Family philanthropy resilient amid pandemic

Family philanthropy has proven resilient throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in India and has growth potential, even as other sources are constrained, according to a report by consultancy firm Bain & Company and non-profit firm Dasra. “Family philanthropy is also the biggest source of growth, accounting for almost two-thirds of the increase in funding since FY19,” the India Philanthropy Report 2021 said.The profitability of domestic companies declined last year, with that of listed companies dropping by 62% in the months following the initial Covid-19-led lockdowns, which hit availability of funds for corporate social responsibility (CSR).“The corpus available for CSR, which grew by 17% from 2014 to 2019, is expected to decline by 5% in 2021. Compounding this challenge, the CSR corpus has shifted away from traditional non-profits and sectors to Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situationsand other Covid-19 relief initiatives,” the report said.The pandemic-driven economic slowdown will likely drive a reduction in individual private giving, with the exception of family philanthropy, it said. The contribution from international non-profits has declined by nearly 30% over the last five years, due to changes in regulations governing such contributions under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.“When one of our major CSR funders — 10% of our annual budget — who was committed in an MoU with us, just suddenly gave us two months’ notice, stating inability to fund beyond the period, individual philanthropists helped us,” Vanessa D’Souza, chief executive of the Society for Nutrition Education and Health Action , was quoted as saying in the report.The researchers behind the report clarified that they have defined “family giver” as an individual who channels personal or family wealth for philanthropy, or a foundation that gives its wealth for such purposes. In 2020, about 110 family philanthropists gave more than 5 crore in donations.The report primarily studies data for 2019-20 and does not have data on pandemic giving, as it is not yet available. But based on interviews with non-government organisations, government reports on the income trends, and corporate profitability trends, among others, it sees near-term contraction in the corpus of funds available to the non-profit sector.Based on FY20 data, the report says that philanthropy in India continues to grow, but the social sector remains underserved. In fiscal year 2020, private-sector funding totalled about ₹64,000 crore, almost 23% more than a year ago.

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