Relevant Information:

Since its incorporation in 1993, the founders of Drishti Human Resource Centre, Ms. Jyoti Subedar
and Ms. Smita Navare have put in two decades of relentless and dedicated work with NGOs, donors
and individuals. 20 years is inarguably a long time in the life of any organisation. It has been a
journey punctuated by challenges and achievements, mistakes and learning.
Charity – one-time funding to the needy for medical purposes and basic education on SOS basis.
Development – grant funding to sustainable and innovative models of development in the areas of
children’s education, women’s empowerment, services for the disabled and environment/ natural
resources management.
Capacity Building – Non-monetary support to partner NGOs to add value to their work through hand-
holding, training and advice.
Resource mobilisation – Mixing and matching the resource pool of Drishti contacts with the needs of
partner NGOs.
Corporate Advisory – Consulting with businesses and institutions on strategic philanthropy.
Inception and Journey
Like everything unique, Drishti also came about as an idea. It germinated in the minds of Jyoti and
Smita, two TISS graduates who got together from different routes and backgrounds but share a similar
thought process and a unique friendship.
Rest of the information will be taken from website.
About Us
Drishti is a part of the social sector in India and operates as a Not-for-profit organisation, an NGO in
common parlance but with an uncommon objective. In February 1993 the organisation was set up as
a Public Trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 with its two founders as its two trustees.
Started working with 4 organisations by offering voluntary services one day a week.

 Paraplegic Foundation
 Each One Teach One
 Asha Sadan Rescue Home
 National Society for Clean Cities
{“Sukh-dukh Didi” a name given to Jyoti and Smita by women at Asha Sadan Rescue Home }
Question: “Where is your office?”

Answer: “In our purse.”

Drishti is now a member of Dasra’s Indian Philanthropy Forum and is associated with Caring
Friends, Karmayog, Centre of Advancement of Philanthropy and other networks working on strategic
philanthropy in the country.
The one thing that Drishti has always been aware of is the fact this was a sector which is constantly
evolving and to be effective here, it needs to evolve as well and keep pace with the changes in the
sector and its practices. Their processes and methods have accordingly changed in keeping with the
times.
Currently Drishti’s work which reflects their forte or core strengths can be divided into six broad
categories.
Each of these is a separate vertical but there are horizontal synergies between them as well. There is a
specific agenda and understanding as to why Drishti works in these categories.

Meet the team:

Jyoti Subedar is an alumnus of TISS from 1970 specialising in Family and Child Welfare. She always
wanted to help people and believed that social work was something that would give her the
opportunity and skills to do that. After graduating from TISS she worked with a counselling centre
and orphanage for 9 years. She joined Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and worked there for many years but
by that time the idea to maximise her contribution to the sector by balancing her social work
experience with corporate philosophy had already taken seed.
Smita Navare liked Psychology. It was peer pressure more than interest that prompted her to apply for
TISS and when she was selected her obvious choice was Medical and Psychiatry. During her field
work she worked with NGOs and hospitals and realised that the efficiency of these organisations
would substantially increase if they were given certain inputs in management, systems and operations.
Smita passed out from TISS in year 1981 and started working with L&T but the idea to start
something on her own where she could put her thoughts into action persisted in her mind.
They were two distinct individuals but they connected with each other and Drishti was born. These
two ideas and individuals gravitated towards each other and Drishti emerged an organisation in
everything they wanted and more.
Thrust Areas:
Charity
In the development sector today in India there is a unanimous understanding that Charity in its purest
form i.e. giving donations in cash/ kind to the needy is not the right way to solve the pressing issues of
the underprivileged. Solutions lie in increasing the capability and providing opportunities to them and
not in doling out money. Nevertheless, there is still a need for charity. In cases of medical emergency,
school fees or hospital charges, the only way an urgent need can be fulfilled is through Charity.
Drishti has limited its charity to 30% of the total funding during any given year. Also, the causes for
which charity is provided is
o Medical costs – for cancer, kidney ailments and heart.
o Education – primary school fees on SOS basis.
Drishti carries out its charity function mainly at the office of Sion Praja Mandal once a week. The
process includes
o Meeting with the applicants both for medical and educational donations
o Assessing need based on verification of case papers submitted and/ or interview with the
applicant.
o Making cheques for the cases which have been appraised and passed.
Story under Charity:
Even while disbursing these donations, Jyoti and Smita try and interact with as many people as they
can and try and help them in any way possible. If for some reason they do not fall into the criteria
mentioned above, Drishti makes an effort to find alternatives, provide references to other charities and
in some cases just give them an opportunity to talk. Many people express their pent up grief and
frustration by crying. Jyoti and Smita empathise, counsel, reason and help them find a solution. The
people who come to them may not find the perfect solution to their problem but they do go back
feeling a little better and knowing that there is a way out, possibilities to resolve their issues and
pathways to grow.
Once in a while in these interactions, they meet someone remarkable like Anu Kumari and her family.
Her response to the question of what benefit she has received from Drishti summarised the value of
Drishti in her life. “Parents give you birth, support your studies and get you settled in life but what
Drishti did for me is more than any parent ever would. I owe my success, my son’s treatment and my
family’s survival to them. Whenever I am stuck and I feel there is no way out, I turn to them and
things work out. They changed my life.”
Anu Kumari received funding for her son’s cancer treatment from Drishti and along with that found a
way to channel her unique talent into an income generation opportunity. Her story has been featured
in detail below but the most remarkable and note-worthy fact is that Anu Kumari has dedicated the
entire earnings from one of her products towards treatment for cancer patients which she intends to
donate through Drishti thus completing her circle of giving
Development
Many organisations in this country operate and manage projects for development. There are numerous
models and methods, each with its benefits. The problems which the development sector tries to
tackle are so complicated that no one model can claim to provide a permanent or even long-lasting
solution of those problems.
Drishti’s articulated mission is to provide support to the deprived children for education as well as
overall development, promote literacy among women from very low socio-economic sector and train
and school disabled – physically and mentally challenged people.
Drishti’s knows and is able to relate to the issues of social professionals, examine and appraise
development models and select those which have the maximum impact while utilising resources
efficiently and remaining focused. True to the articulated mission Drishti provides concentrated
support mainly to programmes and models dedicated to development of Children, Women and
Disabled. In the beginning Drishti accepted applications and funded organisations all over the country
but currently its work is limited to the western states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
In addition to funding Drishti leverages its voluntary partner organizations to promote collaboration
among the non-profit, government and business sectors so that they can realize their objectives more
effectively. Over the years Drishti has worked with approximately 75 organisations on a large number
of projects.
Story under Development:
Malvi Education Trust

Capacity Building
Running an organisation is a complicated task. Drishti had early on in its work realised that the NGOs
they work with had passionate and deeply committed leaders but it was not possible for him or her to
know everything about everything needed to run an organisation. On top of that in an NGO, it is
difficult to hire expensive human resource and as a result people have to take on tasks which may not
be their core competence. There were mainly two reasons for the need of capacity building
1. Limited human resource.
2. Limited time.
Drishti’s partner NGOs have leaders who started with great passion for a cause and are also very
committed, unfortunately passion and commitment alone do not naturally bring in the capacity to
execute the tasks at hand. In most cases the leader organisation is the expert on the development issue
that the organisation tackles and he/she is so busy working on solving the issues that arise at the
programme level, he/she does not have the time to work on operational or administrative issues of
the organisation.
In most small and medium-sized NGOs, the HR, administration, accounting and fundraising
department are practically nonexistent. There might be one or two employees looking into these
functions but the capacity is disproportionate to the need. Though it is not very apparent or direct, this
affects the organisation’s work rather seriously.
When Drishti engages with an NGO, it looks at the organisation as a whole. Areas where there is a
need for strengthening systems, training or hand-holding are identified. Most of the capacity building
done by Drishti is through
o Direct hand-holding – The crux here is to help the NGOs visualise a bigger picture. Jyoti and
Smita work with the organisations on creating proposals, making presentations, strategic planning and
many other aspects in which the organisation expresses a need.
o Training and workshops – Drishti organised its first training at the Bombay Stock Exchange
in 2000 on vision/ mission and strategic thinking. The workshop was open to all NGOs. Over the
years Drishti has conducted and held many workshops in Mumbai,
- Vision/ mission and strategic thinking
- Technology for NGOs
- Coaching for performance enhancement

Resource mobilisation
Organisations and individuals who approach Drishti rarely go back empty-handed. Drishti has over
the years managed to gather a large network of people and organisations within India and especially
in Mumbai due to which they have resources for almost any service that an NGO or an individual
might need. Be it design inputs for a handicraft organisation, website creation for a grass-root NGO or
vocational training institute for a young woman troubled by an alcoholic husband, Drishti believes it
is a privilege to help people in any way they can.
This is not a formalised product of Drishti but is still as important because of the value it brings in to
the beneficiary. Through connecting resources to needs Drishti helps organisations in solving
problems which otherwise would have been almost insurmountable. An interesting incident of
matching need with resources is that of Drishti’s partner NGO Helpers of the

Grants Management
Individuals and institutions who want to contribute to the social sector seek answers to two main
questions
o Where should I donate the funds?
o Will the funds be used appropriately
Drishti’s model with donors aims to answer both these questions. Donors come to Drishti for various
reasons, the main being
o Driven by a cause and with a desire to contribute to change
o Company philanthropy policy towards Social responsibility
o Legal consideration for Income Tax deductions
In most cases Drishti provides them with projects and NGOs which fulfil their criteria and the donors
select one or more NGOs from the options given. In some cases donors do not specify either a cause
or an NGO but with implicit trust asks them to disburse the funds to whomever they think fit.
Corporate advisory
Drishti’s foundation was laid in the air both literally and figuratively when Jyoti and Smita spent a
considerable time together on work related air travel for L&T and had detailed discussions to fine-
tune their idea. Both the founders have experienced corporate culture and have imbibed the
professionalism, focus and clarity of corporate management methods within Drishti and attempt to
bring those elements in the work of their partner NGOs. In addition to that Drishti’s work with NGOs
and experience in the social sector makes it a valuable resource to companies who are involved or
want to be involved in charity and philanthropy but do not know how to strategise their efforts.
Drishti advises companies on social investment opportunities and strategies. They work with
companies who have a serious intention of doing something for the underprivileged and contributing
towards society. They have worked with Johnson & Johnson, Siemens and Larsen & Toubro.
Updated Information required about:
NGO Partners – organisations that Drishti has partnered with by providing either funding, training or
hand-holding.
Donors – Individuals, companies or institutions who have routed through Drishti funds, in-kind
donations and other resources to partner NGOs.
Individual beneficiaries – people whom Drishti supported primarily through charity and in some cases
through counselling.
Volunteers/ experts – like-minded people with whom Drishti has formed linkages and connected them
to partner NGOs.
Peers – organisations similar to Drishti operating in the sector.