Over the last few years, the landscape of Indian American giving has undergone a major structural revolution, fueled by data-driven storytelling and targeted digital advocacy. At the center of this shift is the multi-award-winning partnership between the India Philanthropy Alliance (IPA), which has successfully propelled campaigns like India Giving Day into a premier global movement.
In an exclusive email exchange with The American Bazaar, Alex Counts, Executive Director of the India Philanthropy Alliance (IPA), discusses the powerful evolution of diaspora-driven giving from sporadic, individual donations into a highly strategic and coordinated movement.
Counts shares insights into how these deliberate, tech-driven communication strategies are helping the coalition widen civic participation, engage younger generations of donors, and dramatically scale sustainable development and grassroots impact across India.
The American Bazaar: Diaspora philanthropy has evolved significantly over the past decade. What are the most notable shifts you’re seeing today in how U.S.-based donors are engaging with development in India?
The first shift is the scale of giving. A report IPA and Indiaspora commissioned Dalberg to undertake a comparison of Indian American philanthropy in 2024 and how it compared to an earlier survey in 2018. The amount donated increased by more than 300% over just six years. Not all of that went to India, but a significant amount of it did.
Those donors are increasingly seeking learning opportunities that help them give more impactfully.
There is also a growing appreciation of the importance of engaging young professionals, as evidenced by IPA’s announcement of the Deepak Raj Rising Star Award for emerging leaders under 40 years of age.
And communal giving is taking off, through giving circles like AIF’s Circle of Hope and of course India Giving Day.
In what ways is diaspora leadership different from traditional institutional philanthropy, particularly in terms of speed, innovation, and approach to risk?
Institutional philanthropy tends to be slow-moving and often cautious. Diaspora members who have studied and practiced philanthropy and learned from mentors tend to make quick decisions and focus on the quality of organizational leadership. In that sense, they think like a venture capitalist, but with the objective of causing positive societal change rather than making money. They also realize that innovation is important, but the often gritty work of implementing innovations at scale can’t be left to the market and often involves partnerships with government.
READ: Inside India Philanthropy Alliance’s Giving Day 2026 and the rise of diaspora-led giving (March 26, 2026)
There is a growing focus on measurable, systems-level impact. How are diaspora-led organizations moving beyond charity to drive long-term, scalable change?
Many diaspora organizations are moving in this direction. For example, Milaan Foundation believes the shift from charity to systems change begins with a fundamental reorientation from doing things for communities to building power within them. Its Girl Icon Program is designed on this principle.
Rather than delivering services to girls, they invest in adolescent girls as agents of change who identify problems in their own communities and lead solutions. When a girl becomes a Girl Icon, she isn’t a beneficiary — she’s a leader. And that shift in identity has ripple effects that no external intervention can manufacture.
What makes this scalable is that the model is community-owned. Milaan’s Girl Icons don’t just complete a program; they become the infrastructure for change in their villages, mentoring peers, shifting norms, and creating demand for education and safety at the local level. This is how they’ve seen child marriage drop from 23% to just 1% in communities where Milaan works, and school retention is 85% against a national average of 60%.
A critical dimension of our systems-change approach is working with government to strengthen existing social protection frameworks, not replace them. Milaan’s partnership with the Uttar Pradesh Government is a direct expression of this. By embedding the Girl Icon model within state structures, they are helping to institutionalize girl-centered leadership at scale, ensuring that change outlasts any single program or funding cycle. Milaan’s goal to reach 2 million girls by 2030 is only achievable through this kind of ecosystemic thinking.
The Foundation for Excellence, which has provided more than 150,000 university scholarships to low-income students totaling nearly $74 million, goes beyond traditional charity by encouraging beneficiaries to “pay it forward” by donating back to FFE after they have established themselves in their careers. In a recent fiscal year, alumni contributed $1.27 million.
Diaspora-led organizations such as Sehgal Foundation are increasingly moving beyond traditional charity by focusing on sustainable, systems-level change. Instead of providing short-term aid, they invest in long-term solutions in areas such as water security, sustainable agriculture, education, women’s empowerment, and local governance. Their approach emphasizes community participation, local ownership, and scalable models that create lasting impact.
To take another example, Akanksha Education Fund supports Project Setu, an Akanksha Foundation (TAF) program to create systemic impact and help strengthen public school education. Through its partnership with two municipal corporations in Maharashtra, TAF is going beyond the 27 schools it runs directly to bring their award-winning best practices to 220 government schools. By leveraging Akanksha’s methodologies, Project Setu has reached over 1,000 educators/headmasters and 70,000 students.
Teach for India was focused on systems thinking when it designed its path-breaking Fellowship program. Rather than placing volunteers or teachers in classrooms to drive foundational numeracy and literacy for life, TFI recruits India’s brightest to spend two years teaching in under-resourced schools — then nurtures that high-potential talent in a cohesive Alumni movement designed to drive long-term, scalable change at all levels of the education system.
The results are striking. Seventy percent of Fellowship alumni stay in the social sector after their two years end. Collectively, the 5,400+ Alumni now reach 50 million children through their careers — founding organizations, running transformational schools, and shaping policy in ways a single fellowship placement never could.
Alumni have launched more than 160 social sector organizations, including Mantra4Change, and serve as CXOs at 80 more. Others have moved into government, influencing education and child safety policy across 23 state governments. iTeach Schools, founded by TFI alumni, reports a 100% college enrollment rate among its students.
One of our newest board members, Megha Desai, perhaps addressed this issue best when she said: “Diaspora-led organizations are uniquely positioned to connect global capital with deep local trust—but the future of this work is not charity, its systems change. At the Desai Foundation, we focus on building scalable community infrastructure: training local women as health workers, manufacturing affordable sanitary pads through our Asani program, and creating workforce models like Heroes for Humanity that communities can sustain long-term. Real impact happens when philanthropy stops delivering temporary aid and starts building local ownership, measurable outcomes, and pathways to dignity at scale.”
How is the role of diaspora leaders changing in shaping global development priorities and cross-border collaboration?
Diaspora leaders recognize the centrality of improving education, including vocational training, so that the number of youth in India not involved in any form of education, employment or training—known as NEET—comes way down. They also realize that passing enlightened laws like the Right to Education Act or the one requiring a midday meal for schoolchildren are important first steps, but also ones that require diligent implementation that can often be supported by civil society groups.
READ: India Giving Day 2026 raises $5.6 million, powered by #PowerOfUs (March 20, 2026)
Finally, they have had the insight that environmental protection need not mute economic growth or social well-being; done right, they can actually enhance those goals. These insights are seeping into the work of leading philanthropists and NGOs in India, even as diaspora leaders learn from local actors the nitty-gritty of how these ideas can be best implemented at the grassroots level.
What are some of the unique challenges diaspora-led organizations face when operating across geographies, and how can these be addressed?
One challenge is cultural and contextual translation, especially while working in a cause such as gender equality. The communities that nonprofits involved in India Giving Day serve in rural areas operate within complex social ecosystems. Diaspora donors and board members, however well-intentioned, can sometimes bring assumptions shaped by their distance from those realities.
Another challenge is trust and accountability across borders. Diaspora donors want to know their contributions are creating genuine impact — not just activity. This requires rigorous measurement, transparent communication, and the willingness to report honestly on what isn’t working. Many of the organizations whose leaders sit on IPA’s board have invested in data systems and third-party evaluations precisely because trust is the currency that sustains long-term diaspora engagement.
A major strength of the best diaspora-led organizations is their ability to connect global resources and expertise with grassroots implementation. The U.S.-based Sehgal Foundation, for example, helps mobilize funding, partnerships, and international support, while the S.M. Sehgal Foundation in India works directly with rural communities to implement locally relevant solutions. This collaboration enables innovation while ensuring programs remain grounded in local realities.
However, operating across geographies also presents challenges. Diaspora-led organizations often need to balance donor expectations abroad with the long-term needs of communities on the ground. They also face regulatory complexities, cultural differences, and the challenge of sustaining funding for long-term development work.
These challenges can be addressed through strong local leadership, community-driven decision-making, and diversified partnerships with governments, corporations, and academic institutions. By combining accountability with grassroots engagement, diaspora-led organizations can drive meaningful and measurable social change at scale.
Teach for India, for example, operates across 800+ schools in nine regions — navigating not just geography, but the enormous diversity of languages, communities, and educational contexts that define India at scale. Its network of global supporters — donors, board members, and alumni spread across the world — brings resources and passion. It also brings assumptions.
The gap shows up in subtle but consequential ways. Well-meaning diaspora supporters, many of whom attended competitive schools and built careers abroad, can arrive with a narrow definition of what “good education” looks like: high test scores and college placement rates. What that framing misses is that for children growing up in low-income communities, a classroom that feels safe may matter more than one that feels rigorous. Holistic development — social, emotional, physical — isn’t a nice-to-have layered on top of academics. For many of these children, it’s the prerequisite to building 21st century skills.
Similarly, the instinct to champion college as the universal marker of success can obscure the real story. Vocational and non-graduate pathways have broken cycles of intergenerational poverty for families across India — and dismissing them reflects a particular class experience, not an educational truth.
None of this is unique to TFI. It’s a structural tension that virtually every diaspora-connected organization navigates: the people with the most resources and ability to help are often the furthest from the realities they’re trying to change. TFI’s Fellowship program is a shining example of bridging this distance for all its participants in the most profound manner. TFI also leads immersive retreats and supports incubator programs to create ongoing opportunities for global stakeholders to understand the communities they serve.
READ: Creating trust and building confidence: The growth of Indian American philanthropy (
Looking ahead, how do you see the role of diaspora leadership evolving in global development over the next few years?
I anticipate continued growth in terms of dollars donated, with increasing attention to giving locally, including to diaspora-led local charities such as Hunger Mitao. I also think that diaspora members will realize that philanthropy is a learned skill that improves with study and practice. Younger members will seek more mentorship from people like Deepak Raj, Lata Krishnan and Desh Deshpande. I anticipate more Indian Americans leading major American and European philanthropies. Finally, diaspora leaders will focus not just on the quantitative growth of philanthropy, but also on qualitative improvement, aspiring to and demonstrating the ability to practice what we at IPA call “philanthropy 3.0.”
How important is the branding of Indian development projects in attracting younger, Gen-Z Indian Americans who might feel a different connection to the diaspora than their parents?
For Indian charities to earn the interest and support of Gen-Z Indian Americans, they will need to be more data-driven in their approach to social change and to ecological stewardship. They should also include more Gen-Z members on their governing bodies (which IPA recommends), and be less stuffy and scripted in their events but instead allow for more spontaneity and fun.
For the Indian American community, philanthropy is often deeply personal, it is about roots. How does IPA help organizations translate their mission so it resonates with someone in Silicon Valley as effectively as it does with someone in rural India?
I think that nonprofit organizations need to emphasize that as much as they need money, they also need ideas and brainpower. We need to convince Silicon Valley and Wall Street moguls that if they put their minds to it, they may be able to come up with an idea that won’t make them a billion dollars, but might help a billion people lead healthier and more productive lives. And we need people telling the story of how profoundly satisfying it is to round out one’s personal legacy by doing something that improves society for the better.
We often talk about the successes, but what is the biggest cultural or logistical clash that happens when U.S.-based leadership tries to implement ideas in India? How was that gap bridged, and what did it teach the Indian Philanthropy Alliance about local partnership?
Those of us that work in philanthropy or contribute money from a base in the U.S. need to approach this work with humility. I see many of the boards of the best U.S. organizations set up to support one or more Indian charities coming to the work with a learning and listening mindset, rather than dictating to those who have field experience. IPA tried to model this by convening grassroots leaders in Bangalore this past March and spending most of the time listening to insights and then publishing a blog post about the valuable things that we learned from the local staff.
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Ultimately, Counts emphasizes that the future of diaspora philanthropy relies heavily on this intersection of collective action and strategic visibility. By moving away from isolated contributions and utilizing unified, award-winning digital campaigns, the Indian American community is doing more than just funding immediate relief. Through the continued collaboration of forward-thinking nonprofits, the diaspora is building a permanent, structural legacy of giving that ensures long-term progress for generations to come