Appendix 2: Individual or Group Activities that can be organized for IGD Events

 

Activities That Can Be Undertaken By Individuals 

It is not always practical for people to gather under one roof to observe something like India Giving Day. For those who prefer to operate on their own, here are some ideas: 

  • EMAIL CAMPAIGN. Write emails to as many friends, family, and associates as you can, to invite them to support your favourite nonprofit. One volunteer who took part in a giving day for the Miami community wrote 6,000 emails. Most of the emails were the same, but he customized each by writing a personal note at the top to each recipient. He was able to get to the point where he could send 60 emails per hour, and he was one of the most successful fundraisers in the Miami region for this giving day. 
  • P2P CAMPAIGN. Use the Peer-to-Peer fundraising tools on the IGD website to start a fundraising campaign in February for your favoured nonprofit. 
  • SOCIAL MEDIA. Use social media to raise awareness of your favourite nonprofits and explain why you admire them. Promote articles about them to your followers and encourage them to support their IGD campaign if they are among the 20 listed organizations, or, if they are not, to support their general fundraising efforts. Amplify content about IGD being put out by the India Philanthropy Alliance on X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
  • PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE OR IN-PERSON EVENTS. Join one or more of the online or in-person meetings and webinars being organized in the days leading up to March 14, 2025. (Check the IGD website for details and registration information.) Encourage others to join you in taking part. 
  • Read and promote the 2024 NATIONAL ESSAY COMPETITION WINNERS Details about the 2025 competition are coming in 2025 and will be on the India Philanthropy Alliance website.

 

Activities That Can Be Undertaken By Groups 

Events of any size can be held in solidarity with India Giving Day. They can be focused on educating people about a single organization and the problem(s) it addresses or multiple organizations. They can be held by a chapter of a national India-focused nonprofit, chapters of multiple organizations, or simply people who care about India and its humanitarian and environmental needs and support (or are open to supporting) various organizations that address them. They can be a 500-person conference, gala, or dinner party attended by 4 couples—or anything in between!

The agenda for such events can be as varied as the community of Americans who love India. In terms of meeting the costs of such events, small ones can rely mainly on in-kind contributions from the main people involved and, hopefully, a free or nearly free event space (a community centre or someone's home). Getting individual or institutional sponsors and a tax-exempt group to accept donations related to meeting those costs would be ideal for larger events. Examples of events or activities include the following (and many of these ideas could be combined in a single gathering, as they are not mutually exclusive): 

  • LEARNING/ENRICHMENT EVENT (OPTION 1): Have a panel discussion and/or keynote speaker about impactful and joyful philanthropy and how it can help people in India (local professors, people who have travelled to India and seen nonprofit work, staff of nonprofits, etc., can serve as speakers) 
  • LEARNING/ENRICHMENT EVENT (OPTION 2): Have a panel discussion and/or keynote speaker about good general practices in fundraising or some other interesting topic. 
  • CULTURAL AND/OR FOOD-THEMED EVENT. Invite local youth (or others) to perform some kind of cultural program (dance, song, art, etc.). Or, you can have people come and present their favourite recipes for delicious Indian food. (You can send the best recipes to IPA; if we get enough, we can self-publish a short cookbook based on them.) 
  • FUN ACTIVITY FOLLOWED BY "LUNCH AND LEARNING." Organize an enjoyable activity such as a cricket or soccer match, yoga class, or performance, followed by a luncheon that includes a short video and a personal speech by someone involved in philanthropy benefitting India. 
  • INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION. Organize a participatory discussion about a topic such as "What will it take to end poverty and protect the environment in India?" or "What will it take for the Indian American community to realize its full potential as philanthropists?"

This can be discussed during or after a meal at a small dinner party. In a more significant event, it may be best to break people into groups to allow for the broadest participation and then aggregate the best ideas of the various groups. 

  • CIRCULATE AN ARTICLE OR VIDEO AND COME TOGETHER TO DISCUSS IT. Ask attendees to read an article or view a video (such as a TED Talk) about high-impact philanthropy and come to the meeting prepared to discuss it. (This will work best for small gatherings composed of people who know each other.) Examples of articles that can be shared in advance appear in Appendix 4. 
  • VIEWING AND DISCUSSION. Watch one or more videos together as a group about India-focused nonprofits' good work (see Appendix 3 for links to some of the top videos we found that the 30+ listed IGD nonprofits have put online). After viewing one or more videos, discuss what they call people to do, what people learned from them, and what feedback the group has for the organization that produced it. 
  • MONITOR PROGRESS. Track the IGD leaderboard (even if just in the background of  your event), showing how the 30+ organizations are attracting donors and other support on India Giving Day. (This can be a part of any in-person or virtual event.) 
  • NATIONAL ESSAY COMPETITION THEMED EVENT. Announce and discuss IPA's national essay competition by, for example, discussing the winning essays from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020 (ideally involving local youth in the process) and/or having local youth describe the ideas they intend to write about in their 2025 competition submissions (which will be announced early in 2025). 
  • LEARN FROM YOUNG PEOPLE. Identify some other ways for local youth to discuss the good work they are doing to help India or any other places with unmet needs. 
  • RECOGNIZE PHILANTHROPIC LEADERSHIP. Give an award or awards to model philanthropists in the community, unsung heroes working or volunteering for India-focused nonprofits, young people who have made a great start in being civic-minded, writers or academics who have advanced scholarship related to humanitarian work, or others deserving of recognition. 
  • HAVE FUN WITH SOCIAL MEDIA. Engage participants in using social media creatively to promote IGD (using #IndiaGivingDay and a hashtag for your local event, such as #IGDinCHICAGO) and having a panel of judges recognize the most creative use of social media during the event. 
  • SHARE INSIGHTS. Have participants share their most meaningful experiences in addressing, or helping others address, humanitarian and environmental needs in India, or elsewhere. They can also share some insight they have discovered about thoughtful, joyful, and impactful giving—ideas others could consider applying. (In a small event, this can be a single discussion involving everyone, possibly with a facilitator, whereas in a larger event, people can initially be divided into groups.) 
  • FORUM FOR NONPROFITS. Have multiple India-focused nonprofits in your community present what they are doing and how their work complements the others who are presenting alongside them. In this way, nonprofits can be nudged from a competitive/scarce worldview to a collaborative/abundant worldview. 
  • GO ONLINE! Organize an online meeting or webinar of any size focused on a topic relevant to India Giving Day. If desired, you can request the IGD Secretariat supply you with a guest speaker. Show videos (Appendix 3) and/or the IGD leaderboard during your event. 

Of course, you are highly encouraged to develop much better and locally relevant ideas and then tell the rest of the IGD community about what you did!