Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India and SPJIMR Join Hands to Host World Giving Index 2015 Roundtable in Mumbai

MUMBAI, December 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Representatives From Various Sectors Come Together to Discuss Strategic Ways of Giving 

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India and S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) jointly hosted the World Giving Index (WGI) 2015 Roundtable at the SPJIMR campus. The roundtable discussed the recently launched WGI 2015 report which ranked India at the 106^th position globally in giving. This was a fall from the 69^th position India occupied on the WGI report last year.

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The roundtable discussed various ways that could help the culture of giving and promote generosity, particularly in large businesses and corporates.

Representatives from corporate sector, civil society organisations and students of Post Graduate Programme in Development Management (PGP-DM), a programme for the working executives from development sector at SPJIMR exchanged ideas and experiences.

Meenakshi Batra, CEO, CAF India; Prof. Rukaiya Joshi, Chairperson, SPJIMR's Centre for Education in the Social Sector (CEdSS); Abhejit Agarwal, Assistant VP, Responsible Banking, Yes Bank; Nagma Mulla, COO, Edle Give Foundation; Manav Singh, Director, Operations and Strategy, Vidya India and Poonam Bhonsle, Associate Director Operations, Door Step School were the panelists at the World Giving Index 2015 Roundtable.

Speaking at the event, Ms. Meenakshi Batra said, "Wealth is not always the best measure of generosity. It's not always about how much money you are giving, but also about how we are engaging with beneficiaries. She further added, "The WGI report has revealed that India still has the largest number of givers but as a proportion of our population, it's not huge. Hence, at CAF India, we are committed to building a society which can give more effectively to causes they care about."

Prof. Rukaiya Joshi, Chairperson, CEdSS said, "We need to go beyond the surface to see how India can become more generous. NGOs and the corporate sector have their own strengths and if both these sectors work on their strengths, it can greatly benefit the society. We want our MBA students to be socially responsible business leaders of tomorrow. CAF's WGI report will help us all to understand the giving landscape in India better and come up with solutions that can be used effectively in the corporate world."

Future leaders of the development sector pursuing PGP-DM at SPJIMR participated in engaging sessions with the NGO and corporate sector that could help India move up the rankings and find strategic solutions to improve the giving culture in the country.

Abhejit Aggarwal, Assistant Vice President, Responsible Banking, Yes Bank, said, "The essence of the WGI Index is its simplicity and it gives us a sense of how generous we are as a nation. It is important that the corporate sector integrate their social responsibilities with the objective of making money. The bridge needs to be crossed and this is where white papers like the World Giving Index are important. This is how organisations like CAF India and SPJIMR play a key role in the society in helping the corporate and NGOs sector meet on a common platform."

Speaking on behalf of the NGO sector, Manavi Singh, Director, Operations and Strategy, Vidya India, said, "We rely on giving a lot. If there isn't enough giving, NGOs would face a tough time in coping up with the programs they have designed for social causes."

Nagma Mulla, COO, Edel Give Foundation, added, "Given the economic situation we were going through last year, I think the findings of the World Giving Index 2015 is not too bad even though India is ranked 106^th in the world. CSR brought a lot of attention on the giving landscape in the country. We are a smart population and I am hopeful we can climb up the WGI rankings in the near future."

Another NGO representative in the panel, Poonam Bhonsle, Associate Director Operations, Door Step School added, "It's important to report back to our donors to keep the donors informed about how their donations are being spent. We inculcate the culture of giving through our beneficiaries as they are our best ambassadors to spread the good word."

The question and answer round with the audience saw some insightful observations and highlighted the areas where there is a need to bridge the gap between the NGOs and corporates to build a relationship of trust and understanding.

Some of the key findings of the report were:

• 31.5% of the world's population had given money to charity - an increase of 3.2 percentage points on last year
• 48.9% of the world's population had helped a stranger - marginally up from 48.5% in 2013. People aged between 30 and 49 were most likely to have helped (51.5%)
• 21.0% of the world's population had given time - slightly down from 21.3% last year.

About SPJIMR: 

SPJIMR is a part of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and operates out of its one and only campus at Munshi Nagar, Dadabhai Road, Andheri West, Mumbai. The Institute has no branches or campuses in any other city or country. For more information, visit http://www.spjimr.org/index.asp

About Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India 

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India is a not-for-profit organisation working to make giving more effective and NGOs more successful. Established in 1998, CAF India's vision is to build a society motivated to give ever more effectively and help transform lives and communities. In order to achieve this vision, CAF India has been actively engaged with stakeholders across a broad spectrum of areas. CAF India has worked with over 50 companies and 50,000 individual donors, providing effective giving to more than 300 validated NGOs across 22 states in India.

Media Contact:
Prof. Abbasali Gabula
[email protected]
+91-9821362495
Deputy Director (External Relations & Administration)
S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR)