HelpAge India is a secular, apolitical, non-profit and a non-governmental organisation in India registered under the Societies' Registration Act

of 1860. Set up in 1978, HelpAge India is a registered national level voluntary organisation. Since its foundation, its mission is to work for the cause and care of disadvantaged older persons, in order to improve the quality of their lives. HelpAge India is one of the founding members of HelpAge International, a high profile body having 97 member countries representing the cause of the elderly at the United Nations. It is closely associated with Help the Aged, UK and has received a special testimonial from the United Nations for "Dedicated service in support of the United Nations Programme on Ageing". HelpAge India is also a full member of the International Federation on Ageing.

History
HelpAge India began the late 1960s when the speaker of the Lok Sabha visited his counterpart in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, who was also honorary secretary of Help the Aged. He came back with a vision of setting up something similar in India. But it took seven years for this vision to take shape. In March 1974, when Jackson Cole, founder of HelpAge International visited India, Samson Daniel, a philanthropist, approached him for financial help to set up a member organisation in Delhi. Cole instead offered to train him to raise funds. After a three month training course in London, Daniel and his wife returned to India and organised a sponsored walk with schoolchildren in Delhi. It was so successful that in 1975 HelpAge International recruited more staff to cover Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. In April 1978, HelpAge India was registered in Delhi. Within three months it became autonomous as financial support ceased from UK. Soon after, in July, the society was awarded Certificates of Exemption under Sections 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961, thus indicating general confidence in the societys affairs.

Approach
HelpAge India's mission is to work for the cause and care of disadvantaged Older Persons, in order to improve the quality of their lives.

HelpAge India works in the following areas:

Elderly rights - Elder Abuse in India, Reverse Mortgage, Senior Citizens Associations (SCAs), Ending Isolation, Health Insurance, Parents Maintenance Act, Union Budget Allocation, National Policy on Older Persons Eldercare - Healthcare, Social Protection, Shelters, Specialized Care, Disaster, Mitigation

Supporters - Individual Volunteering, Corporates & Business houses, Trusts & Foundations, Bi-Lateral & Multi-Lateral Funders

The aims & objectives of HelpAge are:

To foster the welfare of the aged in India especially the needy aged To raise funds for projects which assist the elderly irrespective of cast or creed To create in the younger generation and in society an awareness about the problems of the elderly in India today

HelpAge India focuses on improved access to health and eye care facilities, communitybased services, and livelihood support for the elderly. In addition, it also supports programmes like old age homes and day care centres and the Support-A-Grandparent scheme. Over the years HelpAge India has changed its orientation from implementing welfare projects to those that focus on development. It now lays stress on income-generation and microcredit projects that enable the participation of Older Persons in the mainstream of society. Furthermore, HelpAge India acts as the voice of the elderly and promotes their cause with the central and state governments. It is our endeavor to influence decision-makers to formulate policy that is beneficial to the elderly. Mission Statement

To work for the cause and care of disadvantaged older persons and to improve their quality of life. The Way Forward HelpAge is integrating it's programmes and services, and consciously moving from welfare towards development and long term sustainability for seniors. HelpAge is working closely with Senior Citizen Associations and encouraging seniors to speak up for their own rights. In our continuing fight against poverty, isolation and neglect of elders in our society, we have made significant strides. The aim is to Help Elders rebuild their own lives and take charge of their own future, restoring within them a sense of self-worth & confidence. Advocacy is one of the strongest tools for impact and change; it is gaining impetus with sensitization of school principals, urging them to include Value Education on Age Care in school curriculums. In order to create a secure financial net for elders HelpAge is also pushing forth Reverse Mortgage for seniors. To deal with the rising crime against elders, an awareness campaign was launched sensitizing decision makers to take action.

In many cities their Elder Helplines (1253) have been working to address the loneliness and neglect of elders. The plan is to taking Age Care to many new locations. Physiotherapy Centres have been set up in Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata and many other locations. The scope of medical care has expanded tremendously moving from basic health care to other specific areas of age care.

Funders
HelpAge depends on donations and legacies to fund its services and activities. Resources are raised from: Individuals HelpAge's biggest supporters are its community of individual donors who give regularly, often without any expectation of returns, save satisfaction gained from doing a good deed. Among them are school children as young as 5, motivated by teachers and parents, to do their bit for the elderly. Corporates & Business houses More companies are now choosing to implement socially responsible policies in response to the increasing number of customers, stakeholders and employees who demand that businesses give something back to society. The internal benefits of CSR to companies are also becoming increasingly apparent: Companies engaged in CSR are reporting benefits to their reputation and their bottom line. Studies reveal a strong correlation between CSR activity and higher performance. Companies give in various ways - Cause Related Marketing, Sponsorship, Payroll giving, Gifts in kind. Trusts & Foundations Many of our interventions such as the Restoration of Vision & the Sponsor A Grandparent programmes receive wide support from Trusts & Foundations across the country. Organisations such as the Palriwala Foundation are pillars of HelpAge. Bi-Lateral & Multi-Lateral Funders Some of HelpAge's biggest programmes are funded by the European Union, Disasters Emergency Committee (UK), Department for International Development (UK), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), US Agency for International Development, Japan Foundation, HelpAge International and Cordaid.

Marketing activities-

The marketing techniques adopted by HelpAge India are as follows: 1. Direct project funding: Motivated corporate funds Matched resources to the need of developmental projects Payroll giving scheme Sicom, datamatics and clarion advertising

2. Strategic tie -ups: Archie's greetings and gifts Ltd. Increased outlets from 500 to 10000 across the country. Tie ups with corporates: Tata Chemicals, Pfizer and NuT

3. Website marketing and upgradation (www.cry.org): Increased awareness E-greetings, wallpapers and online buying of products Online donation facility Tie-up with verisign in order to ensure secure transactions on the net Resulted in increased donations from NRIs

4. Retail Marketing HelpAge India Cards Generating funds for HelpAge India 's activities Selling products of HelpAge India as well as other social welfare organisations Untouched by child labour

HelpAge India 's innovation in marketing: 1. Direct Marketing: Direct Mail program Stromme memorial foundation Enhanced mailing list and database collection

2. Event related marketing: Contributed to funds Educated individuals about HelpAge India Substantial media coverage Encouraged people to volunteer

3. Face to face communication: Tie-up with support direct. 83% increase in individual donors by using face to face promotion

4. Marketing and communication personnel Entire team to handle markering and PR Identified potential donors in 3 categories: Individual, corporate and family person.

HelpAge India can continue to sustain its activities successfully by adopting social marketing. However, they need to constantly revive their strategies with the help of enthusiastic volunteers and maintain the thin line between commercial marketing and social marketing.

All the marketing activities were done in-house. HelpAge India sustained by re-inventing marketing strategies. Some of the methods that CRY can adopt are: 1. Case studies this is the best way for a paper to tell the story, while it also spread awareness and could provide innovative solutions 2. Dont just target the newsdesk target all sections of the newspaper from features, travel and business through to recruitment 3. Build relationships with journalists at different papers, know what they need and target them appropriately.

4. Be available make sure that you have people on call and can respond to queries at all hours. Dont become institutionalised and bland in your messages with stock phrases or the infuriating 'No Comment'. 5. Dont forget your local press. 6. Spend time on the intro of your press releases and make sure you engage the reader. The golden rule is to e-mail press releases, but phone through exclusives 7. Conducting exhibitions 8. Printing calendars, assigning a mascot to spread the message. 9. Tie ups with academic institutes. 10. Road shows and street plays.