GMSP Foundation: Philanthropy Based on Family Values
Established by Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev in 2006, GMSP is a family foundation that supports strong frontline organisations working to improve the lives of people in the UK and India.
GMSP Foundation is led by Ramesh and Pratibha’s daughter Sonal Sachdev Patel. Our approach to grantmaking is informed by the same values that guide our family: trust, love and humility, and a sense of shared humanity that connects us all.
The organisations GMSP supports serve their communities with bravery and imagination every day. We hold ourselves to the same standard, aspiring to a bolder, more thoughtful approach to our own philanthropy.
We believe in the power and potential of frontline organisations to change the world, one person and one community at a time; it is our privilege to be able to contribute to their work.
Since 2006, we have given more than £13M to local organisations and other charitable initiatives.
Our local partners work to tackle deeply embedded social problems like hunger, homelessness and domestic violence, and to support the health and economic empowerment of marginalised groups. We also make grants to a smaller number of intermediaries, who bring their local and thematic insight to deepen the reach of our giving.
Since 2006, we have given more than £13M to local organisations and other charitable initiatives.
Our local partners work to tackle deeply embedded social problems like hunger, homelessness and domestic violence, and to support the health and economic empowerment of marginalised groups. We also make grants to a smaller number of intermediaries, who bring their local and thematic insight to deepen the reach of our giving.
Ramesh Sachdev on a field visit in India
"We want to help build equity and justice in the world. And that starts with building equity and justice into how we fund. Trust-based philanthropy rejects the traditional power dynamic between funders and their grantee partners. Instead, it asks us to challenge our privilege, cede our power and operate with transparency, patience and humility every day."
Sonal Sachdev Patel, CEO of GMSP Foundation
We know strong frontline organisations are best-placed to identify and respond to the needs of marginalised people in their communities.
We listen to their evidence-based assessment of need and provide them with multi-year funding so they can direct unrestricted resources where that need is greatest. This is often toward the types of work others won’t fund (rent, reserves, training, marketing collateral, and more).
Other forms of support we provide include access to pro bono legal aid, connections through our network, media and social media promotion and opportunities to leverage further funding.
Pratibha Sachdev and Sonal Sachdev Patel on a field visit in India
The Change GMSP Seeks
Change. Impact. Transformation. Progress. No matter what you call it, we philanthropists are obsessed with it.Some use harder metrics than others, but ‘change’, it seems, is the way we as a group have decided whether or not our support is making a difference. Rather than focusing on deep and lasting change that is difficult to measure, NGOs are often demonstrating more superficial change to satisfy their donors. See my blog 'All we can't measure' for my thoughts on that!
But an insistence on change comes at a cost. At a time of contraction and precarity, our partners are asking us - the funders - to change first.I’ve just returned from a weeklong trip to India, where I had the pleasure of attending the Dasra Philanthropy Conference. It’s also where I had the privilege to visit many of our grassroots partners working in Mumbai.
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