Our History
In 1887, a Denver woman, a priest, two ministers and a rabbi got together... It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but they didn't walk into a bar; what they did do was recognize the need to work together in new ways to make Denver a better place.
Frances Wisebart Jacobs, the Rev. Myron W. Reed, Msgr. William J.O’Ryan, Dean H. Martyn Hart and Rabbi William S. Friedman put together an idea that became the nation's first united campaign, benefitting 10 area health and welfare agencies. They created an organization to collect the funds for local charities, to coordinate relief services, to counsel and refer clients to cooperating agencies, and to make emergency assistance grants for cases that could not be referred. That year, Denver raised $21,700 for this greater good, and created a movement that would become United Way.
United Way
United Way is a 130 year old worldwide movement engaged in nearly 1800 communities across 41 countries and territories worldwide. Through our global network, we raise over $5 billion annually and impact up to 50 million people every year by focusing on education, income and health - the building blocks for a good quality of life and a strong community.
United Way is an international social change movement to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities. It has a global network United Way Worldwide with over 4000 non-profit organizations and more than 1400 United Ways in 43 countries that work to advance the common good of communities focused on education, income and health. These are the building blocks for a good life: a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health.
United Way Network in India
United Way has been in existence in India for the past 30 years. Through a national body and chapters in Baroda, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, the United Way network in India partners with over 600 NGOs and impacts 3,00,000+ lives annually. While each chapter is governed by a separate board and sets its own mandates, a collective commitment is made to mobilizing the caring power of communities to advance the common good. The chapters manage independent projects across the country and also collaborate to leverage each other's expertise and local connect. This ensures a close grassroot connection while bringing in best practices from across the sector.
United Way Kolkata
INVESTING IN SOCIAL CHANGE
Help Corporate India go beyond temporary fix and create lasting social impacts by uplifting the entire community
OUR MISSION
Improving Inovs by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good
OUR VISION
Envision a world where all Individuals & families achieve their human Potential through education. Income stability & health lives
Board of Trustees
Mr. Dinesh Agarwal
Partner of Tax & Regulatory Services at Ernst & Young LLP, India
He is the Tax Head of Business Unit (BU) East based in the Kolkata office. Over the past 24 years, he has gained wide experience in corporate tax, foreign investment, exchange control and other regulatory matters relating to multinational clients and domestic clients operating in a wide range of industries. He has extensive experience of advising multinational companies on inbound investments in India, structuring and core tax planning assignments, evaluation of alternative holding jurisdictions and cross-border operating structures for India.
Mr. Shourya Mandal
Partner, Fox Mandal
Shourya Mandal is a partner of Fox Mandal, one of the oldest and largest law firms in India with 9 offices all over India and in London with more than 350 lawyers. He is enrolled as an Advocate in India and also qualified as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England. He is a former Chair of the Banking, Finance & Securities Committee of the Inter Pacific Bar Association.
He is an active member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and contributed in various publications of the ABA. He has been named in the International WHO’s WHO of Real Estate Lawyers published in association with International Bar Association. He has been named as a leading individual in the field of Corporate/ M&A law by the Asia Pacific Legal 500 for many years. He is the past Regional President of East India Council of Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) and has just completed a successful year as the IACC National President in 2012-2013.
His practice involves various types of commercial and corporate transactions, assisting foreign investors to invest in India and mergers and acquisitions and joint
ventures. He advices various US and other foreign investors doing business in India and is a speaker in various seminar and conferences.
Mr. Subrata Bagchi
FCA, CIA, and CISA
Subrata Bagchi is a FCA, CIA, and CISA with 33 years of experience in India, US and Middle East in leading and transforming professional services firm. His is a seasoned professional in the area of business advisory and has rich experience in building and growing professional service firms. He is subject matter expert in Corporate Governance, Enterprise Risk Management, and Internal Audit. He also has extensive experience in Cyber Security and Process Automation.
He was Senior Managing Director, Country Manager and Resident Director in Protiviti India. He was the main architect in transforming India practice. While working in Protiviti he also served as a Board Member of IIA India and was the Chairman (Eastern Region) of American Chamber of Commerce.
Subrata was also served as a Partner in Deloitte Touche Tohnatsu India Private Limited, where he led the Advisory Practice for Hyderabad and Bangalore. At Deloitte he was also the technical learning leader.
Mr. Amitava Ranjan Sen
Independent Director of TRIL Constructions Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Tata Consumer Products Ltd
Amitava Ranjan Sen is the Managing Secretary of APPL Foundation. This is the CSR arm of Amalgamated Plantations, an associate of Tata Consumer Products Ltd. He is also an independent Director of TRIL Constructions Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Tata Consumer Products Ltd. Mr. Amitava has had an illustrious career with Tata Tea/ Tata Global Beverages which is currently known as Tata Consumer Products. He has served this institution with utmost sincerity and dedication for many years and has been a true inspiration. Born on August 1st, 1961, he has added value in all the institutions he has worked in.
Mr. Gulshan Sachdev
Managing Director, Quaker Chemical India Limited
Mr. Gulshan Kumar Sachdev is the CEO of Quaker Chemical India Ltd., a subsidiary of Quaker Chemical Corporation of the US, a pioneer in the field of specialty chemicals. He is the man behind giving Quaker a strong foothold in India, responsible for all aspects of its steel and metalworking businesses throughout the country, and business expansion in neighboring countries. Mr. Sachdev continues to lead from the front, and is currently involved in setting up a state-of-the-art Quaker India manufacturing facility. He has over 30 years experience in managing various business processes focused on consolidation and diversification. Mr. Sachdev established the Kolkata Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) India and served as its Founder Chairman from 2006 to 2009, and currently he is the National Vice Chairman of AMCHAM. Mr. Sachdev is Founder Chairman of United Way Kolkata.
Mr. Joydeep Datta Gupta
Senior Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd.
Joydeep Datta Gupta is a Senior Director with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd. His experience spans business strategy, human capital consulting, process improvement and IT implementations. He has led several large and complex business process re-engineering and ERP implementation assignments with leading companies around the globe. He has worked as a consultant in the US,UK, Europe, Middle East, Mexico and the Indian sub-continent. His clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as Indian business houses and governments. Joydeep and his team help clients benchmark themselves with the leading global companies and improve their performance in the areas of finance, supply chain, human resources, information technology, and customer relationship management. Joydeep is also the Past President of Calcutta Management Association and a member of various committees of various chambers of commerce and social organizations.
Ms. Barsha Sanyal
Partner, General Manager of PwC SDC Kolkata Pvt. Ltd.
Barsha Sanyal is a Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers and currently leads one of their largest global competency centers, the India Acceleration Center. She was part of the core team in establishing this center in Kolkata in 2010. She has been leading this center since 2015 and was instrumental in growing it to an 8,000+ professionals strong organization spread across Kolkata and Bangalore, providing services to member firms across the PwC network.
A Chartered Accountant by qualification, Barsha brings around 30 years of experience with her, all of it while being in PwC, where she worked across Audit, Tax and multiple Leadership roles.
Barsha is passionate about commitment to community as an important part of leadership development and personal fulfillment. She is actively involved in various CSR initiatives of PwC India Acceleration Center, and also beyond at a personal level.
Mr. K.P.Sengupta
Co Chairman, DCG Data Core Systems (India) Pvt Ltd
He presently holds the position of Co Chairman, DCG Data Core Systems (India) Pvt Ltd., a part of DCPL Group of Companies and subsidiary Data Core Systems, Inc US. He is also an active member of the Governing Bodies of Saroj Gupta Cancer Research & Hospital, Thakurpukur and Aurobindo Seba Kendra Hospital. He is also the Partner, Sengupta & Roy, a firm of Chartered Accountants.
In his earlier positions he was the Ex CFO of PwC, VP (Finance) and Stone India Ltd. a Duncan Group of Companies.
He was also the Ex Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce ( Eastern Chapter) and Ex Chairman Eastern India Regional Council of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Mr. Ambar Mukerji
Executive Director, SkyBits Technologies
Ambar Mukerji is a Chartered accountant with thirty plus years experience in cross- industry domains as CFO,COO and CEO of different companies. Manufacturing,Information Technology and Engineering Consulting are the main domains dealt with. He has worked in USA and also in UK and South east Asia representing MNC organisations.Besides Finance ,he has exposure to management of Business operations in Multinationals, while having certifications from XLRI and other management Institutes and ICWA.Presently executive Director in a Artificial Intelligence based IT company .Also he is an advisory board member in a Netherlands based shipping Company and also advisory member in a Human Resource management company in Mumbai.
Mr. Rajiv Pujara
Visionary and CEO, The Last Person
For more than twenty-five years, Rajiv nurtured and grew the health technology startup called Atlas from its early days in Los Angeles, expanding into India, and subsequently getting acquired by Roper Technologies in 2015. Subsequent to the acquisition of the Atlas Group by Roper Technologies (ROP) in 2015, Rajiv was instrumental in merging Roper’s Atlas India assets into the larger Sunquest group, which he continued to run until 2022. After a very fruitful 28-year corporate journey, and with a view to dedicating the remainder of his professional career to philanthropic social engineering, Rajiv, along with his wife Namrata, co-founded Last Person Development Foundation (The Last Person). Rajiv’s strong sense of global connectedness and cross-cultural awareness has served him well in establishing strong professional relationships across five continents. As a business and social leader, he brings together the right blend of business, technology, and philanthropy, mentoring startups and building high-performance teams to develop and operationalize organizations that are not only profitable but also socially responsible.