Profile of Give Foundation

: In the non-profit world, the need for integrated communities has persisted for very long. Because needy and prosperous communities often lead such divergent lives, the transfer of resources from the latter to the former for social gain is minimal. With the advent of the Internet, and better communication facilities related to it, this has begun to change. The GIVE Foundation (http://www.givefoundation.org/) is a good example. The GIVE Foundation is a not-for-profit company that promotes the act of ‘giving’ by helping good Non Government Organisations raise funds and promoting greater transparency and accountability in the non-profit sector. With seed money from ICICI, the GIVE Foundation provides a “single-window interface” for people to contribute the way they want to — by donating, volunteering their time or skills, shopping for handicrafts produced by poor rural artisans, or by simply becoming more well-informed citizens. The site not only facilitates secure online transactions, but also provides due diligence in the background, so that

• Donors are assured that 100% of their money reaches the NGO
• Volunteers are placed with NGOs who are serious about benefiting from their skills
• Shoppers know that artisans get fair value for their work.

The GIVE Foundation’s integration with other aspects of the online world allows it to partner with different organisations enjoying functional expertise in Donations, Shopping, Volunteering and News. MITRA, a young team of management graduates, integrates the different channels. The Foundation works with an interesting model that looks at every donor as an investor who wants ‘impact returns’ for the donation. Donate Online, the Foundation’s first offering, has raised approximately Rs.1.22 crores in just over 1 year since its launch on September 15, 2000. GIVE Online is aimed at individuals and corporate bodies for direct tax-deductible donations to non-profit organisations in India. Each organisation listed on the channel is selected after due diligence on its credibility and background. GIVE Online is India’s first and so far only online donation portal that allows donors to not only choose how their money is used by the NGOs (and make secure online donations to them), but also get to know how their money was used. The site already hosts over 15 NGOs working in different sectors and in different parts of India. The NGOs were selected after a fairly elaborate appraisal procedure. GIVE Online offers an unique 100% guarantee to ensure that

• 100% of the donor’s money reaches the NGO and no operating costs of the channel are borne by them
• 100% of the donors get to know how their donations were actually used
• 100% of the transaction is safe and secure

The site offers several modes of instant online payments by credit card or net banking using 128-bit encrypted, secure gateway interfaces. It also offers the option to wire money or mail a cheque. The channel will, in due course, allow donors to open “charity accounts”, sign up for payroll deductions and donate a variety of affinity bonuses like mileage points, credit card reward points, etc. Aarti Madhusudhan December 2001