Donations and Membership
You can donate to PPI and/or become a voting PPI member by writing a check payable to “People for Progress in India” and mailing it along with the PPI Membership & Contribution Form to the address on the right at the bottom of this page. You can also donate to PPI online by using the Donate button on the right, which allows contributions by using credit cards through Paypal.
Seeking Grants
PPI IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS, except from certain organizations that it has supported in the past.
If you are an NGO / NPO who has worked with us in the past, please read the guidelines thoroughly. Mail us a completed application form or prepare an application yourself which includes all the sections specified in the form. Please send the completed application to the address on the form. Please remember that a thoroughly completed application form increases the chances of getting the proposal approved.
Proposals from organizations that have not previously completed successful projects funded by PPI will not be approved for funding unless the organization’s work is endorsed by at least one person or funding organization known to members of PPI. Preference will be given to projects for which at least one supporter of PPI will be able to provide direct evaluations through site visits.
What type of projects do we sponsor?
PPI sponsors projects that make people self-reliant and have the potential to become self-sustaining. PPI likes to fund projects that involve vocational training, improving living conditions, children’s welfare, sustainable farming etc. However, PPI doesn’t want to act as a lending agency where the money is used only for income generation by individuals. PPI believes that banks are in a better position to offer loans to such mini and micro businesses.
Funding Special Projects through PPI
Contributions to PPI normally go into PPI’s general fund and are used to support projects approved and funded by PPI in the usual way (“regular PPI projects”). In addition, individual(s) may make new contributions to PPI that are to be used for specific work by a non-governmental charitable organization in India, provided various associated conditions are satisfied and the related work is approved as a Special Project by a vote of the PPI members.
Please read the Special Projects Guidelines to initiate a specific Special Project.
Funding for Natural Disasters or Other Emergencies
PPI may respond to appeals from organizations which it supports, or has supported, for funding in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency. Such funding may be provided from PPI’s general fund up to a maximum of $2,000 per organization, capped by an annual limit of the smaller of $6,000 or 5% of the PPI’s bank balance at the beginning of the fiscal year.
Such Emergency Funding may be approved at a regular PPI meeting, following the standard procedure of notifying members at least 10 days before the vote and subsequent voting at the meeting. A two-thirds majority vote is required for approval of funding. If approved, the corresponding communication of the approval in the meeting minutes will indicate the procedure to be used by members to make additional donations by them, if any, to supplement this emergency funding. Such donations will be required to be received by PPI within 10 days after the communication.
As an option, an alternative procedure may be used to approve the Emergency Funding to expedite the process. In this alternative procedure, upon receipt of the appeal for Emergency Funding, the PPI Chairperson, or another PPI officer as his / her designee, may call immediately for a vote of the membership by email. At least ten days will be allowed for voting by email. A two-thirds affirmative majority of the votes received will suffice to approve the funding. In this email vote case, the email will indicate the procedure to be used by members to make additional donations by them, if any, to supplement this emergency funding. Such donations will be required to be received by PPI within 10 days after the communication.