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Author: Samhita - CGF

Meet These 5 Women Entrepreneurs Who are Pioneers in the Social Sector

Women are increasingly taking up leadership roles in the social sector with aims to bring about various positive changes in society. Setting aside profit making as key drivers of business, these women entrepreneurs have founded social enterprises that prioritise impact over profits. 

All of us here at Samhita are extremely proud of our Founder & CEO Priya Naik for being featured in Makers India’s list of women entrepreneurs who are pioneers in the social sector. Click below to read more about women who are redefining social impact in India.

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Need of a stimulus package for NGOs

The year 2020 has been a difficult year for NGOs in India (not just because of the pandemic) and the next year also potentially appears to be a difficult one. “Most NGOs are heavily reliant on their funders and with institutional funding drying up this year, several NGOs, especially the smaller ones, have suffered a lot”, said Priya Naik

ETIG-Analysis_-Need-of-a-stimulus-package-for-NGOs-The-Economic-Times-1Download

Reimagining philanthropy: From control to agency

More often than not, in our discussions about systemic change, we overlook discussions about our personal contributions in those changes. We expect civil society organisations and political leaders to dare greatly, but usually ignore the role of funders in collaboration, risk-taking, and trust building. 

At Samhita, we have always believed that “big bets” require collaboration between samaj, sarkar, and bazar. To enable these daring transformations, funders must choose courage over comfort and embrace the power of collective strength.

Gautam John of Nilekani Philanthropies makes a case to take philanthropy from control based funding to agency based funding in his article for India Development Review.

Click here to read the article

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Indian Giving Benchmarking Report

The Indian Giving Benchmarking Report is an in-depth survey of Samhita GoodCSR’s network of 2,800 nonprofit organizations about their funding sources, resource development methods, donor engagement strategies, and efforts to build a base of life-long donors. 

This report is part one of a two-part research project by UC Berkeley Director of Philanthropy and Fulbright Scholar Morry Rao Hermón, in collaboration with the Collective Good Foundation, to help fill a gap in the knowledge base about what NGOs are doing, and what is working, in the individual donor fundraising space in India.  

As a ‘benchmarking’ study, we hope that organizations will use this comprehensive data set as a practical tool for comparing their performance against the averages in the field. 

In Part II of our research, we lift up examples of three fundraising “bright spots” — exemplary organizations with proven success raising money from India’s middle class.

Download the Report

Beyond Business – Contributions to Social Initiatives

Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) & Samhita have launched the report Beyond Business – Contributions to Social Initiatives.

Member companies of the @Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance have been at the forefront of CSR activities in India with remarkable contributions in the fields of public health, education, and environment. Even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, IPA companies have been quick to respond to the needs of the hour through provision of equipment and capacity building.

This report maps the role of and impact created by Indian pharmaceutical companies through their social initiatives while simultaneously charting out the future of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for the sector.

Click here to download the report

Using Blended Finance to sustain informal workers during Covid-19

According to the International Labour Organization, more than 400 million informal sector workers in India are at risk of falling into severe poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that informal workers have no health, social, or legal protections to fall back on. Without access to formal financing, their ability to survive serious economic shocks is handicapped.

This is the challenge that the REVIVE Alliance aims to address at its core. By bringing together industry leaders and philanthropic capital, REVIVE provides zero cost Returnable Grants and skill training to help India’s workers bounce back from the most severe economic crisis of the 21st century. 

To know more about how REVIVE and it’s parters are helping families and communities build sustainable livelihoods, read this article by our co-funder USAID. 

Read

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Mahindra Logistics joins the India Workers’ Alliance

Samhita Social Ventures welcomes Mahindra Logistics Ltd. as a pillar of the India Workers Alliance to provide immediate relief to its driver community by transferring Rs 3,000 to their bank accounts to enable them to buy essential commodities.

Born out of the Samhita Model, the India Workers Alliance propogates a collective CSR fund for economic support and recovery of India’s workers. Through instant digital cash transfers the Alliance is providing immediate relief and at the same time building resilience of workers to ensure an easier segue into normalcy post the pandemic. The Alliance ensures quick funding to replace lost incomes to take care of basic necessities, facilitates access to government social schemes, micro loans and health insurance products.

These aid solutions are recommended by senior experts like Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee and Dr. Nachiket Mor to reach aid to the COVID-19 affected – the ones dispossessed and at risk.

Click here to read the article

Clean energy taps limited CSR funding, report says – Live Mint

“Companies may not be implementing CSR in clean energy because of various reasons. Many companies perceive energy access interventions to be highly technical. This could’ve discouraged some companies that did not have capacities and capabilities to implement such projects. Companies also find it difficult to source qualified and technically competent implementation partners in geographic areas of interest” – Priya Naik, Founder & CEO, Samhita Social Ventures.

This article features Samhita’s clean energy report, created in association with Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and International Finance Corporation. The report is titled ‘Energising Development – CSR in Clean Energy: What are India’s top companies up to?’.

Click here to read the article

Tech underpins a new wave of Indian corporate social responsibility

“There is something magical about the convergence with people halfway around the world. The issues you are dealing with in South Africa are so similar to the ones we are going through in India.” So says Priya Naik, founder and CEO of Samhita Social Ventures in India, addressing delegates at the Trialogue Business in Society Conference in Johannesburg today.

IT News Africa reports on Priya Naik’s keynote speech at Trialogue 2018

Click here to read the article
Disclaimer: This blog is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of cooperative agreement no. 7200AA21CA00027 (2021-2026). The contents are the responsibility of Chemonics International and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
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