Living in a society where individual actions cannot solely solve global problems, the idea of collective giving can be seen as a perfect solution. Through collective giving, where groups of individuals come together to invest in solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems, there is the ability to create a lot of change. This model is especially relevant to India because the country has many ethnic groups and a strong tradition of giving.
It has also been observed that about 61% of individual donations in India are made through people coming together to contribute from their pockets.
This blog post aims to discuss the role of collective giving in India and its strengths, ways of functioning, successes, and future prospects.
When people work together to offer money, time, or resources to a shared cause, this collaborative approach is referred to as collective giving. Through the creation of a resource pool that can handle more complicated and large-scale concerns than individual donations could, this strategy increases the effect of each gift. Collective giving is not a novel idea in India, where customs such as community fundraising for festivals, weddings, and local development initiatives have long been observed. Nonetheless, new paths for significant influence have been made possible by the formalisation and growth of this strategy in recent years.
The expected yearly value of India's philanthropic contributions as of 2023 was $10 billion.
The role and funding of healthcare especially in the post-COVID-19 era has been boosted and the focus has been placed on medical equipment, health facilities, and outreach programs. These are the advantages of collective giving which are quite as helpful and important as they can be. Here are a few of them:
Leveraging Diverse Expertise: Collective giving platforms often bring together people with different expertise and skills. It is done so that there will be more original and effective ideas in solving the issues that are present in society.
In India, there are several models of collective giving and each one has its own features and perks. These include:
Kerala, one of the southern states in India also faced a huge flood in the year 2018 affecting many people. Consequently, people, organizations, and the government mobilized and participated in giving, which was a new concept. Crowdfunding platforms played a vital role, raising over ₹1,000 crore (approximately $140 million) within a short period. Also, the giving circles as well as other community groups activated local campaigns for fundraising. The funds were dispersed for the purpose of addressing needs in food, clothing, and other essentials, reconstruction, and development projects – a perfect example of the effectiveness of community fundraising in disaster response.
The Teach For India Fellowship
Teach For India (TFI) is a nonprofit organization that tries to bring change in the Indian education system to improve the lives of children. TFI aims at recruiting competent and willing individuals who will teach in the affected schools in the country. This endeavor has been supported by donations from people, organizations, and even foundations. The impact has been tremendous, TFI fellows have been able to teach more than 32,000 students in a year and inspire the next generation of leaders who have chosen to take up the mantle of Educational improvement.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or the Clean India Mission which was launched in the year 2014 by the Indian Government aimed at eradicating the problems of open defecation and management of solid waste. Despite being a government program, the campaign involved the public as participants to contribute resources and time. Some aspects of the program were funded and implemented by business organizations, non-governmental organizations, and citizens’ groups. Over 11 crore Toilets & 2.23 lakh Community Sanitary Complexes were built across All States/UTs Under the Swachh Bharat Mission
Technology has played a big role in transforming the process of collective giving. Technology and particularly social network sites has provided people with the opportunity to support various causes, monitor the progress of their contributions, and interact with other like-minded contributors. It has been made simple and easy through the use of mobile payment systems and crowdfunding websites, giving circles, among others.
However, there are also some drawbacks that can be highlighted in relation to collective giving. These are important questions that need to be addressed in order to ensure that this approach will work.
One of the most crucial issues that has been of interest to the donors is the issue of accountability as to how the money will be utilized. It does this because people are afraid that their contribution will be misused in some way in a collective giving program.
Solution: Other factors that are also known to contribute to credibility include; well-defined structures, frequent assessments and answers for accountability, and correct and up-to-date information. The platforms should be able to articulate the management of the funds and the impact created by the utilization of the funds. External assessments can also increase credibility.
There could be people who have never heard of this idea before or those who have heard of it but do not fully comprehend its functions or the impact that they have.
Solution: By raising awareness, knowledge, and interest, people will be able to understand how the money saved can be useful in bringing change. Thus, people can be attracted to the process telling success stories and showing how people are involved in the process.
For one to foster and achieve the goal of effective collective giving, it is therefore important to include the donors, the NGOs, and other government agencies. There are various issues that may result from conflict of interest such as duplication and misuse of resources.
Solution: By creating avenues for cooperation and communication, better coordination might be accomplished. Resource and activity coordination may be achieved through cooperative project management systems, shared databases, and cooperative planning sessions.
Collective giving in India seems to have a bright future, and several factors point to its further development.
The effectiveness of collective giving is the aggregation of funds, ideas, and concerns in order to work on social problems. This approach has been implemented in India and has shown its effectiveness through the achievement of several successful endeavors. With this positive trend, identified challenges, and the use of technology, collective giving should be recognized as an important element of India’s development agenda. In this way, the communities can work together and come to a common platform in order to fight for a better future for society.
