This Daan Utsav, ISB comes together to celebrate ‘Joy of Giving' virtually

India observes its annual Joy of Giving week from 2nd October to 8th October, and at Indian School of Business (ISB), it was celebrated as the Daan Utsav. The week embodied the Spirit of Giving, in all its forms, be it time, effort, or resources. It was a reminder that each one of us can contribute towards our great human family in some unique way.

This year, the Net Impact Club at Indian School of Business (ISB) had planned a plethora of virtual volunteering and fundraising activities as a run-up to the main week; with the over-arching theme around how to “Donate, Amplify, Appreciate & Nurture”. What made this task particularly challenging was the virtual nature of this celebration, albeit the club, along with the strength of 500+ members, managed to pull off the event seamlessly.

As part of this initiative, several volunteering activities were organised. The knowledge transfer program, a one-month long engagement, was conducted in partnership with LEADS. The volunteers recited short stories to children from the tribal areas of Jharkhand. Along with lessons of honesty and positivity, the children were also engaged in fun activities, such as guessing ‘Wonders of the World’, understanding the biodiversity of Jharkhand. Student volunteers also showed great enthusiasm for the initiative- “Audiobooks with NGO We4You”, under which audiobooks (school textbooks and short novels) were recorded for the visually impaired. In addition to this, students volunteered with Srujna, a non-profit dedicated to women empowerment and sustainable livelihoods, to conduct Digital Literacy workshops which focused on familiarising women from different backgrounds with the basics of smartphones and various apps that they could use to run/promote their home-run businesses.
Net Impact Club, along with the Bandhan (flagship event of ISB for children) Team  also organised ‘Sharing Smiles’ with 47 kids from Kare School (Grade 8) and Hyderabad Aid Society orphanage (Grade 4). The session was aimed to alleviate the isolation faced by kids by providing them a fun and learning experience. It included activities such as live music, storytelling, gratitude chain, magic show, thumb painting, quizzes, dance, and meditation. Throughout September, numerous English-speaking workshops were conducted for the students of a shelter home – Aashiyana from Haryana, that focused on improving the speaking and communication skills of the students. An Origami workshop was also hosted to enhance their creative instincts.

Given the increased dependence on electronic devices, and the huge shortage of such devices at the grass-root levels, the club sought to address this divide through a Device Donation drive called 'Device to Dreams’, wherein old devices, working or defective, are being collected from across India. The drive aimed to facilitate picking up, refurbishing and supplying devices to the less privileged, thus converting e-waste to e-education. In addition to this, a donation drive was executed to improve the infrastructure for children in Tribal areas of Haryana in partnership with SwaTaleem NGO. The club raised INR 34,000+ towards this effort.

To further augment the idea of “Joy of giving”, the club also carried out awareness drives during the Daan Utsav week, which included awareness around topics such as,  “Gratitude”, “Organ donation”, “Stray health”. A video called ‘An ode to corona warriors” was put together by the cohort for the frontline workers to thank them for their selfless work and commitment towards humanity.