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In a pre-Ramzan gesture, a UAE-based Indian businessman and philanthropist has donated 1 million dirhams (approximately INR 2.5 crore) to ensure the release of 900 prisoners from jails across the Gulf nation. Firoz Merchant, 66, who is the owner of Pure Gold Jewellers, donated the money to the UAE authorities, a testament to the holy month's message of humility, humanity, forgiveness, and kindness. "Prominent Dubai-based Indian businessman and philanthropist Firoz Merchant of Pure Gold has donated close to Rs 2.25 Crores (AED 1 million) to ensure the release of 900 prisoners from jails across the Arabian nation," said a statement from his office. Under the aegis of The Forgotten Society initiative founded in 2008, Merchant has already been instrumental in obtaining the release of 900 prisoners across the UAE since the beginning of 2024, including 495 prisoners from Ajman, 170 prisoners from Fujairah, 121 prisoners from Dubai, 69 prisoners from Umm Al Quwain and 28 from Ras Al ...
The CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a message: Hey billionaires, give away more of your money to address inequality and do it soon. Mark Suzman made the call in his annual letter released Thursday that led with the story of Chuck Feeney, a billionaire whose philanthropy inspired Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French-Gates. Feeney, who died in October, made a fortune through duty free stores and gave away $8 billion during his life, much of it anonymously. He showed us all how the actions of one generous person can set the wheels in motion for generations of progress, Suzman wrote of Feeney. The message is a familiar one from the Gates Foundation, one of the largest global health funders in the world. The foundation recently announced it would spend $8.6 billion in 2024, its largest budget to date, aided by a $20 billion donation by Gates in 2022. The record-setting budget coincides with the erosion of progress nonprofits made toward ending poverty, fighting .
Praising India and other countries for contributing to a global pandemic fund, a top official of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday said the world is yet not fully prepared to deal with any future pandemic and a lot more work needs to be done. Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, where 'Disease X' is one of the key areas of discussions, Dr Christopher J Elias said we have learnt our lessons after Covid-19 but further efforts and discussions are needed, including on financing requirements. "A really important discussion had started nearly eight years ago after the Ebola outbreak and that discussion cake into very clear focus after Covid-19 that the world needs to be better prepared," he said. "The world needs to be ready for infections and diseases that we know such as influenza but also diseases that we don't know and may be new such as Disease X. But I don't think we are fully prepared yet," he added. Elias noted that there hav
Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, K P Singh, chairman emeritus at DLF, and Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, have been named on the 17th edition of Forbes Asia's Heroes of Philanthropy list released on Thursday. The unranked list "highlights business leaders who are donating from their fortunes and giving personal time and attention to their select causes", Forbes said in a press release. The annual list, which spotlights 15 philanthropists, does not include corporate philanthropy except for privately-held companies where the individual is a majority owner. Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and chairman of tech giant Infosys, have made it to the list for donating Rs 3.2 billion (USD 38 million) to his alma mater IIT Bombay in June, Forbes said, adding that the gift will be made over a period of five years. This was to mark his 50-year association with the technology institute, where he studied electrical engineering as an undergraduate. Since 1999, Nilekani has given Rs 4 bill
Can India catch up in AI tech development? Why are Indian oil companies not reducing prices? Is it a good time to invest in OMCs? What is the Giving Pledge? All answers here
The Prashanthi Balamandira Trust on Monday said it plans to invest an additional Rs 400 crore to expand its recently inaugurated medical college and hospital in Karnataka. On March 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 'Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research' (SMSIMSR) & 'Sri Sathya Sai Rajeswari Memorial Block', a completely-free-of-cost medical college and hospital, at Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli in Chikkaballapura district. "The Prashanthi Balamandira Trust, which manages the Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, will spend another Rs 400 crore in the next phase for the construction of another 400-bed teaching hospital and related facilities to complement the medical college," its Founder Sri Madhusudan Sai said in a statement. The trust is working with like-minded individuals, philanthropists and corporate partners for this unique free education model, he added. "The trust is expected to spend around Rs 125 crore to Rs .
Over 71 per cent of the funders have a defined grant-making thesis to support their philanthropic work with capacity building as the most popular kind of support provided by them, according to a survey by Accelerate Indian Philanthropy (AIP). Most funders consider a range of factors to assess how well an organization or project will fit with their objectives and priorities, and some of the parameters for assessment include leadership and governance, track record and impact, strategy and vision alignment. The survey highlighted that 62 per cent of respondents found leadership and governance, and track record and impact of a potential partner as key factors in their assessment metrics. Further, sustainability and scale is important for 16 per cent of respondents, while strategy and vision alignment is largely relevant to 15 per cent, it added. The survey provides decision-making frameworks for funders to facilitate informed, effective grant-making. It engaged with over 20 philanthro
Entrepreneur and venture capitalist M R Rangaswami has claimed that there has been a dramatic rise in the influence of Indian Americans in the US and stressed the need for the community to be "more high profile" about philanthropy. The founder of Indiaspora -- a non-profit organization which aims at transforming the success of the Indian diaspora into meaningful impact worldwide -- Rangaswami said the Indian American community has grown in all spheres, including politics, government, entrepreneurship, the medical profession as well as academics. "It (influence and impact of Indian Americans) has been dramatic. Even recently there was an article from a Jewish American author who said, the time has now come for Indians to take over from the Jews. "So it was almost another community kind of saying, time is now for the Indian community," he told PTI in an interview. Rangaswami, however, said that the community needs to do more on the philanthropy, service, and charity fronts. "We need