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A Bengaluru-based non-profit platform GiveIndia has supported 56 lakh people during the pandemic, using the ₹220 crore contributed to the non-profit's India Covid Response Fund (ICRF) by a collective of individuals and organizations, as per the official release.
Formed on April 10, 2020, the ICRF collective comprises corporates, foundations, digital platforms, government bodies, philanthropists, high net worth individuals, and citizens at large.
The fund has supported three key areas of intervention - providing monetary relief to cash-strapped families, humanitarian aid to communities in need, and addressing gaps in the healthcare system in protecting frontline workers in Covid-designated hospitals, GiveIndia stated.
For the flagship mission — Support Covid-19 Hit Families — GiveIndia partnered with over 250 non-profits across the country to help daily wagers and migrant workers who had lost their means of earning.
It stated that over ₹49 crore were disbursed to provide support to more than 5.6 lakh Indians, with cash relief reaching approved beneficiaries within two weeks.
Commenting on the need for ICRF, Atul Satija, Founder 2.0 and CEO of GiveIndia, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has taken a heavy toll on poor, disadvantaged communities. We realized early on that dealing with a pandemic as daunting as Covid-19 required broad collaboration and participation from a variety of people and organizations, a collaboration that would make it easy for everyone to chip in.”
He added: “And I am happy to say they did, the response has been quite staggering. I want to thank all our partners, and people who have donated - we are deeply grateful. But of course, the pandemic is far from over and the months ahead will present more challenges which we will have to overcome.”
For the humanitarian aid effort for which over ₹57 crore has been disbursed, GiveIndia’s partner non-profits claimed to have served over 40 lakh cooked meals to migrant labourers stranded at urban hubs, the homeless, sexual minorities, people living with terminal conditions and disabilities, and children. It has also funded the distribution of 8 lakh hygiene and ration kits to impoverished families.
The official release further noted that the ICRF fund also supported the running costs of six mobile medical units in a couple of Mumbai’s densely populated slums, where 71,000 people were screened for Covid-19 symptoms, 6,000 were referred for testing, 665 Covid +ve patients were identified.
The ICRF fund has been raised with the help of more than 50 corporates, 15+ philanthropy foundations, and over 25 HNIs and 10+ platform partners. This includes Flipkart and PhonePe.
Some of the early donors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google.org, HSBC India, Omidyar Network India, UBS Optimus Foundation, Marico, and A.T.E. Chandra Foundation.
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