A.T. Kearney India has been engaged in community service activities under the ‘Unnati’ banner for more than three years now.
Unnati started in the year 2008 with coming together of a few consultants with a common inclination towards community service. Initial activities were focused on Charitable/ Volunteer activities without monetary contribution (e.g. Clothes collection drives, donation of old furniture, Celebration of festivals with children at NGO sponsored schools, Blood donation drives etc)
A critical mass to Unnati’s activities was achieved during the Unit offsite in Goa in 2010 with the Unnati charity auction raising INR 1.35 million (~USD 30,000) for charitable activities by Auctioning items/ services pledged by consultants
Unnati has now grown into one of the largest spirit of service programs conducted by the India Unit – in terms of impact and employee involvement, mainly in 3 key areas:
Charitable giving – Extensive participation in the payroll giving program and deployment of auction proceeds into large, A.T. Kearney sponsored programs for needy children and students
Volunteer work – we continue to engage in community activities, with much larger participation from consultants – e.g. Delhi & Mumbai marathons, regular community service for underprivileged children etc
Pro-Bono consulting – working on short consulting assignments for NGOs/ social organizations
Core Partner Organizations
Jamghat
A.T. Kearney has partnered with Jamghat, an organization that supports the education and development of street children. Aanchal, a children’s home for girls was recently opened, through the sponsorship of A.T. Kearney and 10 girls are currently enrolled in the center.
video on Jamghat organization
The Smile Foundation
A.T. Kearney has partnered with Smile Foundation over the last 3 years, primarily engaging in vocational training for students. We currently sponsor a center in Goregaon – the first batch of 23 students has graduated, with most of them placed in retail malls. (for more details, check out http://smilefoundationindia.org/e_learning.htm).
In addition, we regularly conduct resume building workshops in the A.T. Kearney office premises and at the NGO premises and help students hone critical skills communication.
Project Funding & Fundraising
The Charity Auction
A common theme to all the philanthropic events at A.T. Kearney is “Having fun”. At the A.T. Kearney offsite in Goa in 2010, employees put on the block their talents (drumming lessons, decadent home cooked meals, introduction to sailing), their prized possessions (a 6-series BMW for a day, 10,000 SPG points) and a special all-expenses paid trip to Ghana to work with a women’s empowerment and employment program among others. One night of bidding raised $30,000 for Unnati partner organizations.
Delhi / Mumbai Marathon
Fitness and philanthropy go hand-in-hand at Unnati. In 2010, we partnered with Habitat for Humanity and SOS Children’s Villages for the annual Mumbai and Delhi marathon respectively. Through sponsorship under the Unnati banner, over 40 consultants participated in the event running in support of our partner NGOs.
GiveIndia
A.T. Kearney has a working partnership with Give India, a leading online donation platform, on their Payroll Giving program (PRG). Every year, employees sign-up for a monthly contribution from their payroll to accumulate a corpus with Give India. The employees are then choose their specific cause / NGO to which their money is applied through Give India’s platform.
The Grassroots Business Fund
A.T. Kearney provided training and capability development to portfolio companies of the Grassroots Business Fund, an investment company that provides capital to high impact businesses in developing countries. Our work is much appreciated by GBF and the portfolio companies.
Dean Foundation
A.T. Kearney donated INR 75,000 to Dean Foundation, a non-profit organization providing free hospice and palliative care to patients with terminally ill diseases like cancer, AIDS, paralysis etc. The fund is being used for buying medicine and other facilities in their palliative centers.
Unnati @dhoc: A snapshot of other volunteering activities
Over the last three years, we have also conducted Christmas day celebrations at Apnalaya and SOS Children’s village, sponsored gifts at the annual day celebrations at the National Association for the Blind, celebrated World Environment Day by going cycling around South Mumbai and many other fun events.
