After arriving in our hotel in the early morning hours, with the jet lag setting in, I watched the sun rise on our first day in Mumbai. Looking out from the hotel window, I’m finally able to grasp that our Indian adventure has begun. We have spent the last month in Washington defining various aspects of social entrepreneurs and what it takes to develop and maintain successful social organizations. We’ve heard lectures and read case studies and now are finally able to experience the true case study that is India.
A crucial part of any social venture is finding the money to support the mission. As part of our preparation for the trip, we were asked to look into a few organizations that connect funders with the types of programs we are visiting in India. Samhita, Global India Fund, Global Giving, and Kiva are all online portals connecting a multitude of donors with potential funding opportunities around the world. The sites operate in slightly different ways but share the same concept of global philanthropy in an extremely easy and interactive way.
Samhita aims to create the ultimate social marketplace for NGOs, individual donors, as well as service providers. They are currently in their first phase of development that focuses on NGOs throughout India by providing the opportunities necessary to build an effective organization. The site provides NGOs a voice, while connecting them with donors across the world. NGOs can also enter the site and access resources such as legal advice and where to find volunteers in order to maintain their mission. Working as an Americorps volunteer at a food bank in Ohio, I was responsible for creating a similar portal (on a much smaller scale) for local food pantries to share resources and ideas to further their mission. The food bank portal had great success and provided food pantries with a support system to maintain and become more effective. It is so important for organizations like the NGOs supported by Samhita to have access to resources tailored to their specific social mission in order to be effective and successful.
The Global India Fund, in partnership with Samhita, has a very innovative approach to global philanthropy as well. The online portal not only connects donors with funding opportunities throughout India but also fosters stewardship for donors by providing various donation options as well as regular updates regarding their donation. As we have learned from Dr. Vyas, founder of GIF, the process of gathering social organizations and performing the due diligence necessary to maintain both the organizations’ and GIF’s credibility is extremely important, as well as extensive and time consuming. Making the extra effort to ensure credible organizations are receiving the donations is the next step to creating a secure site, building trust with donors, and maintaining an easily accessible market for global philanthropy.
Global Giving functions along the same lines as both Samhita and GIF but is open to various social organizations throughout the world. Donors are able to enter the site and pick a funding opportunity by either a topic of interest, region of the world, most popular program, and so on. Kiva takes a different approach than the others in that when donors give money it is in the form of a loan that will eventually be paid in full by the recipient. The personal stories of those seeking loans around the world are provided and donors pick and choose the individuals they would like to support. This personal aspect really allows donors to connect with individuals in need and help them get their feet on the ground and eventually sustain their business after repayment of the loan. One of the functions of Kiva’s site that I find to be extremely innovative is when individuals repay loans, the money is then credited to the donor’s Kiva account and can be redistributed to other individuals. Thus, you could only make one initial donation but recycle the money after repayment within the Kiva network and eventually be able to reach multiple individuals over time.
There’s so much that goes in to maintaining successful social organizations and these websites are creating the financial foundation and opportunity for organizations across the globe. They provide the opportunity for anyone attempting to make a donation, no matter the size, to do so in an extremely interactive and accessible way. I look forward to visiting the types organizations that these global philanthropy networks help to fund throughout our two weeks in India. It will no doubt be a life changing experience that will further shape my career in public health. Stay tuned…
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