AIDS orphans in India

Asia is the fastest-growing HIV region in the world. India, with its population of over 1 billion, is the country with the second highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS (South Africa being the highest). Like Africa, India’s pre-existing poverty is only exacerbated by the spread of the virus. Despite healthy economic growth in recent years, India’s gross national income per capita remains below $500.

Already, the UN reports more than 13 million children have been orphaned by AIDS worldwide. More than 25 million AIDS orphans are projected by the year 2010. By 2010, the world’s AIDS orphan population will exceed the population of all of New York City by a multiple of three.

Lynne Guhman first visited India in January of 2000 and became convinced that she could make a difference in the suffering that she saw all around her. She came home to Boston, quit her investment management job and returned to live in India in 2000. She launched Agape in 2003 to address the heartbreaking plight of the AIDS orphans, who have become ‘the untouchables of the untouchables.’ Meanwhile, Kim Ogden, a Harvard Business School graduate and partner at Bain Consulting, felt a strong desire post 9/11 to devote herself to a more meaningful pursuit. While Lynne directed the orphanages in India, Kim resigned from her job to become a stay-at-home mom and stateside Chief of Operations for Agape.

Very quickly, Agape had to provide more than just a home, food, education, and surrogate ‘parents’ for the orphans. The HIV virus meant many of the children were facing significant medical needs. As the orphans increased in number and length of stay (and because the virus is especially damaging to young immune systems), the need for on site medical care grew.

SixSeeds found Agape by stumbling (almost literally) upon Kim Ogden when she and our Board Chair were getting off of the same airplane. We were struck immediately by the stories of both women, including the fact that both women refused to take a salary for their positions. Besides providing an inspirational example, their choices also meant that the overhead for donations to Agape was almost nonexistent. When we realized the strategic importance of expanding the Agape medical staff, we asked how much it would cost to fund an Indian trained M.D. Our jaws almost hit the ground when Kim told us, ‘About $6,000/year.’ SixSeeds has made a three-year commitment to sponsor a doctor’s position, giving Agape some funding certainty in its expansion plans.

The value of shopping for bargains extends to the art of strategic giving. And generally speaking, a dollar goes a lot further in the developing world — especially if you can find a way to reduce stateside overhead. It can be hard to locate dependable organizations abroad, which is precisely why overhead can serve an important role (we at SixSeeds have it as well!). This is especially true with the Patriot Act making it very difficult to give money directly to overseas organizations. But it is worth asking about and comparing overhead, looking for bargains (like the ones in our portfolio), and allocating a good portion of your own giving portfolio to places where your dollar can have outsized leverage.