When it comes to supporting worthy causes, corporates especially play a central role in helping NGOs and other philanthropic organisations achieve their goals. Corporate Social Responsibility is not just about donations made by a company towards a charity. Rather it signifies the commitment of the organisation to work towards the betterment of society, while adopting business strategies and policies that are in favour of these goals.
Corporate Social Responsibility has been a big boon in our mission to #EndClassroonHunger. With the help of various large organisations Akshaya Patra has succeeded in improving the lives of thousands of hungry children across India. The following CSR campaigns with Akshaya Patra have been highly effective through their innovative concepts, yielding results either through donations of money or food products.
Sugar Free ‘Donate Your Calories to Help Nourish Children’ Campaign: Zydus Wellness Ltd. has partnered with Akshaya Patra through ‘Sugar Free’, their sugar substitute brand. The campaign highlights the dichotomy between people who carry excess weight versus the thousands of people who are severely malnourished in India. According to the campaign, for every usage of Sugar Free, the consumer saves a number of ‘unwanted calories’ which are then converted to ‘useful calories’ through a monetary contribution to The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Zydus Wellness made a token donation of 5 million calories toward Akshaya Patra for this campaign, which will be monetised later.
Protinex ‘Nutrition at Re. 1’ Campaign: Protinex, the leading protein supplement brand in India, donated Re. 1 to Akshaya Patra for every tin of Protinex Original sold. The organisation adopted 3,500 children across 28 schools, and donated Rs. 27 lakhs to The Akshaya Patra Foundation during the course of this campaign.
Worldoo.com ‘Gift A Tara’ Campaign: Worldoo.com, an interactive online platform for children teamed up with Akshaya Patra to help children ‘Gift a Tara’. The platform allows children to read, watch videos and more, to earn stars. These stars can be donated by the children towards an underprivileged child, converted to real money, and spent on the cause of food for education.
Kellogg’s Breakfast Campaign: Kellogg’s India launched a campaign with Akshaya Patra to spread awareness on the importance of eating breakfast. People were asked to make a pledge for the importance of eating this meal, and for every pledge a breakfast would be gifted to a child. The breakfast kits were distributed in some of the schools where Akshaya Patra serves the mid-day meals. In their kit, Kellogg’s included a 127gm pack of Kellogg’s Chocos or Kellogg’s Corn Flake, one sealed 200ml Tetrapak of milk, a bowl and spoon, and a small printed pamphlet to educate the children about the importance of breakfast. In total Kellogg’s India distributed 100,000 breakfast kits in Bangalore.
Vasudev Adiga’s ‘+ 1’ Campaign: On Children’s Day, 14 November, 2013, Vasudev Adiga’s a chain of restaurants across Karnataka started their ‘+1’ campaign where the cost of every item on the Adiga’s menu was increased by Re. 1, and the proceeds were donated to Akshaya Patra. Vasudev Adiga’s made a donation of Rs. 36.5 lakhs to The Akshaya Patra Foundation by the conclusion of the campaign.
Jackfruit365 Campaign: In this campaign, for every pack sold the Jackfruit365 team would make a donation of a sponsorship fee amounting to five mid-day meals, ask their restaurant and corporate-cafeteria partners to donate towards one mid-day meal for every meal they serve with Jackfruit365, and ask their well-wishers to donate generously towards The Akshaya Patra Foundation, and help provide food for education to children in need.
Aside from these, Akshaya Patra has been fortunate to partner with numerous other influential organisations like Infosys, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), Jamsetji Tata Trust, Cisco, GE Healthcare, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), The Hans Foundation, Union Bank, SBI Mutual Fund, Corporation Bank, and many others as part of their CSR programmes.
Undertakings like these have been instrumental in our fight to #EndClassroomHunger in India. Through these and many other CSR activities, Akshaya Patra has been able to share in the drive and determination of inspiring organisations to improve the welfare of less fortunate children in society.
