About:
Started in 2015, the HCL Grant is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment by HCL, through HCL Foundation, to strengthen and empower NGOs, engage with them, as well as recognize them for their path-breaking work. Currently focused on rural development, the HCL Grant is awarded in three thematic categories, namely Environment, Health and Education. The Grant is designed to support breakthrough award-winning projects to NGOs, that have a proven track record of evident impact, high credibility and distinct ability to deliver. NGOs that reach out to marginalized, isolated, underserved and underdeveloped rural communities in India, and work jointly to achieve sustainable socio-economic development.
HCL Grant awards the winning NGOs in each of the categories of Environment, Health and Education, a grant of ₹ 5 Crore (~US$0.65 Million) for a 3 years’ project. The HCL Grant rewards the other finalists too, who are doing great work in their own right. So the 2 other finalists in each category receive a grant of ₹ 25 lakhs (~US$0.03 Million) for a year-long project which is mutually agreed with HCL Foundation after the final Jury meet. Thus, the total committed fund for HCL Grant is ₹16.5 Crores (~US$2.2 Million), for Edition VIII. Besides this, each year, work of up to 30 shortlisted NGOs, 10 per category, has been photo-documented and published in The Fifth Estate – The HCL Grant Compendium – Volume I, II, III, IV & V. This is possibly the first-ever, sector-wide, comprehensive compendium of highly credible NGOs, highlighting their proposals submitted for HCL Grant, striving towards the empowerment of rural India. Each one of these case studies is examples of best practices in areas of environment, health and education, with evidence of meaningful transformation in the rural belt of this diverse nation.
So far, the HCL Grant has already committed ₹ 79.25 Crore (~US$10.83 Million) towards high impact projects. Through this commitment, the HCL Grant supported projects aim to cover 22,17,931 people in 9,464 villages in 84 districts across 18 states and 2 Union Territories of India, of which the projects have already covered 8,40, 271 beneficiaries.
Applicable:
The Grant is applicable for NGOs working in the field of Education, Health and Environment with experience of implementing projects in rural India. We encourage organisations from all over India to apply with innovative, replicable and sustainable models, which can make significant contribution towards rural development.
Eligibility Criteria:
- The organization must be a registered not for profit entity in India i.e. either a Society or a Trust or a Section 8 (previously Section 25) company or any other organization (as prescribed under Section 135 of The Companies Act, 2013, the CSR Rules 2014, and its amendments).
- The organization must have registered u/s 80G of The Income-tax, 1961. (including organizations who have successfully submitted application for renewal of 80G certificate, subject to further scrutiny).
- The organization must have the below-mentioned functional existence (as per their registration certificate) in India on or before 31st March 2022:
- If applying under Education and Health category – minimum 10 years or above
- If applying under Environment category – minimum 5 years or above
- The organization must be in full compliance with applicable regulatory rules and must have valid documents for registration, audited financial reports, etc.
- The organization must have registered u/s 12A of The Income-tax, 1961. (including organizations who have successfully submitted application for renewal of 12A certificate, subject to further scrutiny.)
- The organization must have registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as CSR Implementing Agency through Form No. CSR-1.
- The organization must have the below mentioned average expenditure (as per income & expenditure account) for the last three financial years viz. 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21:
- If applying under Education and Health category – minimum ₹ 1 Crores or above
- If applying under Environment category – minimum ₹ 0.50 Crores or above
If at any point in time, during the entire evaluation process, any organisation is noted to have furnished false or wrong information, the organisation will get disqualified from HCL Grant.
To apply: https://www.hclfoundation.org/user/hcl-grant/register
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