Harvesting Hope partnership with Ekalavya Foundation
Talent Formula · 2024 · Community
Partnered with the Ekalavya Foundation to help around 100 tribal families adopt sustainable organic farming and improve livelihoods; on 9 March 2024, 25 employees volunteered on organic farming, harvesting and water conservation.
Harvesting Hope
Talent Formula, an actuarial and insurance outsourcing firm, partnered with the Ekalavya Foundation on an initiative it calls "Harvesting Hope," aimed at helping around 100 tribal families in India adopt sustainable organic farming and lift their livelihoods. On 9 March 2024, 25 Talent Formula employees volunteered on the ground, taking part in organic farming work, harvesting and water-conservation efforts.
The project frames the volunteering day as one visible moment in a longer, funded relationship rather than a photo opportunity. In the company's own words, the effort "isn't simply about providing funds to the Ekalavya Foundation, it's a shared belief that everyone deserves the chance to build a better life."
The numbers behind the day
- Around 100 tribal families targeted for support in adopting sustainable, organic farming.
- 25 employees volunteering on 9 March 2024.
- Activities spanning organic farming, harvesting and water conservation.
Talent Formula also reports a livelihood outcome from the underlying model: tribal farmers using the Ekalavya Foundation's methods have achieved a 40% increase in income. That figure is attributed to the foundation's approach and is the clearest quantified benefit cited for the program. Beyond income, the initiative is described as generating secondary benefits in education and health for the families involved.
The partner: Ekalavya Foundation
The Ekalavya Foundation, established in 2006, works with marginalised tribal communities in India, and its farming methods are the engine of the livelihood gains Talent Formula points to. The partnership pairs a services company's funding and volunteer hours with a specialist NGO that already has the community relationships and agronomic know-how, a structure that keeps the impact grounded in an organisation embedded with the beneficiaries.
Wider CSR and why the shape matters
Talent Formula presents Harvesting Hope as part of a broader commitment to social impact beyond business performance, and says it received an "Outstanding CSR Project Award for 2024" for the work. The company's stated philosophy is that "real change comes from working hand-in-hand" between businesses and non-profits.
The activity aligns closely with several UN Sustainable Development Goals, no poverty, zero hunger, and clean water and sanitation among them, through its combined focus on organic farming, income and water conservation. Sustainable agriculture for tribal and smallholder families is a well-recognised route to resilient rural livelihoods, and the emphasis on organic methods and water conservation ties the economic goal to environmental stewardship.
Why it matters
This is a small-employer example, a single volunteering day with 25 people, but it is honestly scoped and specific. The verifiable core is clear: a named NGO partner, a defined beneficiary group of roughly 100 families, a dated volunteering event, and a livelihood method credited with a 40% income lift.
For a mid-sized outsourcing firm, the model is instructive precisely because it is modest and repeatable: fund a specialist NGO, send employees to work alongside the community, and let the partner's proven method, not the company's own improvisation, do the heavy lifting on outcomes. It is the kind of tightly defined program that other services businesses of similar size can realistically emulate.