PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

A Diverse, Vibrant Community
The American India Foundation (AIF), was founded in 2001 in Silicon Valley to
raise funds for relief efforts in Gujarat state following a major earthquake. More recently,
AIF has supported relief and rehabilitation in Tamil Nadu and the Andaman and
Nicobar islands after the 2004 tsunami, and in Kashmir after the 2005 earthquake there. It has
effectively tapped into Indian professional networks nationwide and, in the past six years, has
raised more than $45 million for education, economic livelihood and public health projects.
AIF’s board includes, among others, retired Citigroup senior vice chairman Victor Menezes;
McKinsey & Company senior partner worldwide Rajat Gupta; Chugh law firm founder Navneet
Chugh; New Path Ventures managing director and developer of the Intel Pentium processor,
Vinod Dham. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is AIF’s honorary chair.
AIF employs experienced local staff on the ground in New Delhi and Bangalore, and works with
some 30 non-governmental organization (NGO) partners throughout India. It leverages the benefits
of its funding through matching fund partnerships with 25 organizations in the U.S. and India.
The Foundation acts much like a venture firm in its grantmaking, with formalized processes in
place for measuring results, sharing best practices and transferring ownership of programs and
projects directly to local communities or to government. Among its activities, AIF has funded:
• English and computer classes, plus job training for 25,000 young people in Gujarat;
• AIDS prevention education and treatment in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar;
• organizing “rag pickers” in Patna under income-generating recycling programs;
• a book, Locked Homes, Empty Schools, on rural migration and its effects on children; and
• a public-private partnership to provide universal education for 15,000 children in
Jaipur City, Rajasthan.
The Service Corps is an AIF-administered leadership program that has placed more than 140
young Americans with some 70 Indian NGOs since 2001. The League of Artisans helps tribal,
rural and women artisans translate their crafts skills into sustainable businesses through microcredit,
business training and an online store. AIF’s Digital Equalizer (DE) program provides
computers, Internet service and training to 634 underserved schools in 13 Indian states, with a
goal of 1,000 schools by the end of this year.
Silicon Valley firms have played a key role in Digital Equalizer. Applied Materials has opened six
high school computer centers in Bangalore, with Applied employees teaching classes and
offering mentoring for male and female students—part of an AIF network of 470 such centers
nationwide. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has made a similar commitment for an additional
Bangalore school, through its SVB Global unit. Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices also
participate. Adobe Systems held two Youth Voices Workshops for students and teachers at four
Bangalore high schools, providing camcorders, video editing software and materials to produce
video documentaries on DVDs for sharing at their schools and with local government leaders.
43