Year 2024 has just ended and we welcome 2025 with open arms. However, for some people, the new year does not ring a bell of happiness and joy as much as it does for the rest of us. They continue to suffer, they continue to starve, they continue to shiver in rain and cold and they continue to wait for justice. It is here where NGOs play an irreplaceable role, in bringing about social change and making the world a better place not just for the marginalised underprivileged individuals and communities but also for animals, who have to go through extreme cruelty, negligence and indifference. Again it is NGOs which are working to make the world more sustainable and save the planet.
In India, there are NGOs working for quality education, healthcare, nutrition, animal welfare, environmental conservation, for the marginalised sections of the society and in remote and backward areas, sometimes in collaboration with the government, sometimes with corporates through CSR funds or through independent donations.
While multiple NGOs are tirelessly working for the betterment of our society across various sectors, it is difficult to rank them and tell which one is better than others. Here is a look into The CSR Journal’s top 10 NGOs for 2024.
1. HelpAge India
HelpAge India was established in New Delhi in 1978. This organisation mostly focuses on elderly care and assists them in raising their standard of living. The goal of HelpAge India is to stop elder abuse, give pensions to seniors, and manage their health care.
They perform all responsibilities that they can to help the elderly who are in need and work to give them a respectable and healthy life that makes them happier and enables them to live happily ever after without feeling guilty or unsatisfied. Elders who feel rejected by their families and the community they have been a part of for years might benefit greatly from the words and deeds of HelpAge India.
2. PETA India
PETA India’s motto mentions “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”. The not for profit organisation opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview and is working with an aim to end animal cruelty not just in India but across the globe.
Headquartered in Mumbai, PETA India was launched in January 2000. It operates under the principle that animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way, while also educating policymakers and the public about animal abuse and promoting an understanding of the right of all animals to be treated with respect. PETA India focuses primarily on the areas in which the greatest numbers of animals suffer the most: in laboratories, in the food industry, in the leather trade, and in the entertainment business.
3. Save Indian Family Foundation
Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) is a men’s rights group in India. It is a registered, non-funded, non-profit, NGO that works in collaboration with organisations working for a similar cause. SIFF was founded in 2007 by social workers Anil Kumar and Pandurang Katti.
The advocacy group is working to raise awareness mainly against misuse of Indian laws related to dowry harassment. It is an umbrella organization of a number of men’s and family rights organizations spanned across Indian cities and states. SIFF has supported founding of other likeminded organizations such as the All India Mother in Laws Protection Forum and All India Men’s Welfare Association.
SIFF is networked with Helpline telephone numbers for distressed husbands and their family members in Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Gujarat, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik, Surat, Jaipur, and Kolkata.
4. Goonj
This multi-award-winning NGO, with its headquarters in Delhi, gives the impoverished dignity by utilising local resources and conventional wisdom. Anshu Gupta, the company’s founder, is a Magsaysay Award winner and one of Forbes’ most significant rural entrepreneurs. Goonj has been established for more than 20 years and, under his direction, has inspired widespread civic engagement in matters like rural infrastructure, water scarcity, education, and disaster assistance.
The fact that everyone is treated equally as a stakeholder is the secret to its success. Several long-running initiatives are run by Goonj, including the rural development programme Dignity for Work (formerly Cloth for Work), the disaster relief and recovery effort Rahat, the educational programme School to School, and the menstrual hygiene initiative Not Just A Piece Of Cloth.
5. LEPRA India
LEPRA India, founded in 1989 in Hyderabad, is an independent not-for-profit NGO. LEPRA was established in Hyderabad in 1989, as a partner of Lepra UK, to serve the needs of people affected by leprosy. It focuses on supporting National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) in Hyderabad in the prevention and control of diseases such as Leprosy, Lymphatic Filariasis and other neglected diseases. Apart from the above, LEPRA also works with TB, HIV/AIDS, eye-care, malaria and disabilities arising from other diseases.
The NGO focuses on delivering quality healthcare to marginalized communities, including slum dwellers and migrants affected by the abovementioned diseases. LEPRA India treats individuals for leprosy, provides protective footwear to affected people, and assists individuals with disabilities in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Delhi.
LEPRA India registered as LEPRA Society, works in close coordination with the Government of India, Ministry of Health, and Family Welfare, at the Central, State and district levels. It is a member of the State leprosy and TB societies of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
6. Give India
GiveIndia is a donation platform through which individuals and corporates can support any cause of their choice from about 200 NGOs across India, whose transparency & credibility have been checked. Registered as Give Foundation, a not-for-profit company under the Companies Act, 2013, Give India is the brainchild of Venkat Krishnan, an IIM-A graduate, who established it in December 1999.
The platform is managed by a team of professionals from a corporate background who have now dedicated their careers towards bringing about a change. Give India was registered on April 28, 2000, as a non-profit under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Give India connects over 200 non-profit organizations from all over India that have met with their listing criteria. These non profits work for causes such as child welfare, education, disability, poverty, and women empowerment among others. The platform’s official website discloses to the donor exactly where their money went and also shares proof of the same through a feedback report (except in the case of donations through an iGive page). The platform claims that at least 90% of a contribution made through the, reaches the organization the donor wishes to support, as against the average of 60% for the NGO sector.
7. Care India
This New Delhi-based NGO is working with the goal of empowering women and girls from poor and marginalised communities since the last 74 years. Founded soon after independence in 1950, this non-profit aims to alleviate poverty and ensure social justice. The aim is to ensure gender equality through the realisation of full rights and entitlements, hence the focus on women and girls. The NGO works towards achieving this objective through well-planned and comprehensive health, education, livelihood, disaster relief, and response projects. Care India’s programmes have reached over 31.5 million people in 14 states, across more than 90 districts.
Care India is a member of the CARE International Confederation working in 100 countries for a world where all people live in dignity and security.
8. Pratham
Founded by Madhav Chavan and Farida Lambay in Mumbai in 1995, Pratham is a non-profit organisation which is working with the aim of enhancing the quality of education in India. This innovative learning organization is ensuring education to children in the slums of Mumbai. Pratham’s programs reach children and youth across the country.
This NGO focuses on low-cost and replicable interventions to address the existing gaps in the education system. Being one of the largest non-governmental organisations of India, this platform is working directly with children and youth as well as through large-scale collaborations with government systems. Pratham’s Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach has gained popularity due to its impact on children’s learning outcomes and is now being adapted to contexts outside India.
9. Chhanv Foundation
Founded in 2013 by social activist Alok Dixit and Ashish Shukla, Chhanv Foundation is a non-profit organisation working to rehabilitate acid attack survivors in India. The organization is founded by a group of young people mostly from journalism background who are also prominent figures in social activism and advocacy in India.
Headquartered in Noida Sector 46, Chhanv Foundation raised the unheard voices of acid attack survivors through its campaign Stop Acid Attacks in 2013. The NGO provides medical assistance, legal assistance, education and employment opportunities to acid attack victims. Cafe Sheroes Hangouts located in Agra and Lucknow are an example of the foundation’s efforts to rehabilitate acid victims.
10. CRY
Child Rights and You (CRY), which enjoys popularity as the most reliable NGO in India, works hard to give India’s underprivileged children better and healthier childhoods. CRY was founded Rippan Kapur – an Indian Airlines purser in 1979 with 6 friends and a budget of Rs. 50. More than four decades later, CRY works with 144 project partners across 20 states in India and has impacted the lives of over 4.7 million children.
The NGO works in collaboration with parents, teachers, Anganwadi workers, communities, district and state-level governments, and children. CRY addresses the vital needs of children in the areas of healthcare, nutrition, education, and protection from child labour and child marriage. Over 3 million children in 19 Indian states have benefited from CRY’s work over the past 45 years.
