HCL Grant: Providing Financial Support to NGOs working for the Upliftment of Rural India

Deadline: 5 June 2017

HCL Grant (‘The Grant’) invites eligible organizations to strengthen their capacities to strive for transformation in the areas of Education, Health and Environment. The Grant is meant to support such NGOs that reach out to marginalized, isolated and underdeveloped rural communities, and achieve sustainable socio-economic development.

The Grant is 100 Crore commitment by HCL over next five years, to recognize NGOs, not only based on the “idea”, but also for their power to transform ideas into implementable projects and thereby, transform Indian villages in a sustainable way.

Objectives

HCL Grant aims to achieve sustainable development of rural communities by supporting NGOs that are doing path-breaking work towards transformation of rural India. The Grant:
Financially supports innovative and replicable project, put forward by NGOs that are committed towards transformative rural development, one each, every year, in the respective Thematic Categories.
Identifies best NGOs who have made significant impact in rural transformation, and publish a compendium of such NGOs, such that they are made visible for their efforts.

Thematic Areas

Education:
Right to Education for All, by upscaling initiatives that strengthen Elementary, Secondary and Higher Education as well as Adult Literacy.
Environment:
Sustainable Environment conservation by supporting the National Missions under Climate Change, ranging from providing access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy to all, combating climate change and its impact, protecting, restoring, and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystem, wetlands and other water bodies, combating desertification, deforestation, land degradation and biodiversity loss, combating pollution and promoting sustainable use of non-renewable resources, in the rural belt.
Health:
Complements state efforts towards achievement of the Goals under National Health Mission and aims at supporting innovative, scalable models that would help the nation meet its targets faster than planned, in rural India.

Award Information

This year, through this Grant, HCL will award maximum of up to 5 Crores (~$ 750,000.) for a five year project, in each Thematic Category

Eligibility Criteria

The organization must be a registered not for profit entity in India (Society, Trust or as a Section 8 (previously Section 25) company).
The organization should have completed the below mentioned functional existence (as per registration certificate) in India on or before 31st March 2017:
- Applicant under Education and Health Category – 10 years,
- Applicant under Environment Category – 5 years,
The organization should have completed the below mentioned working experience in rural areas in India on or before 31st March 2017:
- Applicant under Education and Health Category – 5 years
- Applicant under Environment Category – 2 years
The organization should have below mentioned average expenditure for the last 3 financial years i.e. 2013–14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
- Applicant under Education and Health Category –5 Crores or above
- Applicant under Environment Category –50 Crores or above
The organization must not be blacklisted by any government agency, donor or international agency.
The organization must not have any negative media coverage or any other controversy associated with it.
The organization should not have any political or religious affiliations.
The organization should have registration documents, audited financial reports, tax certificates and FCRA and/or similar documents depending on the nature of the funding/donations that it receives.