Local Resources for Local Rights? The Mumbai Fundraiser's Dilemma

This article examines the prospects and challenges of local fundraising for human rights organizations (LHROs) in Mumbai, India—one of the country’s largest financial and cultural centers. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 organizational leaders and a representative survey of 1,680 residents, Archana Pandya and James Ron explore how Indian rights groups navigate restrictive foreign funding laws, reputational risks, and a rapidly expanding corporate sector . Findings show that Mumbai’s LHROs remain heavily dependent on foreign aid, leaving them vulnerable to government crackdowns under India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). While leaders recognize the need to diversify and tap into domestic philanthropy, they face a critical dilemma: survey evidence reveals that public trust in human rights groups is strongly and inversely correlated with trust in local corporations. In other words, the more citizens trust businesses, the less they trust rights groups, and vice versa. This dynamic complicates efforts to seek corporate support, even as India’s 2013 Companies Act mandates new corporate social responsibility (CSR) donations. The article highlights broader global implications: governments worldwide are restricting foreign aid to NGOs, pushing rights groups to pursue “local funds for local rights.” Yet, as the Mumbai case shows, fundraising from domestic elites may carry reputational costs and undermine grassroots legitimacy. For scholars, activists, and policymakers, these findings underscore the political economy of human rights funding and the fragile balance between financial sustainability and public trust. Citation: Archana Pandya & James Ron (2017). Local resources for local rights? The Mumbai fundraiser’s dilemma. Journal of Human Rights, 16(3), 370–387. DOI link