Wadhwani Foundation announces second phase of $1M grant to help Indian families impacted by COVID-19

On Thursday, nonprofit Wadhwani Foundation (WF) announced the next phase of its $1 million in grants to charities and NGOs to help alleviate the devastating impact of the pandemic in India. These grants support the rapid delivery of medical resources and support to COVID-19 patients and their families.

For phase 2, the foundation has selected Million ICU, RCRC (Rapid Community Response to COVID-19), Youth for Sewa: COVID-19 Pan India Relief Activities, and Mission ICU.

“India must strive for a comprehensive approach to stop the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable,” said Padma Shri Dr Romesh Wadhwani, Founder and Chairman of Wadhwani Foundation.

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Wadhwani Foundation had established the criteria to select organisations based on their ability to deliver immediate impact to patients and families and measure that impact.

These include delivering direct relief, including medical assistance, food, and loans/grants to patients and families. The organisation must have more than five years of experience supporting healthcare and basic needs with the infrastructure to deploy to groups in need.

It must also have the ability to provide transparency, reporting, governance, and quantify the impact and be recognised as a registered charity in the country of operation.

 “We are helping to focus on the ‘last mile’ of immediate relief. This delivers maximum impact and adds greater capacity to address future shocks," Dr Wadhwani said.

The selection was done by employees at both Wadhwani Foundation and SymphonyAI, the US-based enterprise AI company founded by Dr Wadhwani. In addition to these grants, the foundation matches donations to any of the supported organizations by SymphonyAI and Wadhwani Foundation employees through September 1, 2021.

This $1 million grant follows the Sahayata initiative by the Wadhwani Foundation, delivering skilling and innovation programs to small and medium enterprises and public health workers through the pandemic. The initiative was announced in July 2020 in India and November 2020 in Mexico. 

Wadhwani Foundation had selected the following charities and partners for phase 1 of the grants, WISH Foundation: The Wadhwani Initiative for Sustainable Healthcare, Goonj: Rahat COVID 2021, American Indian Foundation: #AIFCOVID19Response and Indiaspora: Chalo Give initiative