Started in 2015, the HCLTech Grant is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment by HCL, through HCLFoundation, to strengthen and empower NGOs, engage with them, as well as recognize them for their path-breaking work. Currently focused on rural development, the HCLTech Grant is awarded in three thematic categories, namely Environment, Health, and Education. HCLTech Grant is designed to support breakthrough projects proposed by NGOs that have a proven track record of evident impact, high credibility, and a distinct ability to deliver.
HCLFoundation (HCLF) was established in 2011 as the CSR arm of HCLTech. It is a value-driven, not-for-profit-organization, that thrives to contribute towards national and international development goals, bringing about a lasting positive impact in the lives of people, through long-term sustainable programs. For more details, please visit https://www.hclfoundation.org/
HCLTech Grant is HCL’s contribution towards Nation Building and is also one of the flagship programs under HCLFoundation, as part of its initiatives under the Corporate Social Responsibility regime.
Presently HCLFoundation is implementing five flagship programs, namely Samuday, HCLTech Grant, Uday, and Power of 1. Recently, HCLFoundation has also introduced 3 new initiatives i.e. Harit, My Clean City, and HCLFoundation Academy. For more details on the projects, please visit https://www.hclfoundation.org/.
Started in 2015, the HCLTech Grant has already completed seven editions and is now stepping into the 9th Edition in 2023.
Project Title & Geography: Be an Entrepreneur - 21st century entrepreneur skills for adolescents in 4 districts across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
Project Title & Geography: Informed Collaborative Action for Resilience of ecosystems Conservation for natural resources through common land regime in 6 Districts across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh & Odisha
Project Title & Geography: Creating Community-based Safety-net for better Health and Nutrition Outcomes for children, adolescents and women in 3 Districts of West Bengal
Project Title & Geography: Aflatoun – Social and Financial Education Program educate young generation on social and financial aspects of life in 5 Districts of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra & Jharkhand
Project Title & Geography: Hill waters & wetlands for communities and wildlife – Eco restoration & applied ecology and Advocacy in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu
Project Title & Geography: ECS Life Connect, Integrated approach to improve healthcare access and prevent maternal and child death in 3 Districts of Nagaland
Project Title & Geography: Inclusive Education for Children with Visual Impairment in 5 Districts across Rajasthan, Bihar & West Bengal.
Project Title & Geography: Connecting Landscapes, Empowering People and Protecting Elephants- An initiative to secure the Baghmara - Balpakram Elephant Corridor and protect the wildlife habitats of Garo Hills, Meghalaya.
Project Title & Geography: Humanitarian assistance to strengthen inclusion and safety of vulnerable persons especially women and children in conflict-affected areas of 5 districts across J&K.
Project Title & Geography: Educating the women farmers for better livelihood opportunities and better income generation in 2 districts of Jharkhand.
Project Title & Geography: Keeping Indigenous Bees Buzzing and Supporting Biodiversity Conservation in Tribal Communities of 4 districts across Gujarat, Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh
Project Title & Geography: Eradicating TB and achieving mission of the PM/UN SDG Goal3 through a community driven, patient centric, technology supported, low cost model to improve rural conditions of Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh.
Project Title & Geography: Promoting Quality Education through a culture of peace and safe learning environments for the most marginalised children of 2 districts across Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
Project Title & Geography: Sustainable Waste Management through Community-Owned Rural Resource Recovery Systems in 4 districts on Karnataka
Project Title & Geography: Improving Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Outcomes in Tribal Areas of Madhya Pradesh, Shahdol District.
Project Title & Geography: UDAAN-Breaking Barriers and Rebuilding the Lives of Bedia girls in 2 districts of Madhya Pradesh.
Project Title & Geography: Restoring Eco-System by Promoting Nature Sensitive Endeavor – RESPONSE in 3 districts of West Bengal.
Project Title & Geography: “Cot to Community” - A Comprehensive rehabilitation approach for People with Spinal Cord Injury (PwSCI) in 29 districts of Karnataka.
Project Title & Geography: Inclusion of children’s home languages to improve foundational learning outcomes of Adivasi children in 1 district of Chhattisgarh.
HCLTech Grant is a CSR Grant awardedto winner NGOs, selected through a competitive process, for a proposed project.
HCLTech Grant has 3 categories i.e. Environment, Health, and Education.
HCLTech Grant awards the winning NGOs in each of the categories i.e. Education, Health, and Environment, an amount of upto ₹5 Crore each (i.e. ₹15 crores in total) for a project with upto 4 year duration.
From Edition 4, HCLTech Grant’s commitment went up from ₹15 crores (US$2.1Mln) to ₹16.5Cr (US$2.4Mln),wherein, a grant of ₹25 lakhs to each of the other finalists for a project with upto 1 year of duration.
HCLTech Grant is open for any geography within India but limited to rural areas.
No. HCLTech Grant doesn’t differentiate on any beneficiary type
No. HCLTech Grant doesn’t differentiate on NGO background or type. However, eligibility criteria are defined for an NGO to qualify for the evaluation process
No. However, HCLTech Grant embraces the use of technology as an innovative element.
HCLTech Grant amount is given to the winning NGO into a dedicated bank account opened by the NGO, specifically for the implementation of the proposed project.
No. HCLTech Grant doesn’t charge any fee for the application; it accepts applications free of charge through its official website http://hclgrant.hcltech.com
Further, HCLFoundation and HCLTech Grant have not authorized any individual or agency or organization to accept the application on its behalf.
HCLTech Grant takes pride in itsrigorous, multi-level screening and shortlisting process, which spans across 250 days after which the results are announced.
Around February/March 2024 for Edition IX. Specific dates will be announced soon.
The winning NGO will have to commence the project in April 2024 for Edition 9.
In line with the goals and objectives of the HCLFoundation, HCLTech Grant is designed only for rural areas. Whereas, there are other programs of HCLFoundation which focusses on urban, peri-urban, and semi-urban areas.
The duration of the proposed project for HCLTech Grant should be 4 years.
The budget for the proposed project for HCLTech Grant should be limited to ₹5 crores. Although, an organization is free to apply for a project with more than ₹5 crores budget; however, funding from HCLTech Grant will remain limited to ₹5 crores only. The organization will be responsible for soliciting the rest of the funding from other sources.
Yes, HCLTech Grant is open to projects which involve funding from other agencies. Details of such funding to be shared with the HCLFoundation as part of the process.
Yes, there are no exceptions to these.
Yes, there are no exceptions to these.
No. HCLTech Grant is only meant for not-for-profit organizations registered in India and is allowed to receive funding under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013.
No. HCLTech Grant is only meant for not-for-profit organizations registered in India and is allowed to receive funding under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013.
Functional experience is the number of years/months/days, calculated basis the registration date of the organization (captured on the registration certificate i.e., Trust Deed/Certificate of Incorporation/Certificate of Registration) and a specific end date decided by HCLTech Grant team. For edition 8, the end date is 31st March 2022. The formula is as follows:
The functional experience is required at the organization level (collectively) irrespective of how many themes it is/has working/ed on and the number of years it has spent in each of the themes. The requirement of functional experience varies with the category chosen; please refer to eligibility criteria for more details. You can refer to the information above to understand how functional experience is calculated.
Average expenditure is calculated using the below formula -
Herein, expenditure is meant as the Net Expenditure (Gross Expenditure – Surplus/Unspent expenditure) made by the organization as captured in the Income & Expenditure table of Annual Audited Financials. Audited financials of the last 3 financial years, FY 2019-2020, FY2020-2021, and FY2021-22, is taken into consideration for the evaluation.
The average expenditure is required at the organization level (collectively) irrespective of how many themes it is/has working/ed on and the amount it has spent in each of the themes. The requirement of average expenditure varies with the category chosen; please refer to eligibility criteria for more details. You can refer to the information above to understand how average expenditure is calculated.
Yes. There are no restrictions on existing or past partners, except for the past winners of HCLTech Grant.
Winner organization(s) (excluding finalists) whose proposed project is complete in all respects by 31st March 2021 is/are eligible to apply.
Yes. There are no restrictions on past participants unless declared a winner.
It is recommended to submit only one application per cycle/edition.
Yes, till the time applicant organization is a registered not-for-profit organization in India and is allowed to receive funding under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013. It is important to note that the sub-granting of HCLTech Grant funds is not allowed, and the applicant organization will be solely responsible for the management and implementation of the proposed project.
Sub-granting of funds means funds provided by HCLFoundation for the proposed project are transferred to another agency/individual/etc. for any activity related to management or implementation (among others) through a Grant Agreement.
No. Eligibility criteria are applicable to the applicant organization, as a single entity, only.
HCLTech Grant Edition 9, application window started on 25th April 2023
HCLTech Grant Edition 9, application window ends on 25th June 2023
Refer “How to Apply” section for more information.
Refer “How to Apply” section for more information.
No. Once your application is submitted, no changes are allowed. It is recommended to review your application multiple times before submission.
Yes. On submission of your application, a PDF is generated, which you can download and save for future reference and other endeavors.
Post submission, a confirmation/acknowledgment e-mail is sent automatically by the backend server to the registered e-mail id. If you do not receive the e-mail within 24 hours of the submission, please write to hclgrant@hcl.com
HCLTech Grant has sevenstages of evaluation,which spans over a 250-day cycle. Information on the application status at each stage is sent through an e-mail by the HCLTech Grant PMO. Further, a status for each stage is also updated on the HCLTech Grant website. If you do not receive a status update on your application within 24 hours of the website update, please write to hclgrant@hcl.com
No. HCLTech Grant accepts applications submitted through its online platform only.
English. We are exploring possibilities of adding other languages also, but until now, it is limited to English only.
“The Fifth Estate – The HCLTech Grant Compendium” is a collection and compendium of noteworthy Organizations and Projects. The compendium is aimed to spread the word around the world about these organizations and projects. The compendium referred by leaders and agencies around the world for various purposes ranging from consultation to funding. You can download it from the HCLTech Grant Website.
Organizations shortlisted for the Sub Jury review of HCLTech Grant gets featured in the compendium. There is no fee involved or any process available for other organizations.