The American Center and Samhita
cordially invite you to a discussion program on

“Making Philanthropy Easy, Essential and Effective”

with

Dr. Amita Vyas,
Assistant Professor & Director, George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services and Founder & President, Global India Fund Inc.

in conversation with

Li Ping Lo, Foreign Services Officer, U.S. Consulate Mumbai
Noshir Dadrawala, Chief Executive, Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy
Vidya Shah, Executive Director and Head, EdelGive Foundation,
Akhil Shahani, Director, Kaizen Private Equity
Rajiv Agarwal, Advertising Consultant

American Center Auditorium
4, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400020

Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 6:00 pm – 7:30pm
(Registration/Refreshments will commence at 5:30 pm)

RSVP: Ashwati Bharadwaj on or tel.: 22624590 extn.2253

View Agenda

About panel members

Amita Vyas – Assistant Professor and Director, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services and Founder and President, Global India Fund Inc

Dr. Amita Vyas is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Maternal and Child Health masters in public health program in the Department of Prevention and Community Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Dr.Vyas founded the Global India Fund, a non-profit organization committed to inspiring global philanthropy by providing secure and transparent giving options to individual and corporate donors.

Li Ping Lo – Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Consulate Mumbai

Li Ping Lo is a first-tour Foreign Service Officer assigned to the U.S. Consulate Mumbai. After graduating from William and Mary in 1994, she taught English at Beijing Normal University, ran her alma mater’s study abroad program in Beijing and worked as a researcher for the Los Angeles Times Beijing Bureau. In 1997, she moved to Hong Kong and worked for the Asia Society Hong Kong Center organizing programs on U.S.-Asia relations. She joined Hang Lung Properties Limited in 2000 and was a Manager of Special Projects, Chairman’s Office. From 2008-2009, she worked as the Interim Executive Director of the Asia Society Hong Kong Center.

Noshir Dadrawala – Chief Executive, Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy

Noshir H. Dadrawala is Chief Executive of the Mumbai based ‘Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy’. He has written several resource books and is also the regional contributing editor of the ‘International Journal on Non-profit Law’. He has conducted seminars and workshops for NGOs all over the country and he is Visiting Faculty for a number of renowned institutions. In March 2008 he was appointed by The Planning Commission as a member of an Expert Group on feasibility of a New Central Law to serve as an alternative All-India Statute for Voluntary Organizations in India.

Vidya Shah – Executive Director and Head, EdelGive Foundation

Vidya is responsible for giving strategic direction to EdelGive Foundation and guiding its overall development. Previously she was CFO of the Edelweiss Group, which also involved working on Edelweiss’ philanthropy programme. She has also worked with ICICI, Peregrine and N. M. Rothschild during her 19 year career in investment banking. Vidya has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Akhil Shahani – Philanthopist and entrepreneur

Akhil is the Director of Kaizen Private Equity. He is involved with and supports in various organizations with interests in education, new media, commodities and non-profits, including, the Shahani Trust which has been supporting charitable work in education, healthcare and low cost housing for 60 years.

Rajiv Agarwal – Advertising Consultant

Rajiv Agarwal is an alumnus of St Stephen’s College, and IIM Ahmedabad. He has spent 25 years in advertising, and has worked with, and founded, some well-known ‘creative’ agencies. He was the first-ever Indian Juror at the International Advertising Festival at Cannes, in 1994.

About moderator:
Priya Naik – Founder and CEO, Samhita

Priya has a Masters. in Economics from Yale University, USA, a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and a Masters in Commerce from Mumbai University. Priya’s interest in social entrepreneurship began when she worked as a Researcher at the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA.

About Samhita – Samhita is an online portal supported by N.S.Raghavan, the co-founder of Infosys. Samhita provides social organizations with web presence and access to donors, volunteers, employees, customers, service providers, sector experts and knowledge resources. It also provides donors, mentors and volunteers with a variety of opportunities to support credible organizations and regular as well as customized feedback about the impact that their support has created. In the past 4 months, Samhita has helped 500 NGOs gain access to INR 6 million in grants and donations.