The past year has brought with it the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme adversity, impacting several lives and livelihoods across the country. Amongst the most severely affected, were grassroots organisations who were at the frontlines of rescue and relief efforts while barely managing to survive or sustain themselves. As a result, today, many of these organisations are grappling with depleted reserves of funds, organisational fatigue and the risk of forced closure, as community needs and
vulnerabilities compound and deepen. During this challenging time, EdelGive continues to place its hope in collaboration and collective action to mobilise goodwill, expertise and resources to ensure a recovery that is not only timely, but also

In this context, EdelGive Foundation launches the Grassroots, Resilience, Ownership and Wellness (GROW) Fund, a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at building the capabilities, resilience and future readiness of grassroots organisations, in turn facilitating their efforts to effect change at the
grassroots. Anchored by EdelGive Foundation along with a collection of reputed funders, the GROW Fund aims to strengthen 100 high impact grassroots organisations over 24 months, through capacity building, and support of key organisational functions. On 6 th July, 2021, as a lead up to the launch, EdelGive hosted the first roundtable on GROW which produced an array of invaluable insights that are helping to frame our ideas and ambitions for the Fund.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Manan Trust, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, MacArthur Foundation, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation and Ashish Kacholia, along with the Edelweiss Group have joined as core funders to the initiative. Eminent businesspersons known for their commitment to philanthropy such as Sanjay Purohit and the Bikhchandani family have also committed to this cause, and are supporting the Fund. EdelGive also looks forward to welcoming many more individuals and
organisations to GROW in the months to come Applications to the GROW Fund are now open, and the Fund’s 100 grantees will be selected through an open and transparent online application process. Each application will be judged objectively, based on both qualitative and quantitative information submitted on broad parameters such as financial strength and fundraising capacity, compliance, reach, impact and coverage, as well as critical gaps in funding. EdelGive will be working with the COVID Action Collaborative (CAC), GOONJ, Jan Sahas,