patra
Foundation: feeding
India’s hungry children
U.S. Congressman Joseph Kennedy
III and Miss America Nina Davuluri were
the keynote speakers at the Boston gala
fundraiser for Akshaya Patra Foundation
USA. This U.S. chapter of the India-
based organization raises about $4
million annually—ten percent of the
$40 million raised by the parent body—
which provides hot, nutritious school
meals to more than 1.3 million underserved
children in 9,500 government
schools in India, operating from 19
centralized kitchens.
Akshaya Patra Foundation USA
has nine chapters and is headed by the
noted philanthropist Desh Deshpande.
Emily Rosenbaum, CEO, Akshaya Patra
Foundation USA, says: “What is different
about the fundraising approach
here in the U.S. is the focus on leveraging
the skills, abilities, and resources of volunteers and supporters
through hub city chapters
which generally hold one
lar-ge scale fundraising Galastyle
event per year, and many
augment this with smaller
events such as golf tournaments,
concerts, or grassroots
walk/run events.”
Share and Care:
community-based
giving
Fundraising is a lot about
who you know, and different
groups have leveraged different
networks and people in
power. Share and Care is a much respected
organization which has raised over
$65 million for niche programs, largely
with support from the community.
“Our partners are corporations, private
funds, and high net-worth individuals,”
says Arun Bhansali, President of Share
and Care: “We have well-oiled marketing
and communication channels that
keep donors’ interest alive and proactive.
Ours is a community-based foundation
where we receive funds from
over 10,000 donors. Over 32 years, we
have been very transparent and
developed trust within the community.
The foundation has raised millions for
our signature programs—women empowerment,
health and education—
through galas, concerts, and art shows.”
Children’s Hope India:
health and literacy
programs for the
underprivileged
Some smaller organizations have
also had stellar results, fundraising with
theme-based galas and well-known personalities.
Children’s Hope India, formed
by NY women professionals, has worked
in slums and villages for 21 years, creating
health and education programs for
needy children. It has held fashion galas
with the top names from the Indian
fashion world including Ritu Kumar,
Suneet Varma, Rohit Bal, and Manish
Arora. Its entertainment-filled “Evening
in Mumbai” and “Viva Calcutta!” events
have turned fundraising into fun-raising.
Mira Nair, Jhumpa Lahiri, Princess Padmaja
of Udaipur, Suketu Mehta, and
Karan Johar have all been supporters.
Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo, being honored by Children’s Hope India, with Kavita Lund, Tinku Jain, and Ambassador D. Mulay. (Photo: SnapsIndia)
Last year, CHI honored Indra Nooyi of
PepsiCo with its Special Impact award,
with big names like Ajay Banga, Dinesh
Paliwal, and Ajit Jain in attendance.
The evening raised $500,000 with over
$90,000 being raised in just ten minutes
with a live auction of CHI projects by
Christie’s auctioneer Sandhya Jain-Patel.
New initiatives: giving
back to the USA
As Indians increasingly assimilate
into the social fabric of America, their
involvement with mainstream museums,
hospitals, and other institutions,
in terms of generous donations, is also
increasingly visible. In Chicago, Prabhakant
Sinha became the Art Institute’s
first Asian-American trustee and was
the co-chair of the annual gala. Kant
and his wife Anita have now created the
Sinha Kikeri Foundation with $1.3 million
earmarked for arts, education, and
social justice projects.
There is such an interest in giving
that new foundations are proliferating
in the USA. Meera Gandhi’s Giving
Back Foundation held its first gala at
the Pierre Hotel in New York, honoring
Barbara Tober, Museum of Arts and Design’s
Chairman Emerita, along with
Nimesh Kampani, Chairman of the JM
Financial Group, with Phylicia Rashad
and Ajay Hutheesing among the guests.
Sharmila Rao Thakkar, Director at
the online network The South Asian
Philanthropy Project, says, “While there
are no hard figures yet for Indian giving,
Indian-Americans sit on the boards
of large arts, health, and education institutions.
I’ve seen charitable giving
by young South Asians from personal
acquired wealth or inherited wealth,
and family foundations emerging from
anonymity, as well as the rise of giving
circles amongst the Indian-American
community across the country.”
While the tradition of giving was
ingrained amongst Indians, the community
here is pushing the envelope in
philanthropy. What’s more, it is having a
gala time doing just that.
Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist
who blogs at http://www.lassiwithlavina.com.
Twitter @lassiwithlavina. Google +.
6 Fun Facts About Galas
1. Largest Amount Raised: $3 million at AIF Gala at Waldorf Astoria with Mukesh Ambani and
Jeffrey Immelt of GE.
2. Most Popular Guest: President Bill Clinton (AIF).
3. Most Unusual Locations: Aboard the mighty aircraft carrier Intrepid which saw action in World
War II (Pratham USA) and in the lobby of the historic Union Station in Chicago (AIF ).
4. Best Keynote Speech: Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo (Children’s Hope India).
5. Most Creative Menus: by Celebrity Chefs Vikas Khanna of Junoon, Hemant Mathur of Tulsi, and
Jehangir Mehta of Graffiti (Pratham USA and AIF).
6. Best Live Auction Prize: VIP Tickets to the Grammys—sold for $20,000 (AIF).
GenNext—
taking
philanthropy
forward
The newest battalions of do-gooders are the young who grew up with American norms
of fundraising. Starting from Girl Scout cookies, walkathons, and yard sales, giving back has
been ingrained in communities at school and play. Almost every Indian nonprofit organization,
be it AIF or Share and Care, has a tier of
young professionals who having experienced
these rituals firsthand. They bring
American energy and know-how into the
organization. Many young Indians have
also started their own organizations to
help the cause of health and education
in India, such as Asha for Education and
the Nanubhai Education Foundation.
Founder Raj Shah and Co-Chair
Nita Nehru of the Nanubhai
Education Foundation, with
spokesman, the actor Manish
Dayal (The Hundred Foot
Journey). (Source: The Nanubhai
Education Foundation)
The galas attract younger Indian-
American celebrities. The Nanubhai
Education Foundation has Manish Dayal
(of The Hundred Foot Journey) as its spokesperson.
Kal Penn, Sendhil Ramamurthy,
Maulik Pancholy, Aasif Mandvi, and Melanie Kannokada are big
supporters. These fun events in buzz places like the Chelsea Art
Museum and the Angel Orensanz Center attract young supporters.
Here, writing checks for causes becomes a way of life for many
young professionals who also take advantage of matching fund
donations at their place of work.
CH2 is the junior arm of Children’s Hope India and has raised
five figure amounts with its art gallery receptions and music parties
in lounges. The Empire State Building was recently lit up with
a very different kind of light—the light of giving—when CH2 held
a swinging cocktail soiree for over 300 supporters. The goal of this
fun evening was to raise funds to correct and prevent blindness in
children in India through the K.K. Eye Institute of Pune. Indeed, CH2
has found a novel way of turning the quintessential New York party
into a vehicle for creating good karma. Drinks, food, and shopping all became a way of raising
funds, with noted restaurateurs and retailers donating goods.
And now there is CH3, a group of teens who have been raising surprisingly good amount of
money through pizza fundraisers and other uniquely American ways of helping those in need.
They were able to raise over $12,000 and will be sending three kids to the eight-week Young
People’s Day Camps this summer.