Bengaluru: Public health is the most important problem in India today according to GiveIndia’s annual Giving Survey – but 85% of respondents feel very optimistic that the solutions to such intractable social issues will be found through philanthropy.
Eighteen months into the COVID era, not surprisingly, access to basic healthcare and treatment for diseases are top-of-the-mind problems for almost 50 per cent of respondents. Attaining food security for the hungry and protecting the environment were the other two urgent causes of concern, the survey revealed.
Interestingly, however, 46 per cent of respondents feel collaboration is key. They have more confidence in partnerships between individuals, charities, businesses and government solving problems for the future than each of the entities by themselves.
The GiveIndia study also highlights a renewed enthusiasm to help set right the challenges the country is grappling with and contribute to national growth, with 90 per cent of the respondents pledging to donate more to charitable causes. Community suffering and greater need post-pandemic are the main reasons for citizens wanting to give more.
In the same vein, there seems to be a heightened social consciousness with 61 per cent of survey participants preferring to work for a company that engages meaningfully in corporate social responsibility and 55 per cent believing in purchasing products from socially responsible businesses.
Sharing his thoughts on the findings, GiveIndia COO Sumit Tayal said, “Our annual survey on giving behaviour shows that citizens want to contribute to India’s progress and COVID has made this more real and urgent. The pandemic also highlighted the critical role of philanthropy and partnerships – and the greater impact of entities working together towards the same goal. The survey suggests that this has caught the public imagination.”
Close to 500 individuals from across the country participated in the annual GiveIndia Giving Survey with almost equal participation from men and women (49 per cent male and 51 per cent female) between the ages of 21-60 years.
