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Discover Your Inner Economist India
I've been to India twice and both times I have been received with the utmost hospitality and enthusiasm. I loved the food, the music, the diversity, and the more-than-occasional chaos. Most of all I loved how the people engaged me so directly, and how every moment was so full of human drama and stories.
Since India has given me so much, I wish to make a merit-based gift to India in return.
My new book Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist offers a chapter on how to help other people. In the book I suggest several principles:
1. Cash is often the best form of aid.
2. Give to those who are not expecting it, and,
3. Don't require the recipients to do anything costly to get the money.
I would like to live by these principles, and I am asking you to help me.
If you want to try a new form of charity, keep reading here, because I am about to send money to people in India, to people who are not expecting it and who will not be asked to do much of anything to get it.
You are about to tell me the names of people I should send money to. I will then send money.
Simple.
Here is the plan in more detail:
1. The recipient must live in India and receive the money in India. I just need enough information to send the money via Western Union.
2. Send your email to DiscoverYourInnerEconomist@gmail.com. Only emails to this address will be considered. The email must contain the legal name (as documented on ID papers) of a person who will receive the money, his or her state in India, and the city of his or her local Western Union branch. You can be the person yourself, or you can send the information on behalf of someone you know.
3. With your email, send a one sentence proposal of how the money will help India. I am keen to send much of the money to poor people, either directly or indirectly, but of course India is not just about poor people. Proposals of all kinds are eligible, including using the funds to help expand your steel factory, and yes using the money to open a new call center. But you must not give the money to beggars.
4. Only one email per person is allowed.
5. By the end of the week I will send $1000 to India, via Western Union. One person will receive $500, the other recipients will get $100 a piece; I will email the wire numbers to each approved person.
6. Recipients of the money will execute their plans for helping India.
7. If/when Discover Your Inner Economist is published in India, further names will receive transfers. I will send at least the net, post-tax value of my Indian advance. (If the sale of foreign rights is a multi-country deal, I'll apportion it by relative sizes of book markets for this kind of title.)
I've thought long and hard about how to keep the funds away from scammers, and here is the best I can do: All responders are eligible, but the selection algorithm will favor early entrants. In other words, MR readers (and their friends) with connections to India have the best chance to read this post early, respond, and thus receive a transfer.
So I would like to ask you a favor, especially if you are Indian or have connections with India. Please make your nomination as promptly as you possibly can. (It is also OK to forward this link to people you trust for their nominations; please do.) This will ensure worthy entries toward the beginning of the email directory. I believe that MR readers and their friends will put the money to good use and I am asking you to help me in this manner.
One final request. I am asking my readers -- yes that's you -- to also make merit-based donations to India.
You may have noticed that Alex and I have stopped asking for MR donations; we are happy to be prospering. Would you instead consider sending some money to India? I already have had several people pledge money off-line. Remember our MR motto?: "Small steps toward a much better world."
Making your gift is simple. Just email me at IndiaMerit@gmail.com and ask for names and emails of recipients. You also can specify whether you want your money to go to the poor or to an Indian business. You then send the money yourself and email the recipient the Western Union number of your transfer. You can even send the money on-line.
No, you do not get a tax deduction but your money goes right to the source, with zero overhead and waste. Have you ever believed that remittances do more good than bureaucratic foreign aid? I know I have. I believe we should be experimenting more with zero-overhead giving (see pp.192-6 in my book), and I am asking you to be in on the ground floor of that experiment.
I know that MR has some very wealthy and very generous readers who even make seven-figure donations. If you are one of these people, would you consider a larger gift of $10,000 or more? You can distribute the money to as many or as few names as you like. Just let me know your plan, and how many email addresses I should forward, and the rest is up to you. I will keep your identity anonymous unless otherwise instructed. (If you are a potential recipient of money, but want money only from me and don't want your email forwarded to others, just let me know in the email itself.)
Addendum: In the comments section, please offer your ideas to others for how to use or give away the money. You can do this whether or not you have a connection to India.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 12, 2007 at 06:31 PM in Philosophy | Permalink
Comments
Why India and not, say, Nigeria? :-)
Posted by: Seun Osewa at Aug 12, 2007 6:38:09 PM
I'm married to an Indian citizen, and will be sending this link out to him and his family in the hopes that they know someone who could use the money - there are certainly plenty of plenty of people in India who this could help. Thank you Dr. Cowen!
For readers interested in other ways to help those in need, I highly reccommend CRY America (https://america.cry.org/donation/donor1parallel.asp) for easy donations that go right towards Indian children's education and health care. Although I don't think it operates in India, kiva.org has a great model of microfinance.
Posted by: Jaclyn at Aug 12, 2007 7:05:16 PM
Perhaps the marginal good the money would do a random Indian is more than a Nigerian? I think this blog has covered the ineffectiveness of aid in Africa before for certain reasons particular to it (corrupt governments, demographic increases matching money/food injections), but I can't say for sure. Perhaps Tyler just really enjoyed his time in India but hasn't gone to Nigeria yet?
Posted by: TGGP at Aug 12, 2007 7:11:48 PM
I'd be keen to hear ideas for an incentive-compatible plan to send money to Nigeria and get it into the right hands. Please email me or leave your ideas in the comments here.
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Aug 12, 2007 7:22:36 PM
Why Western Union? Those fees will eat a decent portion of your donation and feed the corporate monster. Even snail-mailing cash or cheques would be better.
Posted by: ST at Aug 12, 2007 8:32:48 PM
It's probably cheap enough to start up a tiny non profit so donors can deduct.
Posted by: michael vassar at Aug 12, 2007 9:27:27 PM
Mailing checks or cash to India is not a good idea. Mail in India is not as secure as it is in the US.
Posted by: samson at Aug 12, 2007 9:40:39 PM
Funny how I read your bit on google reader. I clicked over to leave a comment and the first comment was exactly what I wanted to say. Could you do this for Nigeria? You also ought to visit Nigeria a few time you would surely get inspiration to write a few more books.Our country is one giant demonstration of economic fallacies.
Thanks
Loyal reader.
Posted by: omodudu at Aug 12, 2007 10:14:14 PM
Duly forwarded to a friend who is currently working in India.
Posted by: eriks at Aug 12, 2007 10:15:37 PM
this is brilliant. after reading one of tyler's interviews, I gave only a 15% tip to a waiter when I typically give 20%.
I should continue to take his advice and give the money I save to people who actually need the money.
Posted by: thehova at Aug 12, 2007 10:32:25 PM
Well I have had similar experiences in Nicaragua (great music, good food, generally happy people with life-affirming attitudes). Actually Nicaragua is one of the "happier" (according to qualitative surveys) countries versus per capita income (Haiti I believe is only lower in our hemisphere on per capita income). Nicaragua seems like a young,energetic country with a relatively small population (around 5-6 million) with great potential (tourism, coffee, rum, tobacco, geothermal energy, possible petroleum) if they could just get past some current "inefficiencies".
So I am willing to send some money to India if you will send some to Nicaragua. Reciprocity. That's a type of incentive isn't it? It would be neat to start a good, fun, somewhat viral, world-wide giving program. Is there a way to apply this money so it has a multiplier effect?
Posted by: Pitt at Aug 12, 2007 10:56:17 PM
Pitt: if you send some to India, and Tyler some to Nicaragua... Is it not more simple to just you send some to Nicaragua? Unless Tyler will send MORE to Nicaragua than you to India.
Posted by: Linkt at Aug 12, 2007 11:49:29 PM
Re Tyler Cowen's Addendum, I support (i.e., make monthly contributions to) two charities - Medicine Sans Frontiere, and Opportunity International. MSF is a specialist in emergency aid (i.e., in fighting fires), while Opportunity International is a specialist in microfinancing (i.e., here's a fishing net and here's how you use it). MSF volunteers include many medical staff, and so I'm leveraging off human capital.
I'm generally comfortable that MSF is an accountable, efficient and effective charity. I imagine it would not retain smart doctors and nurses as volunteers if it were not effective and efficient. Particularly impressive was MSF's willingnes to announce that it would cease collecting funds in relation to the 2005 Tsunami tragedy when it felt it had more funds that it could handle. MSF has also started podcasting, which is another form of accountability.
I'm not as comfortable with Opportunity International. I can't see its financial statements or annual reports, and I did not get a response to an email I sent recently, inquiring if it had audited financial statements. However, Opportunity International (but not MSF) is on my firm's Workplace Giving program, which means that my firm matches donations to this charity, dollar for dollar. I'm relying on my firm's Workplace Giving program to vouch for the effectiveness of this charity.
I'd be grateful for any comments/suggestions on whether I can do better (than as outlined above) for the ongoing monthly financial contributions I currently make. I assume we need to both fight fires (where the short term need is greatest) and invest in human capital (to make a long term contribution).
I'm also interested in people's thoughts on what a charity could and should do in relation to accountability to its financial donors. I assume it is not enough to just provide audited financial statements. Unlike "for profit" organisations, it may not be clear what performance measures apply to charities and what their mission is. Perhaps a mission statement plus a set of performance measures (together with annual reporting against those performance measures) is required.
I also wonder if charities need a regulatory framework (analogous to that applying to publicly listed companies) to help discharge accountability to financial contributors. What scope is there for charities to develop such a regulatory framework themselves, or is it appropriate for the government of each country to establish a regulator (e.g. the UK Charity Commission) to foster its citizens's confidence in the charity sector? I feel that there is currently some kind of "market failure" in the charity sector.
Posted by: KY Choong at Aug 13, 2007 12:06:20 AM
I congratulate you on your generous idea, although it has a ring of patronization about it! I feel, however, that the grave threat that India is facing today is the proliferation of neo-liberals in policy circles (often trained in the US). You can show your appreciation for India by merely turning down applications to your department by students from India; this would be a good first step to save them from being contaminated by the dangers of neo-liberal ideology. Only kidding!
Posted by: Joe at Aug 13, 2007 12:46:00 AM
Here is a suggestion in case you would like to invest in education/health. This is a small effort run by a great lady in Indian capital. Please take a look at the website http://www.projectwhy.org/ and her blog at http://projectwhy.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
Posted by: Vivek at Aug 13, 2007 1:13:59 AM
TC great idea in form. Of course lots of opportunties for scams. Of cousse I see the tie in w book and India in the arrangement you cite--but why not just make it global? Couple of ideas, make a publicly available proposal such as is the case on the personal lending web site "Prosper". Better yet, a website where proposals for the grant from rich generous americans. heck open it up to poor folk in Baltimore as well...Really, a "Prosper" type medium on the web where people put up their proposal and then we can choose to fund the one or several that appeal to our inner economist.
Posted by: Robert C at Aug 13, 2007 1:23:04 AM
Why not make your donation conditional on others doing the same? Don't merely urge loyal MR readers to donate money; give them an incentive to do more good than they would otherwise.
Posted by: Pablo Stafforini at Aug 13, 2007 1:58:08 AM
I sponsor a kid at an orphanage in Bangalore (through my mom, who goes to India a lot; will get info to you soon). The orphanage takes quite good care of the kids, and manages to give them enough education/training to make them self sufficient. I suggest giving to small, local organizations of this type, that make big differences in individual lives. I'd imagine that your dollar goes further with them, and the psychic rewards are greater.
Posted by: Omkar at Aug 13, 2007 4:06:18 AM
hi tyler,
nice job.
I would like to thank you doing this, I'm sure this idea of your will surely lead to introspection among a billion Indians who are spread across the globe.
Like they say "God helps those who help themselves"
One again I hope you act triggers a domino effect around the world and bring smiles all over.
cheers
satish
bombay,india
Posted by: satish at Aug 13, 2007 6:06:24 AM
Kiva: peer to peer microfinance.
Posted by: Katie at Aug 13, 2007 6:39:26 AM
I know that MR has some very wealthy and very generous readers who even make seven-figure donations.
Well, no wonder you aren't asking for contributions any more -- that would just be greedy.
Posted by: Noumenon at Aug 13, 2007 7:30:34 AM
Wouldn't contact with recipients be another way of keeping track of a charity? Admittedly, this can go wrong, but so can any method of remote monitoring, and the recipiants should have something useful to say about whether they're actually being helped.
Posted by: Nancy Lebovitz at Aug 13, 2007 9:02:24 AM
Prof.Cowen,
There are many very poor but bright students pursuing their studies in economics in Govt.Colleges (where they get fee concession)in India who can't dream of buying a good book in economics because it is beyond their meagre budgets(for example,the graduate students' studylist include costly books such as "Modern Macroeconomics"by Brian Snowdown and Howard Vane published by Edward Elgar priced at too costly a level in terms of Indian Rupees).Instead of money, you can send classic books in economics (if you have extra copies).That will greatly benefit the graduate students who come from poor families.
Posted by: GVV at Aug 13, 2007 10:26:56 AM
I haven't actually made it to pp. 192-196 of your book yet, but this post definitely caught my eye. We left the World Bank and founded GlobalGiving because lower-overhead giving (we are at 10%, haven't hit zero yet) to bottom-up initiatives from many many sources deserved to be tested, but some overhead is required for tax-deductibility is required. I'm fascinated, would love to hear as much as possible about what you find out, and perhaps we can help you out in some way in this or further iterations on logistical matters? Would love to be able to incorporate your results in what we do.
Posted by: Mari Kuraishi at Aug 13, 2007 11:02:21 AM
Kiva.org was mentioned above. This is a microfinance scheme where you can invest money (not donate but also not receive intrest) in local businesses around the world. I personally have invested in a bus service and beauty parlor in Hondurous, a video rental store in Azerbajani, and a taro farm in Samoa. You get the money back over time as the loans are repaid and you can then reinvest or donate it to kiva.org to help them.
This is very low overhead and I believe the money goes directly to people who can and will use it to improve their lives and the local economy.
It seems that sending money through Western Union to semi-random individuals is a kinda expensive but interesting econo-performance art piece with an iffy positive outcome potential.
Posted by: Steve at Aug 13, 2007 12:03:58 PM
Seems that money to individuals treats the symptoms. How about sending money to bureaucrats in exchange for them leaving the market alone? The cure (as India has experienced more in the past decade) is to end government intervention in the economy. Would a $500 bribe get the minister of agriculture to relax sugar regulations and free thousands (millions?) from red-tape-induced poverty? THAT would be serious leverage.
If not this pipe dream, then perhaps support the free-media as it attacks corruption and incompetence.
Posted by: David Zetland at Aug 13, 2007 12:27:04 PM
I need to put in a good word for AID (Association for India's development)
Posted by: Swami at Aug 13, 2007 12:38:42 PM
Saw link on North Indian classical music.
South Indian clasical music is also outstanding.
Posted by: ponmel at Aug 13, 2007 1:02:32 PM
The Centre for Civil Society, a think tank in India, recently launched a school voucher campaign to improve educational opportunities for poor children. They raised private funds and awarded tuition scholarships to 400+ students to attend private school.
There are many problems with the government schools in India. And the private schools, even in very poor neighborhoods, often provide a better education at just a fraction of the cost.
In all, more than 100,000 kids applied for scholarship. The cost of the voucher is low (about $150 per year). Providing more funds for scholarships would help more poor children receive a quality education, while building support for promising education reforms.
For more information, see: http://schoolchoice.in/campaign/index.php.
Posted by: Dan at Aug 13, 2007 1:10:29 PM
How can a reciprocal gift (giving someone something because they gave you something) be purely merit-based? A merit-based gift would be a gift given purely as reward for personal characterstics, virtues, etc. You describe this gift as being 'in return' for what India gave you, a gift of obligation, so it seems not to fit.
Posted by: LP at Aug 13, 2007 1:34:05 PM
What a great idea. Let a 1000 flowers bloom. After returning from India I wanted to donate for village girls education. Couldn't decide among the various organizations. So in the next 15 minutes I will just trust my judgement and pick one. A preceding post described the (positive to my eyes) effect of bringing TV to village women. It is not always obvious what will empower women. Will be great to see the winning ideas.
Posted by: Sonia at Aug 13, 2007 1:43:01 PM
This is an extremely serious topic and I think we should respect those in need of support (charity, welfare, etc.). Now I will contradict myself by including the URL for comedian Kathy Griffin's blog. In her current (rather funny/moving/entertaining) reality show, she tries to hand out money to people walking by her on a street somewhere in metro Los Angeles. Some of these people look like they were in need, but it seemed to be that many of these passerby probably thought that Griffin was at best wacko, and at worst trying to sell something (she was -- herself).
Look under the entry for July 24, 2007:
http://www.bravotv.com/blog/kathysblog
With respect to Tyler's question -- are there any groups in India that help disabled people become successful in the workplace? I think that disabled people face extra barriers in many parts of the Third World.
Posted by: Chris Pepin at Aug 13, 2007 6:28:01 PM
I usually try to find through friends in India about organizations which are functioning well (some function well for a time and then politics take over). One couple that I know, Aravinda and Ravi, are both Ph.D's from USA and work for Aidindia. The last I heard, they were taking books in suitcases (travelling libraries) to village children in North Coastal Andhra. There are lists of aid organizations in http://www.gopio.net/india_development/best_pratices.htm and
http://www.whatisindia.com/issues/nongovto/index.html and then there is KIVA which seems good.
Posted by: gaddeswarup at Aug 13, 2007 6:36:04 PM
I am so proud of you. May God bless you for having such noble ideas. My parents are from Orissa, India. It is the poorest province in India.As a child ,I always wanted to do something for my own people who deserve so much more. There is so much poverty, suffering and pain. I want to establish some kind of home industry, train women to be self-sufficient and stand on their own feet rather than being dependent on their male family members. I also want to work to abolish the dowry system for marriage in that part of the world. It is sad that even today people have to borrow money to get their daughters and sisters married! I want to promote education in the villages, build hospital and help the poor to learn to survive. It is all my dream but I don't know how to do it!!!
Posted by: Jabeen at Aug 13, 2007 9:03:29 PM
I'm completely floored by the reference to Kumarji. Just last month I saw a documentary (in Hindi) on him by Jabbar Patel - it should be coming out as a DVD with subtitles in a few months/years.
I'll forward your aid effort to my folks back home.
Posted by: Rajesh at Aug 13, 2007 9:04:54 PM
You might want to do a bit of research on charity fraud before you start enabling one.
Posted by: michael webster at Aug 13, 2007 9:50:30 PM
Dr. Cowen,
I am unable to understand the logic of your merit-gift definition? You don't explain the "incentive" behind such a gift. Any merit that is defined in terms of perceptions of only the gift-giver should be doubted as being meritful. Because such a definition preimposes a subjective belief of merit, so whomever the gift-giver gives a gift is meriftul in this sense. So Paris Hilton could be very meritful, if we just go by such a definition to explain gifts, since her gift-givers might subjectively think that she is very meritious. I think you forgot to apply the concept incentives to gift-giving in this occasion.
"The value of the gift may be correlated with how the giver perceives the merit of the recipient, but rarely is merit the pretext for the gift. Perhaps a general practice of explicit merit-based gift-giving would create too many perceived slights. In contrast, when a holiday is the pretext and the value of the gift is (possibly) linked to merit, we can self-deceive and believe that a small-valued gift simply represents a cheap gift-giver, or a friendship of uncertain strength, rather than our own lack of merit."
Since you are trained economist, I am surprised by this post of yours.
"...send a one sentence proposal of how the money will help India."
Can you tell us what you want to be maximized with your money. Do you want to maximize the return on the money for anyone who receives it or want it to go to someone whose utility will marginally increase by the highest amount with this money? (even though the return on the asset won't be the highest in the second case, so India's GDP won't necessarily be optimally increased by the potentional earning power of this money.)
It will be very nice of you, if you can answer the above question for us.
Posted by: jack sparrow at Aug 14, 2007 12:47:23 AM
Moneygram (www.moneygram.com) is a much better and cheaper bet than either WU or the post. While WU charges an enormous percentage, Moneygram charges only $10 regardless of amount sent, and has locations all over India. This is an unsolicited testimony!
Posted by: sirensongs at Aug 14, 2007 7:54:22 AM
India has a huge number of new and struggling(financially)service provider non-profits in every state. Most of the well established non-profits with US connections and offices like CRY, Helpage get a huge amount of donations from around the world but it is the smaller and newer organizations that are working in a relatively new constituency for example, working with urban low-income families or teaching urban low-income women new skills that they can market and earn supplemental income or providing free tuition classes to urban low-income family children over and above their public school education (which is of very poor quality) that need some extra support.
I feel that there is a tendency to only aid chronically ill constituencies in rural India whereas the easier targets in cities who have the street-smart savvy to pick up skills more easily, go unaided. They need at times, very little support to succeed like, access to extra tution classes or access to a bank account and some budgeting knowledge, a forum where women with similar skills can get together and sell handicraft items or access to legal aid for civil cases.
There are many such organizations in Kolkata, West Bengal, of which I am aware of personally. There are similar non-profits in other Indian states as well. They don't get funding easily as they have not become that popular with Indian or international press. One reason might just be the size of these non-profits. They are very small with only 20 members and a niche or boutique constituency. Though their advantage over other umbrella non-profits that cover a lot of geographical area and activities is that they are specialized in working with a certian kind of population. e.g, delinquent street children in Kolkata.
As these organizations are typically new and don't have enough money to maintain websites getting in touch with them can be a challenge. I will let a few of these non-profits know about this opportunity.
It is important to give money/funding/aid/support to organizations that are going into unchartered fields and trying to solve unique social problems in urban areas as well as supporting similar activities in rural areas. It is because their objectives are particularly narrow and concentrated that they are being able to solve some social problems. Smaller non-profits don't have big bureacratic/management baggages. That is the reason why they can work more effectively and swiftly.
Posted by: Sreya at Aug 14, 2007 1:17:25 PM
>> One couple that I know, Aravinda and Ravi, are both Ph.D's from USA and work for Aidindia.
The individuals and the organization mentioned are all staunchly leftist.
Posted by: vish at Aug 14, 2007 8:13:29 PM
The Association for India's Development (at http://aidindia.org) is a leftist organization. They inveigh against "neocolonial liberalization" in well-funded seminars both in India and the San Francisco Bay Area. Please peruse their website before funding them.
Posted by: vish at Aug 14, 2007 8:19:58 PM
This seems like a good idea..less pollution..better world
http://www.anitabora.com/blog/2007/08/09/plant-those-trees/
Posted by: kunipra at Aug 15, 2007 8:28:05 AM
I wanted to start a nursary school for the poor people in Kerala who have too little money to send their children to the school. I am a Government employ getting a small salary. This ambition is in my mind for so many years but couldn't fulfil due to financial difficulty. Can you help?
Posted by: S.Mohanakumar at Aug 16, 2007 1:48:15 AM
I tend to agree with David Zetland. Most of the poor countries don't need charity. They need the government to get off their back. Maybe you can donate the money to some politico/bureaucrat and ask him/her to not strangle free enterprise.
Posted by: Raag at Aug 16, 2007 8:27:34 AM
A few ideas:
1. Insure a working individual (farmer, etc)
2. Give extra work tools to skilled professionals (plumber/electrician/carpenter) to take on apprentices.
3. Gift a lockable bookshelf with reference books to rural school masters.
Posted by: Prajwal at Aug 17, 2007 7:20:51 AM
I think this is a great idea- though Western Union will eat a big fraction of the money you send.
I frequently send money through remit2india.com (trustworthy since they are part of the Times of India media group). I have found their exchange rates good and there charge no transfer fees for $1000+ transfers.
BTW, i have no business interest in promoting this service- i am just a happy customer making a referral.
I also endorse AID India - its very well run and focussed. However, in the interest of full disclosure ... I used to volunteer for AID India's UNC-Chapel Hill chapter.
Posted by: Sayan at Aug 19, 2007 9:58:18 PM
I think money is not appropriate to india. India still believe in Gurubhyo Namah (solute teacher). I would suggest to send books on personal finance to indian primary school teachers to teach in their classes. It would help to the generations than any cash.
Posted by: chandra at Aug 20, 2007 1:36:37 AM
There are many people/organisations/NGos who need to be empowered to do more. There is a change happening and if we live positively and believe in the positive we can make a difference. I work for The Akanksha Foundation based in Mumbai which believes that through education we can empower the youth and we are now coming full circle in our belief as we witness some of the children from our slum communities starting their own youth groups for cleanliness drives, becoming teachers and nurses and much more.
Look up our site www.akanksha.org and you will be pleasantly surprised to know there are small organisations chipping away at the myriad of problems that exist and doing so successfully without huge overheads.
Posted by: tina Vajpeyi at Aug 20, 2007 6:45:59 AM
Radhika, a Dalit girl whose father works as a watchman in a private building in Hyderabad, has a flair for cooking; if given money she could do a cookery course and an English speaking course and go into the somewhat higher end of the catering business. She has an amazing natural sophistication as well as intelligence. She has a bank account,so ID would not be a problem.
Posted by: Radha Arun at Aug 20, 2007 10:12:02 AM
Dear Friends, Please do not send funds without knowing the groups as the funds are often detrimental. Funds take away power from people and rest it in the hands of these NGOs and so called well intentioned power centers. Money from abroad has little accountability to local people and it entrenches the exploitatory practices. Ensure the group you send funds to are completely transparent to the local groups and involve them completely (not symbolically) in decision making. Thanks!
Posted by: Sirish at Aug 20, 2007 4:48:38 PM
Dear Doctor,
Your idea to help people who have some innovative ideas and are coming forward for upgradation of society is certainly appreciable.
Posted by: Akshay Saxena at Sep 2, 2007 10:23:58 PM
http://www.ishafoundation.org/RuralRejuvenation
http://www.projectgreenhands.org/index.php
Please visit the URL.
Posted by: Sathish at Oct 11, 2007 12:54:07 PM
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Posted by: 无缝管 at Nov 13, 2007 8:23:29 PM
Dear sir,
This Viswanath studying B.tech in ECE stream.Recently my mother was expired.At present it is very diffcult to continue my studies.I am from poor famil.I heared that you arehelping people like me.please consider and do favour to me.
Posted by: Viswanath at Nov 15, 2007 1:54:50 PM
Posted by: 翻译公司 at Feb 13, 2008 9:52:35 AM
Dear sir,
This is SANTHAKUMAR IAM living in India i need free fund for iam would like start helping organisation because my father was last 18 years Mental Disorder, still he with me only iam like him very much so i would like to help for orphans mental disorder persons and childrens please help me.
Posted by: R.SANTHAKUMAR at Mar 3, 2008 5:46:16 AM
i need help, my father just pass away, and my mother is in lots of debts and now i can't finish my study because i can't pay,
i have a lot of debt myself just for a meal, and even my staying cost have pile up so that this is near the limit of my life pls donate to account number 304-10-08180-3 hope i can help you in any way.
and i'm sorry for doing this.
Posted by: Ferry at Apr 15, 2008 3:08:18 AM
i am poor family pls help me
Posted by: Arun Gavaskar Thilak at Apr 16, 2008 5:43:06 AM
I live in india. I want a donation from any person for my poor and hungry people of my villagers.I want todo somthing of them with your support.
Posted by: jayanta kumar pal at Apr 22, 2008 12:26:13 PM
