When partnering with corporates for fundraising, we have four key programs through which CSR Endowments, Grants or Donations are routed. These are Livelihood Training, Self-Defence for Women, Sign-Language Training & Disability Awareness Sessions. Through each of these programs, we aim to accomplish a specific goal mandated by the Donor, be it Education & Awareness, Employability and Recruitment to Optimization of Employee Volunteer hours. As an example of how closely our deliverables are aligned with corporate processes, our recruitment drives are tailor-made to suit each individual company’s requirements and also feature accessibility enablers such as a sign-language interpreter to make the process as trouble-free as possible
We view our own deliverables as being part of a bigger picture; of driving institutional and government-wide change. This macro-view of what we need to achieve is a long-term vision for the organization and drives us to intervene & interact in situations with entities on behalf of advocacy & accessibility. Examples of this approach are:
– Memorandums being signed with The Honorable Mayor’s Office in Bangalore for funds to make public spaces in a specific Ward more disabled friendly such as Parks, Bus Stops, Post Offices, etc.
– Memorandums signed with the Disability Welfare Department for conducting Accessibility Audits and training Government staff in sign-language.
– Funds allocated from Municipal budget to be used towards helping disabled individuals set-up and run their own businesses and providing disabled youth with mobility devices.
All of CDT’s programs are entirely driven by charitable donations. The Livelihood Training and Self-Defence classes for example require a Corporate CSR Grant in order to be executed, which in most cases, is accompanied with very firm targets in terms of individuals with disabilities trained and/or women taught self-defence. The Sign-Language and Disability Awareness sessions on the other hand are almost always carried out pro-bono by CDT as our goal is to spread as much awareness and change without having a fee attached to it. Apart from corporate CSR grants, we do receive donations from foreign countries as well as we are fully FCRA compliant, however, these donations have for the most part been individual in nature. Each of these donation driven programs adheres to strict, mandatory levels of transparency, integrity and accountability; and CDT is audited regularly by companies such as Deloitte Consulting on behalf of our Donors.
Our collaborations with corporates and their employees has a far reaching impact on CDT as an organization and how we operate. Going deeper than just the execution of a CSR Program, we are fortunate enough to have specialized expertise at every level, which has helped us scale our outreach and enable as many individuals with disabilities as we have. These skills range from Marketing and Finance managers volunteering their time to help us raise funds and review finance systems to Legal and IT specialists helping us work well within the law and being up to date with our digital training capabilities. Additionally we also have a steady stream of volunteers from the corporate sector who help us with our daily operations and more excitingly, have helped us build connections with other NGOs and organizations looking at making a difference and giving back to the community.