Everyone would like to believe that they only have to be concerned with their own lives and what is good for them. However as the world becomes increasingly interconnected through technology, industry, and global finance, it becomes more and more difficult to ignore the fact that while we are building empires of wealth for ourselves, others are suffering and have nothing at all. Some businesses willfully ignore the effect they have on others but the more socially responsible corporations, like ING, have stepped up to accept responsibility and try to make things better for everyone. To that end they have created the ING Vysya Foundation.

The ING Vysya Foundation is an offshoot of the ING India, the ING Vysya Bank, and ING Investment Management and is an effort to give back to local communities in India and particularly to help underprivileged children by educating them and giving them more opportunities for the future. The foundation does its work in three different ways: by providing money to existing charities doing the sort of work that helps Indians, by making it possible for employees to volunteer their time to help with charitable work, and by planning and accomplishing its own projects that improve the lives of the poor in India. The foundation has been active since 2004.

Some of the programs that the ING Vysya Foundation has undertaken on its own include giving villagers in Northern India better access to clean well and ground water, assisting Southern India in its efforts to recover from the 2004 Tsunami by rebuilding infrastructure and helping people get their livelihoods back, auctioning off art by street children to raise awareness and money, and supporting orphans in their efforts to go to school through the Chances for Children Program. In one of their more unusual efforts, they actually sent a kid to school for every run scored by the captain of the Australian cricket team.

Though the ING Vysya Foundation gets all of its funding through voluntary contributions from staff members in the Indian branches of ING, you can help by promoting their efforts and supporting charities that do their work in India, such as one of the thirteen charities that money raised by the ING Vysya Foundation helps to support, such as UNICEF. If you have the means to travel to India, you can even volunteer your time by helping to set up libraries, preschools, nutrition centers, and orphanages. For more information, you can check out ING Vysya's website at www.ingvysyabank.com.

Though ING is a great example of a socially responsible company, it is far from the only corporation out there that is helping to make the world a better place. Check out the articles on our website to learn about more companies that are helping the world, how you can get involved in charitable work, and how to choose a charity to donate your time and money to. To get started, hover over the navigation bar at the top of the page to see your topic options.

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