Philanthropic leanings of Indian Americans
On October 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, a summit about Indian Americans and their philanthropic leanings, hosted by Indiaspora and the Indian Philanthropy Association (IPA), was very revealing.
Consider these facts:
• Indian Americans have given more than $3 billion to American universities
• Indian students contribute $10 billion annually to the US economy
• 78% Indian Americans hold Bachelor’s or higher degrees
• 10% of all doctors are Indian Americans
• 6% of the tax comes from Indian Americans
• 10% of all patents are owned by Indian Americans
• 60% of all hotel rooms are owned by Indian Americans
• 28/34 spelling bee participants are Indian Americans
The summit delegates asked a few questions of Indian American Philanthropists, sparking a debate on ‘overheads’. Some questions that arose were, for instance, do CEOs fly private planes to fight poverty, or are their decisions based on the impact of every dollar spent? Are donors justified in favoring organizations with very low overhead? Is judging a nonprofit by its overhead ratio fair or misleading?
The consensus that emerged was to look at passion and the cause first. “Efficiency is important, but overheads are the necessary backbone – you need systems, resources – to make those programs run efficiently and with integrity,” said Minoo Gupta, Vice Chair, IPA.
Nagma Mullah, CEO, EdelGive Foundation, had this opinion to offer. “On the other hand,” she said, “accounting overhead captures inputs, not outcomes. Efficiency is not necessarily effectiveness.”
Dalberg, a global consulting firm, carried out research that revealed that Indian Americans are prolific volunteers, and their giving has gone up threefold since 2017. Not only has the money increased, but the percentage of their overall income going towards philanthropy has also gone up. Most of this, however, is going towards creating a better life in India – cleaner water, getting meals on the ground, education, and jobs for rural India. An aside – many desis admitted to not contributing simply because they had never been asked.
Manu Chopra of Karya, which provides digital employment to economically disadvantaged Indians with dignity, spoke of being a product of ‘irrational compassion’, having grown up in the Shakurbasti area in Delhi. His immaculate English, he said, came from sponsorships that took him all the way to Stanford.
To give back, Chopra set up work opportunities in India for high-talent, low-opportunity communities. Talented candidates are trained to work with DeepMind and Microsoft Research, AI companies that pay 20 times the minimum wage. One of his star candidates in her 50s and earned $800 in her first 20 hours at Karya!
Raju Reddy of Sierra Atlantis, a company now acquired by Hitachi, went on to create Kakatiya Sandbox, an initiative in rural Telangana (India), building an ecosystem for long-term, positive social impact. ‘When you can use the entrepreneurial mindset to address social challenges with the compassion of a non-profit and the excellence in execution of the for-profit world, then you get outstanding results.
Desh Deshpande gave an interesting closure to the summit with the question, ‘What would Gandhi do if he were alive today?’ Deshpande shared a different scenario of the world since 1948, and while some statistics would look promising, Gandhi, he said, would be concerned about the wealth divide between the haves and have-nots.
He would disapprove of violence and polarization with three billion people living on handouts! He would also want to inject more compassion into nonprofits, not to create dependency but for systemic change. Gandhi was not anti-technology; he was pro-human, Deshpande said.
A common thread through the panels was to keep the people being helped in mind while planning solutions – who are we ultimately serving? That is the pertinent question.