Who are we?
India Currents is an award-winning, nonprofit news organization bringing Indian Americans stories that explain and explore living in the United States. Established in 1987, we are the oldest newsroom dedicated to covering America’s Indian diaspora of 5 million, the fastest-growing Asian population in the United States.
As community conveners, we play a unique role in forging connections among Indian Americans, breaking down cultural silos, and fostering civic engagement that extends beyond our immediate community. India Currents is more than a media outlet; we are a dynamic force shaping the narrative, connecting people, and championing the values that define our shared journey.
Our Mission
Our mission is to strengthen civic engagement within the Indian diaspora by applying a cultural lens to mainstream narratives, elevating underrepresented voices, and engaging with social justice issues.
Our Story
India Currents has documented the life of Indian Americans in Silicon Valley for over 37 years. In 2019 India Currents transitioned from a 32-year-old print magazine into a fully digital, nonprofit entity. We are a BIPOC-led team.
Our deep roots in the community make us a trusted messenger on critical issues. Like all ethnic media, our role is first and foremost to document the intimate lives of the audience we serve. We connect our audience to their heritage with relevant coverage of the arts and produce stories beyond the model minority narrative.
We also chronicle social issues that impact their lives – whether it’s cross-cultural identities, assimilation, domestic violence, or the changes to immigration policy and Public Charge on new immigrants who are Silicon Valley employees.
Here is a recent Q&A and case study that the Institute of Nonprofit News (INN) published about our work.
Our Impact
Growing Readership:
A growing number of readers rely on our work because our stories impact their lives. We now average 1 million website visitors per year. Thousands more see our work through Apple News, MSN, Smartnews, and other media organizations to which we give our stories at no cost.
The public has free access to all of the content on our website, social media, and weekly newsletters. In 2023, our website had 514,736 unique readers, reflecting a 5% growth in unique users over the previous year.
We have about 70,000 social media followers and about 15,000 newsletter subscribers.
Building Storytellers of Color:
During this time we have nurtured hundreds of community journalists, many of whom have become successful mainstream journalists and published authors. In 2022 alone, we worked with dozens of writers and published about 900 stories. Our staff mentored 20 youth writers and 6 student interns.
Building Allies:
We have strong alliances with Bay Area nonprofits for community-building efforts. Our partners span diverse groups: East Palo Alto Center for Community Media (EPACCM), Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI), Ethnic Media Services (EMS), DingDing TV, India Community Center (ICC), LGBTQ support groups Parivar, among others.
Our Annual Reports: https://indiacurrents.com/annual-reports/.
Our Awards
Award-Winning Stories
Check out our stories, ranging from identity to politics, that have garnered journalistic acclaim!
Our editorial team produces award-winning stories from and for our community. Over the years India Currents has established a track record for journalistic excellence and won awards and recognitions from New America Media, the San Francisco Press Club, and the California Journalism Awards. In 2022 and 2023 we won 15 awards each year. In the last two years, our reporters have won four investigative fellowships from the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.
How are we funded?
India Currents is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. We are funded through foundations, sponsors, and donors. We spend the majority of our funding directly on reporters, editors, photographers, researchers, and people who support our journalism efforts. Our Federal Tax ID number is 83-3257703. Our funders include:
To learn more contact Vandana Kumar at publisher@indiacurrents.com
India Currents is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, which supports more than 400 independent news organizations in a new news network: nonprofit, nonpartisan, and dedicated to public service