Introduction to AIF

1
Introduction to AIF

February 2006
2
contents

• Overview 2
• Grantmaking Strategy 3
• Education Grants.. 6
• Livelihood Grants 9
• AIF Programs 14
• Outreach and Fundraising 15
• People 19
• Differentiators 20

3
aif overview

• The American India Foundations (AIF) mission is
  to accelerate social and economic change in India
• AIF funds non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
  that support its grantmaking and operates three
  of its own programs in India
• Since its inception in 2001, AIF has raised over
  28 million for its initiatives in India.
• The foundation receives contributions from
  organizations individuals in the US and funds
  projects in India through a coordinated
  professional review process that is conducted by
  AIF India and US staff members

4
aif grantmaking

• AIF partners with the most effective NGOs in
  India that are closest to the issues in
  communities and use innovative methods to address
  local issues.
• AIFs grant making activities are focused on
  three major areas
• Education, with an emphasis on the
  universalization of elementary education
• About 50 million children do not receive an
  elementary education
• Livelihood, with an emphasis on the economic
  empowerment of women
• 800 million Indians live on less than 2 per day
• Health with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS (recently
  announced in 2005)
• 5 million Indians live with HIV/AIDS
• AIF has a full time staff of development
  professionals in India to identify NGOs we fund
  and monitor their performance.

5
aif grantmaking strategy
Using Local Knowledge to Identify Innovative
Solutions
Demonstrating Scalability of an Innovation
Involving Local Communities
Engaging the Government
Leveraging our Funds
Ensuring an Exit Strategy
Sharing Best Practices
6
aif grantmaking process
Annual Workplan The annual workplan specifies
the issues, geography and number of grants for
the following year within each grant focus area.
Identifying Potential Partners Potential
partners are identified by AIF staff team based
on references from other funding agencies, well
wishers and Resource Group members, the staff
teams knowledge and exploratory visits,
workshops, publications and unsolicited
proposals.
Selecting Projects AIF looks to see if the
project focuses on the poor and marginalized,
especially women that it is scalable and
sustainable that communities are central to the
intervention and that the project, once scaled,
will have the ability to inform public policy on
a state and national level.
Selecting Partners The organization must
satisfy the regulatory rules and be identified as
a nonprofit that can receive foreign funding.
Its strategy in terms of poverty, education and
community focus should be compatible with that of
AIF.
Due Diligence AIF closely reviews all relevant
documents including vision and mission
statements, concept notes and financial audits,
and the AIF India team conducts field visits and
speaks with community members and NGO leadership,
board members and past funders.
Proposal Development AIF and the NGO work
closely to create a detailed and exhaustive
proposal outlining the project and budget concerns
Finalizing the Partnership The proposal is
circulated to advisors, Grants Panels members,
and AIF staff in the US and India. Once a final
proposal is agreed upon, a Memorandum of
Understanding between AIF and the partner NGO is
created
7
education grants strategy
STRATEGY
CAUSES
ISSUES

• In-School Child
• High drop out rate
• Poor learning - achievements significantly below
  grade level
• Left-out child
• Number of children who have dropped out of school
  greater than those that have never attended
  school
• Categories children of seasonal migrants, sex
  workers, disabled, living with HIV, urban poor,
  others (tribal, dalits, religious minorities)

• Dysfunctional schools
• Poor physical facilities
• Teacher shortage
• Poor management
• Archaic classroom
• processes
• Lack of systemic support

• Increase Access
• Improve Retention
• Improve Quality
• Policy Advocacy

• Social/cultural - Schools insensitive to needs
  of
• first generation learners
• some social groups
• Occupational seasonal migration
• Physical - School unavailability

8
sample education grants
9
livelihood grants strategy

• Micro-Finance Providing small loans to start
  businesses or other income-generating activities
• Collateral-free credit availability at a
  reasonable interest rate a key constraint for the
  poor to improve their lives.
• Micro Finance plays a key role in enabling the
  poor to access and expand their livelihoods
  options.
• Natural Resource Management Increasing
  communitys access to water and forests for
  livelihoods
• Majority of Indias rural poor depend on natural
  resources like water and forests for an income
• Rain-fed agriculture is adversely affected by
  soil erosion, decreasing water availability due
  to over-exploitation of ground water and low
  public investments
• As a result, distress migration and suicides on
  the increase
• Urban livelihoods Providing training to urban
  poor to increase their earning potential
• Currently 29 of Indias population lives in
  urban areas in poor conditions. This is expected
  to rise 50 by 2025.
• Many of the poor who migrate lack education and
  skills
• Urban survival is about competition and the
  marketplace, and the poor are inadequately
  equipped to deal with this.

10
sample livelihood grants
11
the aif advantage Janarth
LEVERAGED FUNDING
EFFECTIVE MONITORING
INNOVATIVE NGO PARTNER
RESULTS

• Educated 10,000 children of migrant laborers
  over 3 migration cycles
• Developed scalable model of educating migrant
  children
• State government adopting model to gradually
  reach 180,000 children

• Due diligence and execution of agreements were
  performed by AIF India staff members, led by
  AIFs Education Program Officer
• AIF India team will regularly monitor sites and
  progress of Janarth to maximize effectiveness of
  funds, and provide periodic updates to donors

• Janarth has a strong track record of working with
  migrant workers in the sugarcane industry since
  1986
• A lack of educational facilities for migrant
  children causes many of them to drop out of
  school
• Recognizing this need, Janarth created schools at
  the site of sugar mills for children to attend
• To educate one migrant worker child through a
  single migration cycle costs 12.50

Total 500,000
100,000 Maharasthra State Govt
200,000 US-based Banyan Tree Foundation
200,000 AIF
12
aif programs

• Digital Equalizer enhancing the education of
  underprivileged children by training teachers
  and students in the the use of digital technology
• 171 DE Centers established
• 2,795 Teachers trained
• 86,000 Students benefited
• Partnerships with 6 state governments to
  implement DE Centers in government-run schools
• Partnering with the Government of Punjab to
  implement the Digital Equalizer curriculum in
  2,800 government-run schools
• Service Corps Fellowship developing American
  leaders through ten-month volunteer placements
  with Indian NGOs
• 118 volunteers sent to India since 2001
• Served over 50 NGOs
• Over 220 applications for 20 Fellowships each
  year
• 75 percent of Fellows have graduate degrees or
  prior full-time work experience
• League of Artisans improving the livelihoods of
  rural artisans by marketing their crafts in the
  United States and India

13
building a national infrastructure in the US

• Building the largest non-endowed US-based
  organization for impacting Indias development
• Creating a nationwide platform, with offices in
  New York City and Silicon Valley and
  volunteer-led chapters in major metropolitan
  areas
• -AIF has received 1,900,000 in capacity building
  grants from the Ford, W.K. Kellogg, Skoll and
  Gates foundations

• Engaging many individual Indian American
  supporters, including a growing base of second
  generation Indian Americans, who have previously
  not given institutionally to Indias development
• Involving many non-Indian individual supporters
  and corporations with a deep interest in Indias
  development

14

funds
sources
allocation
Breakdown reflects funds received during 2004
calendar year
15
aif corporate support

• Corporate contributions
• ICICI Bank, JP Morgan Chase Foundation and
  Citigroup Foundation have funded the Service
  Corps
• Workplace Giving / United Way Campaigns
• Employees in companies such as Cisco, Citigroup,
  GE, HP, McGraw Hill, McKinsey Co. and Microsoft
  have participated
• Sponsorship of AIF fundraising events
• In 2004 and 2005, Merrill Lynch gave 70,000 to
  support outreach and fundraising events around
  the country
• Raised over 1 million at its 2005 NY Annual
  Awards Gala, which was supported by numerous
  corporations such as New York Life, Goldman
  Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PepsiCo, Prudential and
  Warburg Pincus

16
aif people

• AIFs Board of Trustees, Board of Directors,
  Advisory Council, and Ambassadors include
• President Bill Clinton - Honorary Chairman of
  Board of Trustees
• Dr. Amartya Sen Noble Laureate, Professor of
  Economics, Harvard University and AIF Advisory
  Council Chair
• Rajat Gupta Senior Partner Worldwide, McKinsey
  Company and AIF Co-Chair
• Victor Menezes Senior Vice Chairman, Citigroup
  and AIF Co-Chair
• Frank Wisner Vice Chairman, American
  International Group (AIG) and former US
  Ambassador to India
• Deepak Chopra Founder, The Chopra Center for
  Well Being
• Vinod Dham Partner, New Path Ventures and
  Former GM of Intels Pentium Division
• Richard Celeste President, Colorado College,
  Former Governor of Ohio, US Ambassador to India,
  and Director of Peace Corps
• Gloria Steinem Author
• Peter Hero President, Community Foundation of
  Silicon Valley
• Barry Gaberman Senior Vice President, Ford
  Foundation
• Sridar Iyengar Former Partner and India Country
  Head, KPMG and President, TiE Global
• Geoffrey Stewart Partner, Jones, Day, Reavis
  Pogue
• Lata Krishnan AIF President and Founder of
  Smart Modular
• Pradeep Kashyap AIF Executive Director and
  former Citibank executive

17
aif differentiators

• Professional staff in India
• Strategic Approach
• Low overheads
• Transparent and Accountable
• Secular
• Nationwide presence in India and US
• Support from large individual donors, both
  Indian-American and other Americans, and
  institutional donors, such as corporate
  foundations.