The Nudge Foundation, a non-profit focused on providing livelihood training to the less-fortunate youths in Karnataka has received a huge grant of $250,000 (Rs 1.6 crore). The grant has been extended by Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropy group based in the US. It was given to help The Nudge to expand its operations across the other states in India. The Nudge is based in Bangalore.
After receiving the grant, the founder of The Nudge, Atul Satija said, “We are very excited to have received The Rockefeller Foundation’s trust and support for our work. We are looking forward to expanding our reach to other states, providing more livelihood choices and empowering more youth across the country in the coming month”. The foundation is backed by big names in the industry like Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Tata Trusts, HDFC Bank, Target, and Paytm among others.
Quick Facts about The/Nudge Foundation
- Timings: 9.00 AM–8.00 PM
- Address: C9, 1st C Main Road, MCHS Colony, Sector 6, HSR Layout, Bengaluru (MAP)
- Website: thenudge.org
- Email: engage@thenudge.org
About The Nudge Foundation
The Nudge was started by Atul Satija in July 2015. He was the chief business officer at InMobi before he decided to start the foundation. It was his desire of working on various social issues impacting India, such as inequality that led him to form The Nudge.
The purpose of The Nudge is to reduce poverty by helping the less-fortunate people build a strong life, learn skills, and earn a living. In other words, the goal is to enable them to break free from the cycle of poverty. The Nudge runs two programs: Gurukul and N/Core.
Gurukul
Gurukul is the flagship program of The Nudge Foundation. It is a fully residential school for the less fortunate. The program is of 100 days. It aims at helping youths to learn life-skills and get a job. They are taught to read and write and manage their lives. Students are given training in four areas: data entry, beauty, driving, and plumbing. Once an individual completes the program, they are provided lifelong support so that they do not fall back into poverty. Since its starting, the program has been a great success. As per The Nudge, it has been successful in achieving 100% job placements for all its graduates till date.
At present this school functions only in Karnataka. There are 8 Gurukul centres in the state. Each of which is supported by a company. About 2000 youths graduate from the school every year. There are plans to expand the program and take it to other states in the country over the next year. Mumbai and Delhi are among the cities selected to open more such schools. The goal is to take in 5000 to 10000 youths annually and help them in getting jobs. Four more areas of learning will be added: domestic BPO, retail sales, electrician, and BFSI sales.
Since 2015, the program has helped more than 1580 youths to get jobs and earn their living. Their average income per month is Rs. 11,500.
Satija said that the grant will be used to increase organizational capacity and expand the program’s reach outside the state. The project has been named ‘The/Nudge Project of End Poverty’. It addresses the issue of poverty among the Indian youth. He also said that the grant will help them to draw the interest of people in the work they are doing.
N/Core
This program is an incubator for non-profit start-ups. It was started in the early part of 2017. The Nudge selects non-profit ventures and helps them with an innovation grant that’s worth INR 10 lakhs. They also guide these ventures and provide them a base to increase their business. The program selected 10 early stage ventures for its first on-going batch of the six-month-long program.
The Nudge Foundation plans to invest over INR 50 crores through this program over the period of next five years. It is to provide support for more than 100 non-profit ventures. The foundation intends to support ventures in the areas of healthcare, water, education, employability, sanitation, gender equality, agriculture, energy, and human rights among others.
About Rockefeller Foundation
This foundation is among the oldest foundations known for global development philanthropy. It is also one of the largest foundations in the US. Its aim is to promote the welfare of humanity across the world. This is a private foundation based in New York City. It was started on 14 May 1913.
The not-for-profit foundation has than $4 billion worth of assets. It is also one of the partners of the recently started philanthropic venture called Co-Impact that is led by Bill Gates.
As per a statement by Ashvin Dayal, MD for Asia in Rockefeller Foundation, The/Nudge Project of End Poverty attacks the key cause of unemployment among the youth in India. The team has been successful in supporting underprivileged youth by imparting them hard and soft skills needed to thrive in life. He also said the foundation is sure that the grant will help The Nudge to shape better lives for the deserving youths in India.