For many Indian diaspora members in the U.S., giving back to India has often been to causes such as healthcare, education, children and youth. These are worthy priorities, reinforced by the reality of a young India whose growing workforce will drive its prosperity. What fewer people realize is that India is approaching another great demographic transition: the aging of its population.
The scale is striking. The UNFPA’s India Ageing Report 2023 projects that the share of Indians over 60 will double from 10.5% in 2022 to 20.8% in 2050. One in every five Indians will be elderly by that time. By 2046, elders are projected to outnumber children under 15.
Many countries have been through similar demographic transitions, but most had grown wealthy first. Japan and much of Europe built pension systems and care infrastructure before their populations aged. India is growing older before it grows rich, as a new study by Transform Rural India captures.
The challenge will also be unique in who is affected. The UNFPA report points to the “feminization” and “ruralization” of aging, meaning that more elderly women and more elders in rural areas. Millions already live without a pension that covers basic needs, without family nearby, and without a doctor unless one comes to them. Younger generations are moving away for work and education, and many seniors are cut off from a digital world that increasingly gates services.
Advertisement
A funding blind spot
Needs of this kind often struggle to attract philanthropy. More than 40% of India’s elderly are in the poorest wealth quintile, and nearly one in five has no income at all. Yet institutional funding has not kept pace. In the United States, only about 2% of philanthropic dollars go to organizations that serve older adults, according to Grantmakers in Aging, and that share has stayed largely flat for decades.
This gap is all the more striking because individual Indians clearly care about this cause. In Ashoka University’s How India Gives survey, elderly care was the most supported cause among households that gave, chosen by 53% of them. Care for elders is deeply valued at the family and community level. It simply hasn’t yet become a priority for organized philanthropy, including among the diaspora.
Some organizations have taken note and are responding. American Friends of HelpAge India (AFHI) works to support senior livelihoods, mobile healthcare, telehealth and digital literacy programs in India. Like many organizations working on less visible causes, it has relied on several strategies to raise awareness, including participation in sector conferences, outreach to diaspora communities, and participation in collective giving platforms such as India Giving Day (IGD), the annual giving campaign organized by the India Philanthropy Alliance that mobilizes American philanthropy for U.S. nonprofits working to improve lives in India.
Making the unseen visible
Visibility is often the biggest barrier for causes without a ready constituency. Platforms such as India Giving Day which bring dozens of nonprofits together for a concentrated period of fundraising and storytelling, giving lesser-known causes something they might not get alone: a place in front of donors who were not looking for them.
For American Friends of HelpAge India that exposure has produced measurable results. Its March 2026 India Giving Day campaign, together with gifts in the following months that the organization could trace directly back to it, raised $78,452 from 70 donors – funds now powering healthcare, mobility, and dignity for vulnerable seniors across the country.
That is where stories matter. For American Friends of HelpAge India, India Giving Day put senior care in front of supporters who had come thinking of scholarships or school programs and in addition to those causes they also ended up supporting senior issues. Take the case of Devi who lives in Bati village in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh: She is a 72-year-old widow, living hours from the nearest clinic, who now sees a doctor every week because a Mobile Healthcare Unit stops in her village. For the first time in years, her blood pressure is checked, and her medicines are refilled, and someone asks how she is doing.
India Giving Day has done similar work for other lesser-known causes, such as Ek Kadam Aur, which educates blind children in villages in India, a unique and challenging program that sits alongside the better-known areas of education, health, and women’s empowerment. In 2025, Ek Kadam Aur organized an event as part of India Giving Day celebrations, and a connection made there led to a five-figure gift that year.
The two experiences point to the same lesson. A giving day does more than raise money during the campaign. It introduces organizations to new donors, and those relationships can keep producing support long after the campaign ends.
What it will take to address the gap in support for senior issues
Visibility is a start, not a solution. These shifts would help:
- Donors and funders: Start asking who is missing from the picture, and set aside a giving budget for causes they have not supported before.
- Nonprofits: Start thinking of how existing programs can serve less visible populations such as seniors, disabilities and others.
- Platforms: Collective giving platforms can feature less visible causes deliberately, not just the ones that already draw crowds.
As India ages, the need for senior care will become more urgent and visible. However, we need to act much earlier to build the infrastructure and support that elders need, especially those who do not have monetary and family support. The time is now, and the diaspora can actively start engaging more with senior related causes even as it also addresses other worthy issues.
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this article/column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of South Asian Herald.
