According to Social Progress Index, the world will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals until 2094—64 years after the deadline set by the United Nations. If this isn’t humbling enough, take a moment to absorb the fact that this estimate was projected before the Covid-19 pandemic hit us all. While the last two decades have given us a great reason to celebrate historic progress in fighting poverty and improving health around the globe, the last tumultuous 1.5 years have forced us to confront our current reality with absolute candour. This progress has now reversed.

India, a nation with large vulnerable populations—such as girls, women, migrant workers, and tribal communities that are already disproportionately disadvantaged with regards to basic human needs—has been hit particularly hard and experienced consequences graver than that of any other external disruption that the country’s social sector has ever seen before. With over 33 million Indians having contracted Covid-19, public healthcare facilities faced unimaginable stress and a shortage of essential equipment. Herds of migrant workers fled back to their hometowns with little or no financial, food or health security, and over 230 million people were pushed back into poverty. Discrimination against already marginalised communities has intensified and NGOs serving at the frontlines are at a breaking point.

The seriousness, scale and complexity of India’s development challenges have far outpaced the ability of our government to singlehandedly address them. With an annual gap of at least $60 billion for India to achieve just five of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the need for family philanthropists to step up and lead alongside the government in accelerating India’s development is more urgent than ever before.

But while unlocking greater family philanthropic capital towards India is critical, it is not enough. Amid the ever-widening inequality gap as a result of Covid-19, the need for families to deliberately engage and approach giving in a way that enables dignity, equality, and social justice for the most marginalised communities across India, has never been more significant. There is an urgent need to improve grant-making practices and change the discourse and direction of mainstream family philanthropy to one that puts social justice at its core.

Below are four key recommendations on how families should look to approach their giving to rebuild towards a stronger, more equitable India:

  • Invest in building institutional resilience
  • Adopt a strong Gender-Equity-Diversity-Inclusion (G.E.D.I) lens 
  • Engage in “proximate giving” to support rural, localized, community-led efforts
  • Participate in collaborative action

Read the full article about family giving in India by Neera Nundy at Forbes India Magazine.