LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTUnless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. Its not. — Dr. Seuss Indians for Collective Action (ICA) volunteers care an awful lot. ICA has been there for 50+ years and every year we make a difference to the lives of low-income people in India. ICA believes in a just life for all in a sustainable environment, and to make this happen we support individuals whose strongest desire is to change the life of the poor. The individuals who approached us for support with nothing more than a dream have gone from being 1-person start-ups to large NGOs. All this happened with volunteer power from generations of Indians living in the heart of Silicon Valley, those with full time jobs, families and commitments, who have been driven by a deep passion to give back. As we embark on the next 50 years of ICA, we look forward to investing in organizations that will work to make people economically independent in a self-sustaining environment. We also look forward to investing in our local communities in the US, helping with hunger, homelessness, mental health and economic freedom. We have an exciting and inspiring program for our 2019 Annual Event on November 10. We will be honoring leaders of NGOs in India, and will also be sponsoring our first local social organization, San Jose State University Student Services, who are helping battle the #1 problem facing college students hunger. SJSUSS runs food pantries and relies on donations to help students who have no money left to feed themselves after they pay tuition and rent. Come, be inspired, and join ICA in its 3.0 effort to make the world a better place. We can all do a little to make a big difference. 
Reshma Nigam, President
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ANNOUNCEMENT
The ICA Annual conference will be held
Honorees:Vinayak Lohani Founder, Parivaar 
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Satyajit Bhatkal
CEO, Paani Foundation 
Indians for Collective Action (ICA) is a San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit group. ICA's mission is to support sustainable development in India by partnering with dedicated non-government organizations and individuals.
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Agenda
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Recent Additions to ICA-Supported Philanthropies |
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Parivaar runs West Bengals largest free residential institution for children from destitute background with 2000 residential boys and girls.
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ParivaarParivaar, a recently added ICA philanthropy, is a humanitarian organization that works towards the total care and overall development of children who are highly vulnerable to exploitation, victimization and trafficking, including orphans, street children, abandoned children, and extremely impoverished children from tribal areas. It also conducts many more humanitarian activities for the destitute and uncared, including elderly and shelterless. The organization has headquarters in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, and serves over 2,200 low-income children. |
77 Million Indians lack access to clean water. Paani is on a mission to change that.
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PaaniPaani Foundation was set up in 2016 by the team of the TV series Satyamev Jayate to fight drought in rural Maharashtra. Water scarcity is largely a man-made condition, and we believe that only people's efforts can solve the crisis. Paani Foundation aims to harness the power of communication to mobilise, motivate and train people in this mission to eradicate drought. Offering training in scientific watershed management, leadership and community-building, Paani Foundation is now working in roughly 90% of drought-hit Maharashtra. Our flagship project, the Satyamev Jayate Water Cup was instituted in 2016 as a way to encourage villages to apply their training in watershed management. Water Cup 2019 was held from 8th April to 27th May 2019. |
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ICA, the first 50 years (1968-2018)ICA started as Front for Rapid Economic Advancement for India, (Co-Founded by Mahendrabhai Mehta), which later evolved into Indians for Collective Action in 1968. Much has changed in 50 years, but its vision and commitment to the educational, economic, and social welfare advancement of India remain the same. |
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ICA 1.0
The first few decades of ICA were focused on raising awareness, educating people on the issues and nurturing the enthusiasm of youth to contribute to India's development. Quite a few ICA members returned to India to work in NGO's and start their own NGO's including Dr. Ravi Chopra, S. R. Hiremath, and Madhukar Deshpande. There was also a think tank at UC Berkeley and one at Stanford University, and regular seminars were held often with outside speakers and activists. Funds raised were primarily for activists who returned to India. We are now calling this phase ICA 1.0. |
ICA 2.0
In the last 25 years after Raj Mashruwala and Abhay Bhushan joined ICA, building on our core strengths of idealism, commitment and spirit of volunteerism, we started actively raising funds for, supporting projects in India and launched new initiatives in US like Asha for Education and Foundation for Excellence, movements like Rejuvenate India, and Promise of India. We also launched our ICA Honor Award program, recognizing and supporting leading activists and change makers in India. We also supported the AIF Fellows program in its formative stages and InSPIRE, the ICA youth program, as well as started ICA's Women's leadership program. We are now calling this phase ICA 2.0. |
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The next 50 Years! ICA 3.0
Now as we complete 50 years of ICA, celebrating our Golden Jubilee, we are set to launch ICA 3.0, building on our core strengths and programs from ICA 1.0 and ICA 2.0. In this phase, we will continue our programs from ICA 1.0 and 2.0, and add a third dimension which is to actively court and support social entrepreneurs as well as the growing base of successful Indians in the San Francisco Bay Area who want to make a difference. We will scale up our fund raising and connect the social entrepreneurs here and in India, to ICA's donor base. We will guide this donor base in helping their philanthropic vision take shape. In addition, some of our work will be to work on local and global issues, as we have more and more second and third generation Indian Americans as ICA members. We will connect the activists and change makers in USA to those in India, so both can learn from each other and adapt the best practices. In this journey, we are closely following the Sustainable Development Goals stated by the United Nations. |
Leadership2018-19 Executive Committee
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Indians for Collective Action (ICA) |
