The computer manufacturers Dell is now calling upon motivated individuals to “develop a generation of young people across the globe prepared to connect.” In order to accomplish this goal of producing a new wave of customers for its products, Dell has started the Dell YouthConnect: India, a program intended to support individuals with ideas and plans [...]

The  2008 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, was awarded this year to recipients in Germany, Somalia, and India. Krishnammal Jagannathan and Sankaralingam Jagannathan of LAFTI (Land for Tillers’ Freedom) won the prize for their efforts in land redistribution for Dalits. The award’s website provides more information: Krishnammal Jagannathan and Sankaralingam [...]

The global credit crunch has led to a significant drop in fund flow to the microfinance sector. Banks, which are required to provide 32-40 percent of their loans to the priority sector (which includes rural credit), are the largest providers of funds to MFIs. They lend to microfinanciers, who then on lend to the poor [...]

So living in New York City has made it damn near impossible to not be wrapped up in the minute by minute saga that is the US financial crisis. Moreover, the fact that here at Stern Business School, over 50% of our job prospects have evaporated with the slew of bankruptcies and buyouts has effectively [...]

NASSCOM Foundation, the CSR branch of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies), is launching a Social Innovation Honours award. The annual Honours aim to showcase projects that demonstrate best practices through exemplary use of ICT in areas of social transformation. This honour is a celebration of innovations that bring about social change and [...]

I’ve always valued metrics but remain wary of the extent to which numbers can be used to reveal the whole picture. Hearing about the new Portfolio Data Management System (PDMS) – an online database tracking social entrepreneurs – is proof that there is progress in the effort to measure social impact. A variety of organizations [...]

We post a lot of contest opportunities on TC-I, but the really interesting part is when the winners are announced and new ideas are revealed. Last November, ASSET (Achieving Sustainable Social Equality through Technology) India Foundation set up a Challenge by partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation. ASSET India Foundation focuses on the children of sex workers and [...]

In line with celebrating 10 years of existence and the origin of its name (googol), Google is holding a contest titled Project 10^100 (Project 10 to the 100th). With the tagline “may those who help the most win,” the contest is to fund ideas that will have a wide impact. Never in history have so [...]

September 24 marks International Girl Child Day, and this year, CRY (Child Relief and You) is launching a new effort focused solely on discrimination against girls. India PR Wire reports: While highlighting known symbols of discrimination — feticide being the most prominent, the site explores the real reasons behind it, the social structures and patriarchy [...]

Here are two stories from Microcapital.org: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) and Lok Capital LLC have decided to jointly invest $1.5 million in Arohan Financial Services Ltd., a MFI located in Kolkata. Partnering with traditional MFIs like SKS India, companies like Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (Basix), Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance and TATA AIG Life [...]