10% Of Corporate India’s Total CSR Spend Is Managed On Goodera: CEOs Of Goodera

As CSR continues to mature, year after year, it brings in vibrant innovations and more widespread, integrated adoption among the world’s most powerful companies across sectors such as Energy, BFSI, ITES, Auto, Pharma etc. The technology platform of Goodera, a global CSR lifecycle management startup, is currently working with over 100+ companies to manage their CSR and sustainability goals in a simple, transparent, measurable, and engaging manner. In fact, 10% of corporate India’s total CSR spend is managed on the Goodera platform. In an exclusive interview with BW Businessworld, Richa Bajpai, ‎Founder & Co-CEO at Goodera and Abhishek Humbad, ‎Founder & Co-CEO, discuss the CSR technology platform, the current CSR landscape of India and the role of technology in creating a culture of sustainability at Goodera. Edited excerpts: 

How does Goodera empower corporates to manage their CSR and Sustainability goals in a simple, transparent manner?

Goodera is a global CSR & Sustainability Management technology platform, co-headquartered in Bangalore and Menlo Park. More than 150 large enterprises including 24 in global Fortune 500 have adopted Goodera to effectively measure, manage and report their CSR projects across more than 30+ countries. 10% of corporate India’s total CSR spend is managed on Goodera. 200,000 employees globally volunteer using Goodera.

Goodera platform embedded with strong domain expertise, provides corporates with automation and intelligence across monitoring and evaluation, impact measurement, grant making, reporting and employee volunteering.

Goodera solves the critical need for corporates and non-profits to have last mile visibility of progress and impact measurement of their CSR projects. It enables effective governance in deciding and managing CSR projects, provide insights through dashboards for different stakeholders and data-driven stories of change for powerful communication.

Goodera also enables companies to involve employees in volunteering at scale in an engaging manner while taking away the friction of sourcing volunteering opportunities, coordination and management of activities.

What is the current CSR landscape of India and what is Goodera's intervention in it?

The CSR Law has brought in a higher level of governance, monitoring requirements and hence accountability on CSR. As companies are taking up more and more CSR projects, it becomes imperative to understand the impact delivered by the projects to the beneficiaries.

Goodera’s technology platform, with its strong domain expertise in the CSR space, empowers multiple stakeholders—corporates, NGOs, etc.— to deliver impactful CSR initiatives with a detailed understanding of last mile activities, making the whole CSR Lifecycle process more streamlined and efficient. This truly integrated technology platform also helps reduce the overheads for both the donors and the non-profits, by bringing in automation, intelligence and analytics for data-driven decision making, thereby maximizing the impact of every rupee spent.

It also empowers corporates with solutions to engage employees across geographies to create the culture of giving and volunteering seamlessly.

What sectors lead in CSR spending and what sectors which are lagging behind?

As CSR continues to mature year on year, it brings with it vibrant innovations and more widespread, integrated adoption among the world’s most powerful companies across sectors such as Energy, BFSI, ITES, Auto, Pharma etc.  According to a recent study by Goodera and Mint , the Energy sector leads in terms of CSR spends, closely followed by Financial Services, IT and ITes, Metals & Mining, FMCG, Auto, Infra, Pharma, Engineering & manufacturing, Chemicals and finally, telecom companies. The Chemical and telecom are the sectors which spent the least on their CSR activities, even though chemicals showed a positive growth of 53% in FY17.  

How does Goodera engage with employees to increase their volunteering efforts?

Goodera’s volunteering platform allows corporates to simplify the management of engaging their employees in volunteering and giving initiatives. From one-time volunteering efforts to long-term volunteering opportunities, disaster relief giving and seasonal campaigns to year-round matching and peer to peer fundraising, The platform also assists corporates to develop targeted communication strategies around volunteering and offers opportunities for recognition of volunteers. Goodera simplifies donation processing, volunteer sourcing and tracking (in an engaging manner) and reporting for corporates and their employees. Currently, 200,000 employees are engaging in numerous volunteering activities through Goodera’s platform across 30+ countries. With a wide variety of themes and engaging volunteering opportunities, Goodera equips corporates to motivate their employee to boost their efforts and make a difference.

Another significant step from Goodera is its ‘Giving initiative’ that Goodera is currently running around Daan Utsav, popularly known as ‘Joy of Giving’ week. Goodera is providing its Giving platform, at no cost, to corporates to encourage the spirit of giving amongst employees by allowing them to contribute towards meaningful causes. As part of the initiative, all the donations made by employees will help them secure tax benefits instantly (solving one of the major challenges) and 100% of donations will be contributed to NGOs.

How is Goodera creating an ecosystem of societal benefits along with stakeholders?

More than 150 large enterprises including 24 in global Fortune 500 have adopted Goodera to effectively measure, manage and report their CSR projects across more than 30+ countries. 200,000 employees globally volunteer using Goodera.

Goodera helps (Corporations, Foundations, Governments) to manage their grants, measure the impact they create by providing data-driven comprehensive insights along with stories of change. Along with real-time monitoring and evaluation, it also enhances the governance through intelligent automation of processes and reporting.

Goodera also helps corporates create lasting impact by encouraging their employees to actively participate in volunteering and giving experiences which are authentic and engaging. The platform not only empowers corporates with end to end management of volunteering and giving campaigns but also aids them to integrate volunteering with the overall CSR initiatives by providing a multitude of opportunities to choose from.

What role does technology play in Goodera for creating a culture of Sustainability?

A thriving development sector is a vital element in India’s path towards inclusive and sustainable growth. India’s development sector has evolved substantially over the last few decades and is now witnessing unprecedented interest and investments across the value chain. While the practice of CSR is not new to companies in India, the CSR Law brings more number of corporates into the fold. In such a scenario, the total CSR spends across industries have also increased and more and more corporates now want to see the impact created by their CSR investments. Goodera’s technology platform helps them to measure the impact of every rupee spent in a simple and transparent manner. In addition, Goodera’s technology enables real-time monitoring and evaluation of these projects in an effective matter.

This platform ensures that there is proper flow of information and capital between stakeholders, thereby increasing confidence of the ecosystem and building long-term sustainable partnerships and programs.