IndusInd Bank CSR

July 22, 2024

IndusInd Bank CSR

IndusInd Bank, a corporate social responsibility funder, is just one of the funders profiled in Funder Practices that Strengthen Nonprofits' Resilience: Lessons from India, which describes five pay-what-it-takes principles and profiles funders that are implementing them.

IndusInd Bank logo

Organisation type: 
Corporate Social Responsibility

Annual budget: 
Rs 101–150 crore
Year established: 
1994
Team size: 
Less than 10

Mission:
IndusInd Bank CSR (IBL CSR) is based on the principle of “good ecology is good economics” and a strong CSR brand of “Sattvam — Our Country. Our Commitment.” It aims to design sustainable programmes to “empower the marginalised and weaker sections of society, and high-risk and high-stressed communities.” IBL CSR’s focus areas include sustainable environment, inclusive sports, education, rural development with climate resilience and adaptation, gender diversity, and inclusion.

Investment Philosophy

Investment Philosophy

IBL CSR recognises the community as a core stakeholder in its business and hence puts emphasis on responsible business growth. Community centricity to enable grassroots-level change is a core tenet of its CSR programmes.

IBL CSR collaborates with implementation partners, the government, and other corporates to accelerate change at scale. It selects its implementation partners after careful screening that goes beyond compliance checks and focuses on values alignment, programme impact, equity, and potential for systems change and convergence with the government.

Pay-What-It-Takes Principles in Action

Pay-What-It-Takes Principles in Action

handshake iconDevelop multiyear funder-nonprofit partnerships

  • IBL CSR has adopted a multiyear funding approach across its programmes to maximise its social impact and drive sustainable change for the communities it serves. It categorises its programmes into two portfolios:
    • Flagship programmes. The Holistic Rural Development Program is designed to improve the income levels and standard of living of marginalised communities included in the government’s NITI Aayog Aspirational Districts Program over a five- to 10-year period. IBL CSR partners with values-aligned nonprofits and the government and plays a key role in designing and implementing these programmes.
    • Strategic projects. These projects span three to four years in areas such as education, inclusive sports, and environmental sustainability. IBL CSR runs them in partnership with nonprofits that have strong community connections in urban and peri-urban areas across the country.

fair share icon

Pay a fair share of core costs

  • IBL CSR does not have a fixed limit for core-cost coverage. For both strategic initiatives and flagship programmes, it endeavours to understand and cover the costs required to deliver programmes. When it co-funds projects, IBL CSR encourages partner nonprofits to ask the other funders to cover their proportionate share of core costs.

organisational development icon

Invest in organisational development

  • IBL CSR provides both financial and non-financial organisational development (OD) support to its partners.
    • Financially, it allows nonprofit partners to use a certain percentage of grants towards OD initiatives. It encourages nonprofits to have a cost apportionment policy in place so they can seek proportionate support from other funders and thereby reduce the risk that they become overdependent on IBL CSR.

    • Non-financially, IBL CSR organises workshops, trainings, and webinars for all nonprofit partners to build their capabilities in thematic areas like systems thinking, financial modelling, and monitoring and evaluation.

diversity, equity, inclusion scales icon

Embed diversity, equity, and inclusion in grantmaking

  • IBL CSR has a strong commitment to gender equity and incorporates inclusivity in all of its programmes and grantmaking practices. It encourages nonprofit partners to identify the specific needs of women within existing programmes and potential intervention areas. It makes a core commitment to support women and girls, people with disabilities, and marginalised and vulnerable communities across its programmes.
  • To track progress on DEI, it regularly seeks DEI-related data from partner nonprofits.

Pay-What-It-Takes Journey So Far

Pay-What-It-Takes Journey So Far

Since its inception, IBL CSR has pursued a long-term approach to creating sustainable change for marginalised, vulnerable communities and the environment. It adjusts its grantmaking to the changing needs of the communities served, helping nonprofits refine programme designs, test their approaches, expand their reach, and transfer ownership to communities.

IBL CSR strongly believes in making CSR expenditures catalytic in nature to attract additional funders or secure government and community support for a programme. It also facilitates introductions to other stakeholders (funders, nonprofits, and government officials) that enable nonprofit partners to explore collaborations to achieve better outcomes and impact.

IBL CSR has pursued bold aspirations with encouragement from the bank’s leadership and board members. With their support, IBL CSR also has identified ways to strengthen internal processes and systems including governance and impact assessment to better support its nonprofit partners.

To affect these practice improvements, IBL CSR has built a strong CSR team with a mix of corporate- and development-sector experience. It believes that maintaining an empathetic approach towards nonprofits and the communities they serve is a critical success factor. To ensure compliance with CSR regulations, the IBL CSR team actively engages with nonprofit partners and helps them course-correct if required.

IBL CSR is also exploring innovative funding mechanisms to make CSR funds more catalytic. It has in the past successfully floated instruments like development impact bonds and blended finance for large-scale impact. Overall, IBL CSR believes that its approach has helped it achieve greater social returns on its CSR investments.

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