Strategic Coordination Is Key to Scaling Diaspora Giving Across Sectors

An ecosystem of stakeholders is unlocking the potential of Indian diaspora philanthropy

India is home to the world’s largest population and fifth largest economy, with a GDP of nearly USD 4 trillion. Yet, the country faces significant development challenges, and India’s GDP per capita remains relatively low at USD 2,670. While India has made major strides toward achieving the SDG agenda, including through vastly expanding education access and reducing extreme poverty, progress on gender equality, eliminating hunger, and climate action lags. The potential of the Indian diaspora—numbering 35 million and increasingly affluent—to help drive development through philanthropy is immense. Strategic coordination among governments, NGOs, financial institutions, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) is helping to translate this potential into measurable development gains. Over the past decade, India has witnessed a marked shift in diaspora giving, moving from informal remittances to more strategic philanthropic investments.

The Indian diaspora is vast, with high giving capacity. Indian Americans are among the highest-earning demographic groups in the U.S., with a median household income of USD 145,000 in 2022, nearly double the national average. In the United Kingdom, there were about 2 million people of Indian ethnicity at the time of the 2021 census, and Indian diaspora-owned businesses in the UK generated an estimated GBP 37 billion in 2020. As of 2017, Dalberg identified 1,750 Indian diaspora members living in the U.S., the U.K., Saudi Arabia, and Singapore possessing a net worth greater than USD 30 million. Their collective wealth exceeded USD 200 billion, and this amount has certainly grown over the last seven years. In the U.S. alone, ultra-high-net-worth members of the Indian diaspora had an estimated collective wealth of USD 438 billion in 2023.

Over the past decade, giving by HNWIs in the Indian diaspora has surged. In 2015, the Bridgespan group found that HNWIs in the Indian diaspora were giving below their potential, estimating that if they were to direct just 40 percent of typical philanthropic giving to India, annual contributions could reach USD 1.2 billion—far surpassing U.S. foreign aid to India at the time. In 2024, the estimated annual philanthropic contribution to India by the global Indian diaspora reached USD 1.5 billion, with Indian Americans alone giving USD 200 million in 2023. The gains over the past ten years exemplify a shift toward greater, more organized, and strategic giving.

A growing network of actors and innovations helped to activate diaspora capital

The strides toward realizing the development generating potential of the Indian diaspora stem from a push toward strategic, coordinated giving by a diverse range of actors. Giving campaigns coordinated by NGOs have mobilized millions by creating centralized, trusted channels for collective action. In 2023, the India Philanthropy Alliance, a coalition of nonprofits and philanthropies focused on development in India, launched India Giving Day, a campaign to increase philanthropy from the Indian Diaspora in the U.S. to India through a coordinated, national day of giving. The campaign has seen major success and growth; the 2025 India Giving Day raised over USD 8.8 million, a 625 percent increase over the inaugural India Giving Day in 2023. Moreover, in 2019, Indiaspora launched ChaloGive, an online giving campaign modeled after Giving Tuesday in the U.S., to foster a culture of giving among the Indian diaspora through strategic, accessible philanthropy. Since 2020, ChaloGive has raised over USD 15 million for COVID-19 relief in India. These platforms reduce transaction costs, build visibility for Indian NGOs, and appeal to younger diaspora donors. Beyond organized giving drives, diaspora-focused NGOs help formalize and institutionalize connections, acting as trustworthy conduits for channeling resources back to India.

Family foundations and family offices have helped accelerate Indian diaspora giving. The number of known Indian family offices—many operated from abroad—grew from 45 in 2018 to 300 in 2024. These entities enable agile, mission-driven giving, often focused on education, healthcare, gender equality, and climate resilience. For example, the Empowerment Foundation has significantly scaled its philanthropic efforts in recent years, disbursing over USD 11.5 million to 13 organizations and reaching more than 161,000 people across nine Indian states since 2022. Family foundations can also help engender diaspora giving across generations. The God My Silent Partner (GMSP) Foundation, founded by Pratibha and Ramesh Sachdev in 2006, has grown under the leadership of their daughter, Sonal Sachdev Patel, committing over GBP 13 million to more than 43 organizations across India and the U.K.. The GMSP Foundation’s support has helped partners like Sol’s ARC, an NGO focused on improving education access and outcomes for vulnerable populations in India, scale from serving hundreds to over 4 million people. Importantly, these family foundations are not operating in isolation. GivingPi, an invite-only network of philanthropic families within India and in the Indian diaspora, fosters collective impact by providing guidance, peer engagement, and access to sector experts.

Structural changes, financial innovations, and policy shifts have played pivotal roles in reducing friction in diaspora giving and building the infrastructure needed for sustained philanthropic flows. Government initiatives like the India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians have provided credible, government-backed channels for diaspora contributions to development projects in India. Similarly, financial instruments like diaspora bonds and community investment notes such as those introduced by Calvert Foundation have allowed for pooled, purpose-driven giving that meets both development goals and donor preferences. Philanthropy-enabling regulatory reforms—such as the External Commercial Borrowing mechanism that eases diaspora investment in businesses in India—have further reduced obstacles to diaspora philanthropy. U.S.–India collaborations, such as the GiveIndia–Indiaspora strategic partnership, have helped institutionalize transnational giving, enhancing transparency, accountability, and donor trust. Collectively, these reforms have built a philanthropic infrastructure that makes it easier for HNWIs to give.

Diaspora philanthropy is advancing development outcomes across sectors

Diaspora philanthropy has not merely grown in volume. It is delivering tangible development outcomes across the SDG agenda. In public health, diaspora-supported initiatives like the Mariwala Health Initiative expand mental health services in rural India. During the second wave of COVID-19 in India, diaspora networks rapidly mobilized to deliver oxygen, personal protective equipment (PPE), and emergency funding to overstretched hospitals and communities deeply impacted by the pandemic. Giving by the Indian diaspora has also improved education equity and access in India. The Aseema Charitable Trust, supported by diaspora donors, delivers high-quality education to over 4,000 children in underserved areas. Contributions from the Indian diaspora have also fueled innovation ecosystems, helping to incubate technology hubs, support research institutions, and strengthen special economic zones. In climate action and gender equity, diaspora-supported platforms like PowerSouth connect grassroots, women-led climate initiatives in India to global funding, ensuring women’s leadership in climate project ownership and management. The sustained, strategic giving by the Indian diaspora goes beyond an influx of capital to the subcontinent with an aim toward improving people’s lives and engendering sustainable development.