Philanthropic funding from 43 companies will go toward organizations responding to the COVID-19 crisis in India, with a focus on medical supplies, vaccine awareness and distribution, and food security.
The current COVID-19 crisis in India underscores how deeply interconnected we all are. Responding to this devastating wave of the pandemic requires companies and sectors to stand together in an urgent, coordinated effort. At Pledge 1%, we are proud to join forces with other companies here in the Bay Area and globally to drive an initial $28M+ in collective funding for organizations meeting pressing needs across India.
This joint commitment is a continuation and extension of an ongoing collaborative, which launched at the start of the pandemic, initially mobilizing $22 million to support global relief efforts.
To increase our collective impact, unify response efforts, and inspire others to get involved, 43 companies are again joining forces to support a set of common needs across India. Initial funding will provide medical equipment and supplies, such as oxygen, medication, pulse oximeters, and PPE; increase vaccine confidence and support community vaccination sites; and provide food and other essential goods to those facing hunger, illness and economic insecurity.
Companies collectively supported organizations closest to these needs. The American India Foundation received donations from Adobe, Atlassian Foundation, Dropbox, Palo Alto Networks and Pure Storage to source ventilators for hospitals and deliver hygiene kits and supplies to frontline health workers and migrant communities.
Auth0, Cisco, Dropbox, Lookout, Marqeta, Medallia, Okta, Inc. and SurveyMonkey all donated a portion of their funds to CARE India or CARE USA to provide essential hospital services, beds, and life support systems across 14 states in partnership with central and state governments in India.
“Philanthropic support from global corporates is critical at this moment when India is facing an unprecedented crisis from the second wave of Covid19” said Manoj Gopalakrishna, CEO, CARE India. “We are grateful that companies around the world are coming together to support communities across India.“
Through the United Way of Hyderabad, a partner of Salesforce, the coalition is addressing food and economic insecurity, in addition to supporting the establishment of community isolation centers, providing medical supplies, and advancing vaccine awareness and uptake.
“The crisis we’re facing has led to a set of interconnected and urgent needs, for food and economic relief in addition to healthcare,” said Rekha Srinivasan, CEO, United Way of Hyderabad. “It’s paramount that we address these needs collectively.”
As companies aligned on a global movement for social impact, we understand the importance of taking a trust-based, community-driven approach and aggregating our giving power to rapidly deploy resources where they’re needed most. Some companies, including Atlassian Foundation, Autodesk, DocuSign, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks, ServiceNow, and Twilio, have doubled their employee match contributions for India relief efforts. In addition, coalition members are supporting nonprofit partners beyond philanthropic funding by donating products, in-kind supplies, and employee time.
Two Pledge 1% companies, Flexport and Salesforce, have joined forces to source and deliver oxygen concentrators to trusted nonprofit partners meeting critical COVID-related needs. Flexport’s nonprofit arm, Flexport.org also enables organizations to deliver global aid and impact through its Frontline Responders Fund, which delivered over 54 million units of masks, food aid, medical and relief supplies to 5 continents around the world in 2020 and is now focused on India relief.
Organizations like Uber and EdelGive Foundation, are leveraging their unique strengths for impact. In addition to corporate donations, Uber is helping drivers on its platform access vaccines and transporting individuals from marginalized communities to vaccination centers. EdelGive Foundation—a Mumbai-based Pledge 1% member building and expanding philanthropy across India—is committed to raising $10M through its networks to sustain 100 small- to medium-sized NGOs across India over the next 24 months.
“We are proud to drive this effort in partnership with leading corporate citizens. Over the last year, we’ve reaffirmed that our impact is strongest when we come together as a collective, committed to meeting urgent needs and addressing the deep-rooted inequities exposed by this global pandemic,” said Amy Lesnick, CEO of Pledge 1%.
We are inspired by the many companies who have joined this initiative, including: Adobe, Appfire, Atlassian Foundation, Auth0, Autodesk, Box, Cisco, Coupa Software, Crunchbase, DocuSign, Dropbox, EdelGive Foundation, Flexport, GitHub, HP Foundation, LogMeIn, Lookout, Marqeta, Medallia, NetApp, Okta, Inc., PagerDuty, Palo Alto Networks, Pledge, Pledge 1%, Puppet, Inc., Pure Storage, Rand Properties, Remitly, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Silicon Valley Bank, TIBCO Software Inc., Twilio, Uber, Upwork, Unity, VMware, Vodafone Americas Foundation, Walmart, Western Digital, Workday, and Zoom Video Communications.
We urge other companies to join us in supporting our colleagues and communities in India during this evolving crisis. As we’re seeing in India, Latin America and other regions experiencing surges, it’s clear that COVID-19 knows no borders. Neither should the vaccine. We call on everyone, everywhere to play their part in helping to vaccinate the world and stop the spread. Visit Go Give One to join us in supporting global vaccine equity in partnership with COVAX.
