News Desk, News Nation 360 : In partnership with Dasra, the Keshav Suri Foundation, Godrej Industries Group (GIG), and Radhika Piramal (Executive Director, VIP Industries & Trustee, Dasra UK) announced the opening of The Pride Fund, India's first LGBTQIA+ charity fund. With consistent, methodical, and patient generosity, the fund seeks to close the financing gap and enable significant on-the-ground change for India's LGBTQIA+ population, which is thought to comprise over 140 million individuals. The initiative's main partners will include Dasra and Godrej DEI Lab, an experimental facility dedicated to building an inclusive ecology inside and outside the GIG. The landscape of queer philanthropy in India is stark with only one out of the 50 top donors in India donating explicitly to LGBTQIA+ organizations and negligible Corporate Social Responsibility contributions. Global funding for LGBTQIA+ communities is on the rise, but India barely participates in or benefits from these philanthropic efforts. Through these structural barriers and significant prejudice, queer organizers and grassroots activists have made landmark efforts for their communities. Born out of these movements, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations do their best to confront vital challenges in the lives of
LGBTQIA+ communities in India including access to healthcare, livelihoods, justice, and dignity. The Pride Fund thus aims to further support these organizations through grants enabling their work, to improve the future of LGBTQIA+ Indians throughout the country. At the launch of The Pride Fund, Dasra released a report titled – ‘Against All Odds – Advancing Equity for India’s LGBTQIA+ Communities,’ which studies the challenges faced by LGBTQIA+-focused organizations in India, and recommends solutions to overcome barriers and prioritise responsive approaches co-created with the community. Commenting on the fund's launch, Parmesh Shahani, Head of Godrej DEI Lab, stated that The Pride Fund is a landmark initiative, the first of its kind in India, founded by and for the LGBTQIA+ community. By tackling the structural obstacles that have historically disadvantaged LGBTQIA+ people, this fund reflects their common goal of equity and inclusion. Through focused assistance and resources, they hope to enable communities to gain access to safety, health, justice, and opportunities that have been denied to them for far too long, as just 27% of NGOs that serve the community have a national presence. They aim to create a more robust and inclusive society that genuinely reflects the ideals of Viksit Bharat, where all people may live with pride and dignity regardless of who they are.
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