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What it’s like to have a career in fundraising

May 27, 2019

By Sumeet Sandhu, General Manager, Resource Generation – South, CRY

What do you want to become when you grow up? Doctor? Engineer? Entrepreneur?

Well, ‘Fundraiser’ doesn’t even feature in the list.

However, when exploring an alternative career is becoming a more mainstream conversation, the option of ‘fundraising’ certainly pops out.

For many fundraisers in the industry currently, a fundraising career came as “second innings”, something we happened to fall into. But is it worth chasing as a career option?

What is fundraising?

The process of collecting money as donations, for a charitable cause from individuals, companies and businesses is called ‘Fund-Raising’. This is one of the main tools of functioning for non-profit organizations.

The growth of the development sector has seen lot of NGOs come alive in the last decade. Though the concept of fundraising is widely accepted in the western world, it still doesn’t enjoy the confidence of the Indian career-seekers.

With technology, there is a drift in the mindset heralding a positive change. While still first thoughts of fundraising generate thoughts of people in the street vying for attention with folders and flyers, or strangers knocking on doors, there is much more to it than what meets the eye.

Fundraising for a noble cause, executed with honesty, has garnered mass appeal. The erstwhile US President Barack Obama chose this route, and organized a successful fundraising campaign raising $778,642,962 USD, before he got elected in 2008.

Fundraising in India

It might be surprising but the fact remains that the Indian Non-profit sector is the largest in the world. The largest pie being held by religious NGOs, followed by community/ social services and than by education.

Activities	Percentage of NGOs
Religious	26.5%
Community/Social Service	21.3%
Education	20.4%
Sports/Culture	17.9%
Health	6.6%
Others	7.5%

Recent legal changes (mandatory corporate social responsibility in India being introduced in the Companies Act in 2013), more wealth being generated within the country resulting in more funds available for non-profits and high attrition rate in corporate sector resulting in large influx of talent into non-profit sector, are the probable causes contributing to the rapid growth of the development sector in the last decade.

The fundraising industry in India is divided into mainly 3 sectors: Individual giving (individuals donating in their personal capacity), Corporates or the Corporate Social Responsibility sector, Institutional grants (large social sector institutions coming forward to support social causes).

Many tools like Online crowd-funding, Fundraising events, Cause related marketing campaigns or partnerships have recently gained traction to drive high growth in the industry. While the new tactics are spreading its roots, the traditional ways of meeting people face to face or door to door is still quite prevalent.

The western world continues to lead in Innovation by coming out with marquee appeal campaigns like Ice-bucket challenge, Red Nose Tuesday etc.

The Human Connection

The evolution of fundraising has been based on the foundation of “the human connection”, to reach out to the goodness of each person and administer inspiring ways to motivate them to donate.

Most believe, for obvious reasons, fundraising means “raising money” or “asking people for money”, but the fundamental aspect of fundraising is about human relationships. The fulcrum of fundraising lies in its cause. Honesty is the secret of a good fundraising campaign no matter what the platform or channel used while the need of human-connect remains paramount.

Who makes the cut?

The most important requirement in a fundraiser boils down to “being comfortable asking for money”.

The good news is there are no professional qualifications/ certifications you need, to be a fund-raiser, but yes qualifications and relevant experience does help. Basic skill sets of good communication, inter-personal and organizational skills, go a long way in crafting out a career in the field. A sales and marketing background, or an orientation for the same, aligns with the demands of work.

While there is no specific genre of education required, ability to think-on-your-feet, to articulate the cause effectively, build-a-connect with the potential donor, being able to respond to donor queries satisfactorily, are some of the must-haves. It helps to remember that an act of charity is a manifestation of kindness which needs to be handled with gratitude and grace.

A college graduate from a communication or management background or anyone who has a specific experience in the development sector will find it easier, having said that the core of pre-requisites remains an undying passion and an unfaltering belief towards the cause.

There are examples of fundraisers climbing up the ladder and taking senior roles in reputed organizations. CRY is one such repository of examples. The wisdom of sensitivity and the importance of diplomacy within the cusp of strategy also equip a person to take up hardcore corporate roles in the domains of marketing and strategy.

Preparing for fundraising

Though professional education in the development sector is still at a nascent stage, this sector is seeing some excitement too. TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) continues to be the oldest and most respected institution, new institutes like ISDM (Indian School of Development Management) are making a mark.

Is it for me?

If you happen to be someone, who is not able to see something that isn’t right, or just walk past it (poverty, injustice, abuse, hunger) and has a strong urge to do something about it, to change it, make a difference; then “Fundraising might be the career path you have been looking for”.

And yes, the well-known “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs” theory applies to a choice of career too; you do want a sense of purpose along with financial security, which fundraising offers.

The salaries in the sector might not be comparable to the corporate world, but it does get you by if your financials needs are not top-of-line, and the satisfaction of doing something meaningful, compensates for it by offering some purpose in a world that is rather transactional.

Views of the author are personal and do not necessarily represent the website’s views.

Thank you for reading the column. In addition, your thoughts and inputs will genuinely make a difference to us. Please drop a line and help us do better.

Regards,
The CSR Journal Team

The need for a force of ophthalmologists to improve eye health scenario in India

RN Mohanty CEO, Sightsavers India

May 25, 2019

India’s large populace requires ophthalmic care. But the question is, does it have enough human resource to address this need? Despite major advances in affordable technology and innovative models of eye health care delivery, blindness is still a major public health issue in India due to avoidable causes such as cataract and refractive errors. On one hand, there are high volume centres of excellence located in select few locations that can provide state of the art care to all (that can reach these centres) and on the other, there are a vast majority of rural and semi-urban districts that starve of any health care at all.

With a growing middle class, and increased access to eye-care services the demand for ophthalmologists is also rapidly increasing. Cataract surgeries are often offered for free via various government programs in the country to the section that falls short of financial aid. With the support of government and local innovation has produced rapid improvements in eye care in India. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), without major intervention, the number of blind people worldwide is projected to increase to 76 million by the year 2020. Thus, whether your vision isn’t what it used to be, the importance of annual eye exams goes well beyond just making sure one’s vision isn’t blurry.

As per official statistics, there are about 18,000 ophthalmologists in the country. Although the WHO recommends a population to ophthalmologist ratio of 1:100,000, in India the distribution varies from 1:25,000 in some urban pockets to 1: 250,000 and below in others. Inadequate facilities and lack of access are adversely affecting eye care in India. There is a growing need for increasing access and raising awareness among the masses to get their eyes checked at regular intervals, the absence of which will lead to immediate and long-term consequences.

Eye diseases often go neglected in India. They are amongst the most casually overlooked medical problems when it comes to the healthcare scenario in our country. A lot of this is because the only cure to eye problems is considered as wearing glasses, which is not actually always the case. Not a lot of people acknowledge the fact that eye problems can also be chronic or even have dire consequences in extreme cases like cancer.

Most people have eye problems at one time or another. Some are minor and aid on their own, or are easy to tend to. However, some are chronic or, need special medical treatment. For instance, low vision and blindness have dire effects on individuals, families, and communities. What is worse is that 75% blindness is preventable something to which many don’t pay much heed. There are a number of reasons that can be listed when it comes to why one must get their eyes checked on a regular basis. To name a few are the growing cases of myopia, glaucoma, retinal disorders, and so on. Most people who have myopia do not experience early symptoms or pain. So it’s important to keep up with your regular eye exams.

To set up eye care camps and implement awareness drives on eye care in India, we first need to ensure the availability of the required workforce, i.e. ophthalmologists. Incentivizing working in rural parts of India for ophthalmologists is likely to be a step in the right direction. To address the gap of shortage of ophthalmologists in rural areas, Sightsavers has come up with a first-of-its-kind India Fellowship Program offering them a promising career opportunity. The Sightsavers India Fellowship is an opportunity for passionate young ophthalmologists to get trained at some of the leading eye health institutes in India. Alongside, the fellows will get a chance to apply these skills and knowledge in a real-world scenario while being placed under Sightsavers India Eye Health Programme. By curing and preventing eye fatalities, our country will have a more efficient and healthier workforce contributing to the overall growth of the economy.

RN Mohanty is the CEO of Sightsavers India. Mr Mohanty is well known and honoured by his associates and peers for his futuristic decision-making capacity and a good sense of judgment, essential for a leader at the helm of affairs. Over the years, he has had experience of working on diverse issues like the environment, health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, livelihood, education, disability and eye health.

Views of the author are personal and do not necessarily represent the website’s views.

जिनपर जिम्मा था जिताने का, वही हारे

Rahuldeo Sharma

May 24, 2019

इस बार आंधी नहीं बल्कि सुनामी थी, ऐसी जीत किसी भी पार्टी को देश में कभी नहीं मिली, साल 2014 से भी ज्यादा लहर, ज्यादा जनादेश और अटूट विश्वास जनता ने पीएम नरेंद्र मोदी पर दिखाया है।

बीजेपी पार्टी का मतलब आजकल नरेंद्र मोदी हो गया है यही वजह है कि अकेले अपने दम पर पीएम मोदी की झोली में छप्पड़ फाड़ सीटों की बारिश हुई है। 352 सीटों वाली बीजेपी गठबंधन ने ऐसा कारनामा कर दिखाया कि इस चुनाव में किसी की नही चली और कोई टिका भी नही। इस चुनाव में कांग्रेस के ऐसे दिग्गज भी चुनाव हार गए जो दशकों से अपनी पार्टी के सबसे मजबूत नेता माने जाते थे।

इस चुनाव ने न सिर्फ सबको चौंकाया, बल्कि एक बार फिर साबित कर दिया कि देश में मोदी लहर अब भी कायम है। बीजेपी ने इस चुनाव में खुद के दम पर करीब 300 का आंकड़ा पार किया और विपक्षी पार्टियों को करारी शिकस्त दी।

यूपी से लेकर बिहार और बंगाल से लेकर दिल्ली तक इन सभी राज्यों में बीजेपी ने बड़ी जीत हासिल की और गठबंधन के दांव को भी नहीं चलने दिया। इस चुनाव में कई ऐसे दिग्गज नेता और चेहरे रहे, जिनकी हार ने सबको चौंका दिया। राहुल गांधी समेत कई ऐसे नेताओं की फेहरिस्त है, जिनकी हार ने सबको चौंका दिया।

इन दिग्गजों के पास अपनी सीट जीतने की ही

नहीं बल्कि सूबे की दूसरी सीटों पर प्रभाव डालने की जिम्मेदारी थी, कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष राहुल गांधी पर पूरे देश की जिम्मेदारी थी, लेकिन वो खुद अपनी अमेठी की सीट नही बचा पाए। इतना ही नही मोदी की प्रचंड लहर में कांग्रेस के 9 पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री भी मोदी लहर में जीत को तरस गए।

कांग्रेस के दिग्गज नेताओं में शुमार दिग्विजय सिंह, शीला दीक्षित, हरीश रावत, भूपेंद्र सिंह हुड्डा, अशोक चव्हाण, सुशील कुमार शिंदे, मुकुल संगमा, नबाम तुकी और वीरप्पा मोइली की भी हार हुई है। ये सभी नेता पूर्व में मुख्यमंत्री रह चुके हैं लेकिन इस चुनाव में इनका सियासी दमखम फीका साबित हुआ है।

कांग्रेसी मुख्यमंत्रियों के अलावा 3 अन्य दलों के मुख्यमंत्री भी इस चुनाव में हार गए हैं, इनमें जेडीएस के एचडी देवगौड़ा, झामुमो के शिबू सोरेन, झारखंड विकास मोर्चा के बाबूलाल मरांडी शामिल हैं।

सिर्फ मुख्यमंत्री ही नही कई प्रदेशों के अध्यक्ष भी कुछ नही कर पाए, उत्तर प्रदेश में कांग्रेस की कमान संभाल रहे राज बब्बर को भी शिकस्त का सामना करना पड़ा है, यूपी में 2 सीटें से घटकर एक पर पहुंची कांग्रेस के लिए राज बब्बर का स्टारडम भी कुछ नही कर पाया।

यही नहीं हरियाणा कांग्रेस के अध्यक्ष अशोक तंवर को भी सिरसा लोकसभा सीट पर करारी शिकस्त मिली है, इसके अलावा मुंबई कांग्रेस के नवनियुक्त अध्यक्ष मिलिंद देवड़ा को साउथ मुंबई से शिवसेना के अरविंद सावंत ने हरा दिया, गुजरात कांग्रेस के पूर्व अध्यक्ष भरत सिंह सोलंकी को भी आणंद सीट से हार का मुंह देखना पड़ा, पंजाब के गुरदासपुर से सांसद और प्रदेश अध्यक्ष सुनील जाखड़ को भी मोदी लहर के चलते कुछ रोज पहले ही सियासत में आए अभिनेता सनी देओल से शिकस्त झेलनी पड़ी है। वही महाराष्ट्र के प्रदेश अध्यक्ष अशोक चव्हाण भी हार गए।

तो आईये हम आपको सिलसिलेवार तरीके से बताते है कि कौन से दिग्गज को करारी हार मिली है।

राहुल गांधी

कांग्रेस पार्टी अध्यक्ष राहुल गांधी लगातार तीन बार चुनाव जीतने के बाद चौथी बार अमेठी सीट हार गए, बीजेपी प्रत्याशी और केंद्रीय मंत्री स्मृति ईरानी दूसरी बार में राहुल गांधी को हराने में कामयाब रहीं, इस लोकसभा सीट को कांग्रेस और गांधी परिवार का गढ़ कहा जाता है लेकिन इस बार स्मृति ने 55120 वोटों के अंतर से कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष को चुनाव हरा दिया, राहुल अमेठी के अलावा वायनाड से भी चुनाव लड़े थे, जहां से राहुल जीत गए।

ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया

मध्य प्रदेश की गुना सीट पर 20 साल बाद बीजेपी का कब्जा हुआ है, यहां से सांसद और राहुल गांधी के करीबी ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया को बीजेपी के केपी

यादव ने 125549 वोटों से हरा दिया है। सिंधिया पिछली बार की मोदी लहर में भी यह सीट बचाने में सफल रहे थे। सिंधिया इस सीट पर 2002 से सांसद थे और उनके कंधों पर न सिर्फ गुना बल्कि मध्य प्रदेश की अन्य सीटों पर भी कांग्रेस को जिताने की

जिम्मेदारी थी, साथ ही राहुल गांधी ने तो उन्हें पश्चिमी यूपी का प्रभारी भी बनाया था ताकि यूपी में पार्टी को मजबूती दिलाई जा सके। ना एमपी और ना यूपी दोनों ही जगह सिंधिया कमजोर साबित हुए।

मल्लिकार्जुन खड़गे

2019 की मोदी लहर में कांग्रेस के वरिष्ठ नेता मल्लिकार्जुन खड़गे को अपने सियासी करियर की पहली हार मिली है, खड़गे कर्नाटक की गुलबर्गा सीट से उम्मीदवार थे जहां बीजेपी के उमेश जाधव ने उन्हें 95452 वोटों से हरा दिया है। खड़गे ने 2014 के लोकसभा चुनाव में मोदी लहर के बीच भी गुलबर्गा

सीट से जीत हासिल की थी और कांग्रेस संसदीय दल के नेता बने, यूपीए सरकार में रेल मंत्री, श्रम और रोजगार मंत्री का कार्यभार संभाल चुके खड़गे गुलबर्गा से दो बार सांसद रह चुके हैं।

मनोज सिन्हा

बीजेपी के कद्दावर नेता मनोज सिन्हा को गाजीपुर सीट से हार का सामना करना पड़ा। बसपा के अफजल अंसारी ने उन्हें हरा दिया।

मीसा भारती

राजद नेता और लालू प्रसाद की बेटी मीसा भारती पिछली बार की तरह इस बार भी पाटलिपुत्र सीट से हार गईं। उन्हें बीजेपी के रामकृपाल यादव ने हराया।

दिग्विजय सिंह

कांग्रेस के कद्दावर नेता दिग्विजय सिंह मध्य प्रदेश की भोपाल लोकसभा सीट से हार गए हैं। उन्हें बीजेपी की साध्वी प्रज्ञा सिंह ठाकुर ने हराया है।

शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा

बीजेपी छोड़ कांग्रेस का हाथ थामने वाले शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा को पटना साहिब सीट से हार मिली है। उन्हें इस बार केंद्रीय मंत्री रविशंकर प्रसाद ने हराया।

उपेंद्र कुशवाहा

रालोसपा सुप्रीमो उपेंद्र कुशवाहा इस बार अपनी सीट नहीं बचा पाए। एनडीए छोड़कर यूपीए का हिस्सा होने वाले उपेंद्र को काराकाट से जदयू के महाबली सिंह ने हराया है।

मीरा कुमार

कांग्रेस की कद्दावर नेता और पूर्व लोकसभा स्पीकर मीरा कुमार को भी सासाराम से हार का सामना करना पड़ा है। मीरा कुमार भाजपा के छेदी पासवान से 165000 वोट से हारीं हैं।

जया प्रदा

बीजेपी की जया प्रदा को सपा के आजम खान ने हरा दिया। जया प्रदा चुनाव से पहले सपा में थी उसके बाद ही बीजेपी में गई थीं।

संबित पात्रा

ओडिशा की पुरी लोकसभा सीट से बीजेपी के स्टार प्रवक्ता संबित पात्रा की हार हुई है। संबित पात्रा को बीजेडी के पिनाकी मिश्रा ने हराया है।

शीला दीक्षित

दिल्ली कांग्रेस इकाई की प्रदेश अध्यक्ष शीला दीक्षित को भी हार का सामना करना पड़ा है, शीला दीक्षित को मनोज तिवारी ने हराया।

जाहिर है ये सभी नेता अपने पार्टी के धुरंधर नेता रहे है लेकिन जनता ने इन्हें चारों खाने चित कर दिया। एक गौर करनेवाली बात ये है कि पीएम मोदी जीत के बाद जब मंच पर बोलने आए तो इस मौके पर पीएम मोदी ने कहा कि जनता ने फकीर की झोली को भर दिया, मैं 130 करोड़ देशवासियों का सिर झुकाकर नमन करता हूं। यही बात पीएम नरेंद्र मोदी को दूसरे नेताओं से जुदा करती है।

आज जनता ने जिन्हें करारी शिकस्त दी है, जिन्हें जमीन पर उठाकर पटक दिया है इन नेताओं के लिए एक सबक है कि जनता ही जनार्दन है और जनता ने ही आपको नेता बनाया है तो जनता और समाज के उत्थान के लिए आपको काम तो करना पड़ेगा, नही तो जनता ऐसे ही सबक सिखाएगी और नामोनिशान मिटा देगी।

CSR: Rethinking corporate values

Govinda Upadhyay, Founder and CEO, LEDsafari (Switzerland)

May 24, 2019

The UN’s industrial development organisation (UNIDO) defines corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a way of integrating social and environmental concerns in business strategies while satisfying, at the same time, economic interests.

The concept of “triple bottom line” coined by John Elkington in 1994 merges in a single idea the intrinsic need for businesses of creating Profit with the interests of People and those of the Planet. While a focus on Profit and People would result in an equitable strategy, and the simple intersection among Profit and Planet would make the organisation viable, it is only by satisfying such triple intersection that a business can actually be defined sustainable.

From occasional philanthropy to daily business

Beyond theory, the understanding of this concept has been developed in different contexts and strongly varies with organisations’ size and maturity, resulting in diverse CSR implementation modalities. Philanthropy has historically dominated CSR activities. While holding the potential to achieve impressive impact on both the social and the environmental perspectives, donations by definition can play only a marginal role in companies’ strategy.

Multinational corporations such as ABB and Nestlé have nowadays well established CSR programs — constituted by a diverse mix of activities to support causes such as education, environmental protection, poverty relief and community welfare — usually keeping a limited interference with the core business value.

Even though not affecting the core of the business, several elements of corporate organisation’s management have started to include social and environmental aspects. Such initiatives range from ethical business practices (e.g. fair wages and minority balance), business and corporate policies (environmental protection and sustainability), partnerships (support to local communities and fair trade) and socially responsible investments.

Marketing, human resources and innovative thinking: What else?

The benefits behind integrating a sustainable thinking in organisation managements touch upon several aspects — with marketing being usually listed among the first ones. In addition to the clear advantage of shaping an attractive company image to customers eyes, statistics have shown how new generations are increasingly looking for meaningfulness on their working place, making the company’s values a determining factor also at the human resource level to attract talented and motivated employees.

The two P’s – People and Planet – far from being constraints for business models can become a powerful resource that can be synergetic to Profit – with innovation playing a protagonist role in this transition.

According the guidelines on CSR for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) issued in 2014 by the European Commission, “ […] innovative power is becoming one of the strongest deciding factors in the commercial success or failure of a business. Traditionally, innovations are discussed in the form of new products, services or processes. The concept of business model innovation explores a new area – the core of how a business creates, delivers, and captures value […] ”.

The same document bring as example the novel “pay-as-you-go” business model that enables low income customer accessing solar energy assets – thus clean energy generation.

CSR up to the core of business models

In its most recent and innovative shape, firms’ social responsibility is not anymore a stand-alone program or a set of individual actions, but rather becomes of primary importance in the definition of the start-ups core strategy.

For example, LEDsafari, a young start-up based out of Lausanne, brings training on solar technology to students in remote areas with no access to electricity. Through it’s socially focused business model and the fundamental support of Swiss Re foundation and SDC Switzerland, the Swiss company was able to reach 2000 students in two years. Strong of this experience, LEDsafari is now working on providing a digital learning platform to youth to become solar entrepreneurs themselves.

The increasing awareness of the limits of natural resources along with globalisation and technological changes are the trends that are transforming modern society, calling for rethinking of corporates values and priorities, which start-ups can grasp in the most effective manner.

The traditional question: “How can a business be profitable while respectful social issues and environmental protection?” becomes then: “How can businesses innovate and adapt to better support a global and distributed sustainable growth?”

A version of this column first appeared in the April 2019 edition of our print magazine. To grab a copy, click here.

The author Govinda Upadhyay is on the Forbes 30under30 list for his work in energy access domain. He has done 3 years research in sustainable city planning in EPF Lausanne Switzerland, a Masters in sustainable technology from Netherlands (TU/e) and Sweden (KTH). He did his Masters in physics and BE in electronics and electrical from BITS Pilani.

Views of the author are personal and do not necessarily represent the website’s views.

Thank you for reading the column. In addition, your thoughts and inputs will genuinely make a difference to us. Please drop a line and help us do better.

Regards,
The CSR Journal Team

CSR Vs BHR to Eradicate Modern Slavery

Hency Thacker

May 24, 2019

Modern-day slavery is highly prevalent in the global supply chains of big business conglomerates. Especially in developing nations, many workers are forced into labour in inhumane working conditions. While CSR, with welfare initiatives, can uplift the lives of the labourers, it is not enough to eradicate modern slavery altogether. The concept of Business and Human Rights (BHR) comes into the picture to fill this gap.

CSR activities are mostly independent and completely voluntary. More often than not, they do not directly address the negative impacts that might arise from a company’s own business operations. CSR does not typically address human rights issues and is therefore notably flawed as a method for combating modern slavery in supply chains.

Companies can freely decide the extent to which they want to create value for the wider society. Volunteering and donating are important actions, but they do not absolve a company from its duty and responsibility to respect the rights of workers in its operations and supply chains. While a company’s commitment to CSR might contribute significantly to society, it is unlikely to address modern slavery risks arising from its direct and indirect business activities.

Consequently, CSR measures are not a replacement for the due diligence measures required to address the challenges present in today’s supply chains.

It is this awareness of CSR as being insufficient in tackling the potential negative impacts of business activities on human rights which resulted in a new wave of customers and investors insisting on tighter human rights measures. This has contributed to the emergence of the BHR movement, which aims to prevent worker exploitation and to hold companies accountable for their activities.

The adoption of the U.N. Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in 2011 marks the cornerstone of the BHR movement. The UNGPs for the first time confirmed the responsibility of corporations to respect human rights within their business activities.

Building on this framework, several national and regional laws and regulations have been passed, obliging organizations to implement human rights due diligence processes. These regulations require corporations to assess their operations and supply chains in order to mitigate the risk of human rights violations.

This development from voluntary measures toward legal reporting obligations marks the key difference between CSR and BHR.

In order to conform to these new laws, it is essential for companies to conduct regular modern slavery due diligence. The complex nature of modern slavery, the scale of today’s supply chains and increasing economic competitiveness means modern slavery will not be eliminated overnight. But respect for human rights is non-negotiable and needs to be guaranteed unconditionally. Thus, BHR goes beyond the desire to simply “do good” by turning the implementation of effective measures to mitigate modern slavery risks into a must-have.

Thank you for reading. In addition, your thoughts and inputs will genuinely make a difference to us. Please drop a line and help us do better.

Regards,
The CSR Journal Team

How Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stands Out on Sustainability

The CSR Journal

May 24, 2019

You may not hear much about this legacy company, but the offshoot of a Silicon Valley titan has been leading on tough environmental and social challenges from the circular economy to human trafficking.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) split from the legacy company Hewlett-Packard in 2015 and incorporated most of the business-to-business product portfolios of the well-known parent company. The San Jose-based company now has two primary divisions—Enterprise, which focuses on servers, storage, networking and consulting—and Financial Services.

Despite the fact that HPE is not a consumer-facing company and faces less reputational risk than many of its peers in the global technology sector, the company has been a leader on several fronts when it comes to sustainability, responsible supply chains and innovation for the greater good.

As a technology company, HPE has ample opportunity to apply the lessons and knowledge that drive its business relationships toward social good. The reason the company has emerged as a reliable corporate sustainability leader is that it has shown a willingness to go far beyond its responsibility to investors and look at how it can help address some of the world’s biggest challenges.

For example, look at what the company has done in order to take on food insecurity. In 2018, HPE announced a partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) with the goal of solving global hunger by 2030. “HPE and the Forum are like-minded in the belief that by applying emerging technologies we can positively address the agricultural productivity crisis,” HPE’s chief technology officer, Mark Potter, wrote in a blog post.

The project aims to bring business know-how, technological innovation and knowledge together through an open collaborative process, focused on addressing this systemic global challenge. As a first step, HPE and the WEF are working with Purdue University’s College of Agriculture, which in recent years has focused on food security and the optimization of ag-tech worldwide. Purdue has continued to work closely with HPE in order to boost disruptive technologies, such as IoT sensors, that can help make digital and precision agriculture a reality.

Another area of interest for HPE is the circular economy, which refers to the need to ensure that the sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of products create no waste and can be quickly and sustainably returned to the economy. As more awareness grows of the massive impacts of waste—including the scourge of oceanic plastic pollution—HPE has been working to improve the energy efficiency, materials usage and recyclability design of various products, including those of its customers.

Furthermore, HPE has taken leadership on the ongoing problems resulting from modern slavery. Despite the great economic progress that the world as a whole has made on human trafficking over the past several decades, forced and child labour is still rampant across many companies’ supply chains. The figures are stark—the United Nations estimates that 168 million children are victims of child labour across the world, while the Global Slavery Index estimates that 45.8 million people are enslaved. Many companies are unaware or unable to ascertain if slavery exists in their supply chains.

To that end, HPE says it has been proactive at pushing for better standards throughout supply chains. For instance, the company’s foreign migrant worker standard includes an ‘employer pays’ principle, so that no worker should have to pay outrageous recruiter fees in order to find a job. This addresses the frequent reliance on job brokers, who often traffic victims into forced labour through large debts that are often impossible to pay off. This is just the start, as HPE is looking at opportunities to utilize tools including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to better identify and address sources of modern slavery along complex supply chains.

Therein is just the start of the many areas on which HPE is working, which also include healthcare access, intelligent industrial plants and women’s empowerment. This $31 billion company is setting the standard on what it takes to make a positive impact in the world.

Mumbai slums to get access to healthcare services under CSR of GIC

The CSR Journal

May 23, 2019

Poor and underserved urban communities of Mumbai will benefit from the mobile health services through “Smile on Wheels” under CSR of a leading insurance company. General Insurance Corporation Ltd (GIC) and the non-profit Smile Foundation have come together to cater to the health needs of at least four lac urban slum dwellers in the western suburban localities of Mumbai

The Project called “Smile on Wheels” was launched on May 20 by the senior management of General Insurance Corporation limited and Smile Foundation. The launch took place at Flora Fountain at Hutatma Chowk, Fort Mumbai.

As part of the initiative, GIC has provided four fully equipped medical vans, one of which will cater to select locations in western suburban Mumbai Bandra, Kalina, Santa Cruz, Goregaon, Malad, Andheri, while the rest will be be sent to West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh and Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.

These medical vans will provide regular health check-ups, basic pathological tests and doctor consultation. As part of the mandate, the doctors and paramedics also hold awareness sessions in the community to sensitize the locals on health and hygiene issues.

“Healthcare is a priority in our country. We are extremely happy to partner with Smile Foundation to promote better health and hygiene in the community,” said Alice G Vaidyan, chairman-cum-managing director, General Insurance Corporation Ltd.

“We are extremely thankful to our partners here for supporting this cause. If health care needs of the poor are catered to, we automatically off-load the poor of major expenses and worries, thereby helping them allocate their resources to other critical needs like food and education,” said Santanu Mishra, executive trustee and co-founder, Smile Foundation.

“We already have 40 fully functional medical vans catering to the health care needs of poor communities in various state of India and hope to add at least 40 more in the coming two years,” he said.

Soon after the fagging off ceremony for all the four vehicles, the vans will be taken to respective locations of operation. It will operate on the hub and spoke model, where all operations will be controlled and routed of from the central office.

Empirical Data launches RedShift Solution for transparent CSR operations

The CSR Journal

May 23, 2019

Empirical Data has announced the launch and introduction of RedShift, a blockchain solution for corporate CSR. The solution provides a platform for corporates to ensure smooth CSR project execution.

“A well-executed CSR project is the best way to give back to society. We are excited to introduce RedShift which will help create greater transparency and visibility in daily corporate CSR transactions. With RedShift we aim to change the way businesses interact with various stakeholders in the CSR activities,” said Karthik Ramarao, Founder & CTO, Empirical Data.

Empirical Data is incorporated as the Indian subsidiary of trANa Technologies, headquartered in Singapore, providing enterprise solutions on its blockchain – Fusion Core.

RedShift enables a shared system of immutable single data source for all stakeholders. Its applications reach far beyond the scope of CSR and philanthropy. Apart from providing step by step execution of activities, this tamper-proof solution provides a consistent set of records for the whole value chain to see and review.

Redshift’s SXCAL engine is equipped with advanced features such as alarms, flags, invoice creation, payment initiation and more. With RedShift corporate enterprises can now make use of unprecedented benefits such conservation of time, effort and also get instant reconciliation and updates.

Source: CRN India

Mainstreaming the ESG Investments

Hency Thacker

May 23, 2019

Global climate change has made the binding international goal for a transition to a low carbon economy under 2 degrees, inevitable. The recent new EU Sustainable Investment Disclosure Rules, the new EU Directive for Non-Financial Reporting, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the market-driven self-regulation initiatives such as TCFD, the market proof as well as studies that show, that on ESG KPIs reduce risks and identify opportunities, the demand from institutional and retail investors for more ESG relevant products, the demand from clients and society for more transparency in investments and more sustainable brands, the weak corporate governance and recent scandals due to it, water scarcity, community conflicts, resource depletion, supply chain breakdowns, worker well-being, economic & gender inequality etc. has made ESG Investments become imperative for successful corporations, asset owners and asset managers.

ESG market growth trends figures & trends, the outperformance of ESG indices & funds VS Mainstream Indices & funds as well as relevant ESG studies, confirm, that companies and investors with strong sustainability cultures & good ESG KPIs outperform their laggard peers. The business case for integrating ESG factors into mainstream investment practices has never been stronger.

ESG factors are now integrated into the investment strategy. In fact, most mainstream market players internationally not only offer already a variety of ESG products/funds but also promote them in an active way. Following are the reasons for this.

ESG Market in terms of total ESG assets under management, new ESG products/funds, number of new ESG players, which turn from mainstream to ESG, which offer also ESG products, number of PRI Members, all are growing rapidly and there is an ongoing positive trend, especially in Europe after the new relevant EU Sustainable Investment Disclosure Rules.
ESG funds perform in general well and in some cases outperform in comparison to mainstream funds, especially during turbulent times and on midterm – long term timeframe.
The policy at the EU level (EU Sustainable Investment Disclosure Rules since March 2019) but also national initiatives (Initiatives in France, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany, UK etc.) encourage ESG investing.
The materiality of ESG factors on financial performance and risk evaluation is becoming mainstream.
Institutional Investors ask for Investment strategies with ESG factors.
NGOs & Society put pressure for more ESG Investments & for brands with a sustainable approach.
ESG Metrics give the possibility to investors to identify gaps in corporate governance, regulatory, reputation, environmental, social, operational, market, sectoral risks, which the financial KPIs do not show.
ESG gives a chance to evaluate & analyze the non-financial KPIs & how sophisticated is the company’s strategy.

The new EU regulation on Sustainable Investment Disclosure Rules sets out how financial market participants and financial advisors must integrate environmental, social or governance (ESG) risks and opportunities in their processes, as part of their duty to act in the best interest of clients. It also sets uniform rules on how those financial market participants should inform investors about their compliance with the integration of ESG risks and opportunities.

The recent relevant EU Regulation is contributing in that direction, but there is a need for adoption of ESG common international standards like we have the international accounting standards.

Thank you for reading. In addition, your thoughts and inputs will genuinely make a difference to us. Please drop a line and help us do better.

Regards,
The CSR Journal Team

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