JGW '10 Marches Ahead

With about 60 days to go for the Joy of Giving Week 2010, initiating and planning events for the Week, have begun to pick up across the country and more clarity is emerging on the events during JGW '10. We have already updated you in earlier posts on JGW '10 in Chennai and Hyderabad.

http://joyofgivingweek.blogspot.com/2010/07/jgw-2010-in-hyderabad.html

http://joyofgivingweek.blogspot.com/2010/07/towards-jgw-10.html

We have also got updates from Ahmedabad now and as in the other cities, there are a range of events planned to raise resources during Joy of giving Week. This includes a medical camp by Shalby Hospital, Art Training for children by umang Hutheesing, an auction and dinner date with celebrities hosted byb Radio Mirchi and of course the popular Joyfest in colleges and MAMs I am the Change film project. We are confident that in the days to come, Ahmedabad will unveil more events and will manage to raise more resources and attract more followers to the festival, the Joy of Giving Week.
One of the reasons for the unprecendented success and popularity of the festival in the very first year of inception is that it makes no demands, follows no set manner of celebration, is all inclusive and most important reconnects us with our innate need to belong, to share and to celebrate. It is our hope that the Joy of Giving Week 2010 to be celebrated between the 26th of Sept., and the 2nd of Oct., will soon rank amongst the most joyous festivals in India and perhaps abroad as well.

Be the Change

"Be the Change you Want to See in the World".

Words that have inspired and continue to inspire millions across the world. Gandhiji lived this mantra but unfortunately, in the decades since his assassination, to many, this thought provoking dictum has turned into a mere utterance. This is not because we as a people disregard this, but because we are caught up so much in the business of earning a living and making a life for ourselves and those we love, that we have forgotten that if our life has to change, the world has to change and we need to reflect that change.
It was with this intention that Riverside School Ahmedebad, organised and co-ordinated the Design for Giving contest as a part of the JGW 009. Over a thousand schools participated in this event and a jury of prominent design professionals evaluated the projects submitted and shortlisted 20 entries as worthy of high mention. The contest basically had students select a problem in the community that they would like to solve and work out a solution. The submitted entries displayed a remarkable maturity and ranged from keeping school premises clean, to recognising the important role mothers play in our lives by asking for a Mothers' Day every Sunday; cleaning garbage dumps and campaigning against the use of plastic, raising much needed resources for Aanganwadis to mention just a few of the many entries. For more on this, visit www.designforchangecontest.com

It is heartening and humbling when children set out to solve problems in practical and novel ways in the process enriching all our lives by making it more meaningful. That the change we would like to see in the world needs to have its genesis in each one of us is something none of us would deny but it needs to be reinforced. By involving children in this process,The Design for Giving, brings to the metamorphosis of society, a continuity that will hopefully endure.
With participation from abroad this year, the Design for Giving during JGW 2010 promises to throw up more solutions to the problems we face. To register or read more about the JGW 10 visit www.joyofgivingweek.ning.com

JGW 2010 in Hyderabad

Last year, Hyderabad enthusiastically embraced the JGW along with other cities. The participation cut across all age groups and the events were also diverse; a book launch with Amala, activities for children and senior citizens at Aurora College, collection of clothes for Vastra Samman, co-ordinated by Goonj and of course the well publicised and major fund-raiser Shadow a CEO, initiated by ISB.
Hyderabad seems to have decided to surpass its last years performance this year during JGW, as the events planned so far seem to indicate.
The ISB of course will be inviting students of other business schools to participate in the Shadow a CEO this year. Students of Aurora College have again planned a week long festival of giving. the other events range from a Musical Nite, to a piggybank in companies, a Heritage Auction, Blood Donation, special events for children, a Seva Mela and many more that are yet to be registered.
It is heartening that all sections of society are catered to and one hopes that the resources raised would benefit the many who are in need.
But more importantly, in Hyderabad as in other places, the JGW helps us to reach the inner recesses of our soul for it reinforces the often forgotten lesson that it is in giving that we truly receive. Giving is Divine; when we recognise this, we will find that it is easy to give and giving then becomes for us an act as natural as breathing.

JGW and Empathy

When first introduced to the concept of JGW last year, most of us would confess to having been a little cynical about the idea. "Why devote a week to giving?", "Does giving have to stop when the week is over?", was the common refrain. I do not think many of us would have visualised that the JGW would make such a tremendous impact and captured the imagination of people from all parts of the country and in some corners abroad as well. The reason for this could be that somewhere in our fast paced and highly individualistic lives, we began to lose the ability to empathise and really connect with others. The JGW gave us an opportunity to do that and as Hussain says, we began to give not just because we had too much, but also because we know what it is like to not have. We are not talking only about material goods, but also about not having friends, to not have someone to talk to, play with, share with, spend time with. And so it was that during JGW 2009, people of all age groups and from all over India, connected and empathised and gave of themselves freely. We had students from a school in Gangtok spend time with and bathe and clean children from a school for the mentally challenged. We had students visit the elderly, visit orphanages, arrange a treat for them, and most important spend time with them. Many such events have been written about in our earlier posts.
Of all the gifts one receives in life, what is most treasured is to have someone tell us they are there for us and that they understand. Empathy is inherent in all of us. Unfortunately, very rarely do we recognise its presence. By willingly being a part of the JGW, we are in a way going back to our roots and walking in each other's shoes.
Let us mark our calendars for JGW 2010, between the 6th of Sept., and the 2nd of Oct. Let us give thanks for what we have and let us be there for each other. That is the way to a lasting peace and harmony in the world.

Shadow a CEO

Amongst the many innovative events held to raise resources for charity during the JGW 09, Shadow a CEO would definitely rank as one that combined learning with charity. Owned by the ISB Hyderabad, the event saw students of this prestigious school bid to shadow a CEO of their choice for a day. Twentysix much admired and emulated top corporate leaders willingly participated in this auction that saw 1, 196 bids and raised around Rs6.8 lakhs for charity. Amongst the CEOs who participated were N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies, Adi Godrej, Chairman, The Godrej Group; Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC; K V Kamath, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and MD, Biocon Ltd.; Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group; and Rajat Kumar Gupta, Chairman, The ISB and Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company and many others of equal calibre.

How did this concept work? it is basically very simple; students bid to spend a day with a leader of their choice and the highest bidder spent one day observing and learning with their chosen CEO. The CEO in turn matched the bid made by the student with an equal grant to a previously chosen charity. To use a cliche, it was a win-win situation for all; the student, the charity chosen and the CEO also for as Mr.Narayan Murthy said . he felt very happy that a young, intelligent person with a great future had chosen to spend a day with him. Probed further as to who he would have chosen to spend a day with, Mr. Murthy's reply was Mahatma Gandhi. To quote : "It has to be Mahatma Gandhi, there is absolutely no doubt at all because he is one leader that has had tremendous influence on me. Because of a very simple reason, he led by example. He walked the talk. That has been the corner stone of my philosophy that is how I have conducted myself all these years and meeting Mahatma Gandhi, spending time with him would have been absolutely dream come true for me."

Why would a business school devote time to an event that on the face of it has no monetary value? This is best answered by the Dean of ISB, Ajit Ragnekar when he says that :

“The ISB believes that social responsibility is a vital aspect of doing business and it is this belief that drives us to associate and participate in the Joy of Giving Week through the ‘Shadow a CEO’ programme. We encourage our students to take on socially responsible ventures and use the power of business to improve society.”

This year, the ISB hopes to allow students from other Business schools to participate in Shadow a CEO. When that happens, not only will more learning take place because more students can participate, but resources raised will also multiply especially with generous CEOs like Adi Godrej, who actually doubled the amount bid by an enthusiastic student.

We will keep you posted here on the bidding process and progress for Shadow a CEO during JGW 10.

Anonymous Givers

We hope a wave will sweep across India from the 26th of Sept., to the 2nd of Oct., this year. This wave, we hope, will cut across all barriers and will be truly inclusive as we celebrate the Joy of Giving. This festival takes its inspiration from the ordinary Indian, who has a basic generosity of spirit as is witnessed when we come out in large numbers to help during flood, earthquake, accident or other unfortunate occurences. All those who help at such times fade away into obscurity after having done their bit.

This post is a tribute to some of these anonymous Indians, who have made it their life's mission to share their time, money, skills or other resources to spread some light, hope and joy in the lives of others.

These are the people like AnandKumar and Abhayanand, a Mathematician and DIG of police, who together run the Ramanujan school of mathematics in Bihar, that ensures that the poorest aspirants of IIT are given free coaching every year. There is Muhammed Sharif who ensures that unclaimed bodies are given a decent burial. There is Nur, who releases caged birds in memory of his son who was swept away in a tidal wave. Vandana the founder member of The Banyan, picked up a mentally ill destitute woman off the streets and went on to build up a home for the mentally ill destitute. There is also Vinod Sreedhar, who goes about performing Random Acts of Kindness, one of which is to smile at strangers and pass on some happiness, by asking a rickshaw driver to share a cup of tea with him, after ferrying him.

There are also groups of individuals coming together for a cause. The members of the Rohan Nilay society in Aundh, Pune, for eg. raised a sum of 1.2 lakhs in year by selling their newspapers. This money has been earmarked for the education of the needy.

Singhvi, a CA, in Mumbai has quit his professional practice and made it his mission to green the Yeeor Hills near Thane. Under the Hariyali Project, he spends his own money to buy and nurture saplings. In order that the current generation understands the importance of nurturing the greenery we have, he invites school children each year to plant the saplings during the monsoon.

It is because of our basic nature to help that the response to JGW was widespread. Along with various initiatives underaken by NGOs and corporates to raise funds during the week, what was heartening was that the individual citizen came out in large numbers to ensure his/ her participation in various ways: by volunteering time, skills, money. The spirit of giving seemed to have permeated into the soul of every individual. There was no cynicism here, no expectations and no rules, only humility and joy.

Reintroducing JGW

It might seem a little absurd to talk about the concept of the Joy of Giving Week again because one has been writing about it and you have been following our posts since last year. But as we inch toward the Joy of Giving Week 10, it is likely that many more would begin to read these posts and for their benefit as well as ours, (it is always better to refresh one's memory and clear misconceptions), we think it is important to devote a post to reintroduce the concept of JGW.

What exactly is the Joy of Giving Week? It is as we have said in our earlier posts, a week devoted to charitable or philantropic acts, a festival of philantropy, that we hope over the years will become a part of our ethos. It is a festival which by its very nature belongs to each one of us, is owned by nobody, is all inclusive, sets no rigid boundaries or rules regarding the mode of celebration. Launched successfully in 2009, volunteers across the country and abroad, co-ordinated this 'pan Indian' festival. This year too, the JGW to be held between the 26th of Sept and the 2nd of Oct., has scores of volunteers working to ensure its success.

Innovative and inspiring events were held during JGW '09 which also saw celebrity and media support for this unique concept, all of which helped raise not only much needed resources, but also our collective consciousness towards giving. To know more about the JGW 09, please follow this link:

http://joyofgivingweek.blogspot.com/2010/04/measuring-impact-of-jgw-09.html
How can one be a part of this movement? Simple, all one has to do is to plan a 'giving event'. In case you are stuck for ideas, get in touch or visit our website where we will shortly have an idea bank to help you get started. If you have your own ideas, that's great and you can share them with us and register your event. More about JGW:
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Key features of JGW

1. JGW does not belong to any organisation, it is an 'open format' movement owned by the people of India. After a few years, we hope it will become like Diwali or Ganeshotsav or Holi, a festival of giving celebrated all over the country.
   
2. It is to be abbreviated as JGW
   
3. Any giving activity [time, money, skills, resources] is encouraged, people can create their own events or participate in others. corporate volunteer activities, clothes collection drives, fundraising concerts or dinners, visiting orphanages/elderly homes, etc. are all welcome ways to participate.
4. CREATIVE giving events are welcome- JGW2009 saw many innovations like CEOs walking the ramp or being shadowed for a cause, or 5 star hotels 'collaborating' in a big battle of buffets, or Tendulkar auctioning a cricket coaching camp for charity.
5. There are only 2 major restrictions-
• Events can be classified as part of JGW only if some significant part of the event is happening during the Week, or if it is a systematically orchestrated build up to something large in the Week.
  
• Likewise, events have to be about 'GIVING' to the less fortunate. They should not be commercially driven
  
6. JGW is co-ordinated by a bunch of volunteers all over India. Each of 10 cities has a co-ordinator, and 'vertical owners' who drive different 'verticals' like corporates, schools, colleges, ngos, etc. JGW doesn't have any employees, as it is not an organisation.

Towards JGW 10

While we have been reporting on the various events of the Joy of giving Week '09, work for the Joy of Giving Week '10 has been going on. A festival of this scale, where each one of us can participate, can only be successful when planning begins much in advance. It is also necessary to reach out to as many as possible, both to spread joy and to raise resources. What better way to do this than through the media? We have been lucky that newspapers, television channels, and the radio have come forward to help us spread our message of giving. Again there has been interaction between the government, the NGO and the corporate, which has helped us to reach out to more sections of society. We are confident that this interaction will continue this year too. Meanwhile, here is a link to take you to whjat is in store for Chennaites this year during JGW.
From The Hindu and the Times of India http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article482817.ece
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH%2F2010%2F06%2F24&ViewMode=GIF&GZ=T&PageLabel=2&EntityId=Ar00203&AppName=1

As the reports show there is a lot of enthusiasm generated for JGW and we are confident that this will only increase in the coming weeks and Chennai will go out of its way to raise much needed resources and to spread joy during JGW 10. As the weeks go by, we will bring in more reports from other parts of the country. Be there for us and for yourselves, to experience joy.