Facebook India Announces Pragathi an Initiative to promote Women led Non Profit Startups

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Facebook India announced on Monday a call for applications from women-led non-profits for the second phase of Facebook Pragati, its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.

In collaboration with The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation, Facebook Pragati, an initiative to increase women's empowerment, was launched in 2020. The initiative, now in its second year, will incubate and accelerate early stage women-led non-profits working on issues affecting women such as entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, technology, and health.

According to the social networking giant, Facebook Pragati will award six grants of up to Rs 50 lakh to each non-profit this year in order to scale up their work.

"Facebook has always been committed to promoting inclusivity through its platforms. We strongly believe that with the right digital training and resources, small businesses led by women can create a positive economic footprint for themselves as well as their communities. The impact of Covid on women entrepreneurs in India has exacerbated the vast gender gap," Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Director, Facebook India, said in a statement.

"We had launched Facebook Pragati last year to help women entrepreneurs in their journey to growth and we have been inspired by the success of the first four beneficiary businesses. We are now thrilled to announce the second phase and await more such exciting organisations to be part of this initiative with Nudge Foundation and us," he added.

In addition to the grants, the non-profits chosen for Facebook Pragati will benefit from mentorship, fund-raising, organisational capacity building, and collaboration with Facebook.

Nonprofits with fewer than five years of existence and at least one female founder are eligible to apply. Non-profits should also be able to demonstrate a viable business plan while working on issues affecting women such as entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, technology, and health. The deadline for applications is August 17, according to the tech giant.

In 2020, four exceptional women-led non-profits were chosen from a pool of 1,326 applications and supported by Facebook Pragati through grants and mentoring for 6-12 months. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in massive losses in the Indian non-profit sector, with a significant percentage of organisations seeing annual revenue declines, but these grantees' annual revenues more than tripled in FY2021. They are also planning for another doubling on the larger base in FY2022, the company said.