Free for all participants and students

1. March 13, 2009 Roundtable on “Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility” to highlight the issues in corporate governance and the need for change, organised by BCF, VOICE, and NCH

2. July 3, 2009 A talk on “CSR, Governance and Development” by Prof Ananya Mukherjee. Organisers were BCF & India International Centre (IIC).

3. September 19, 2009 A talk on "The Relevance of Sustainability Reporting" by Dr. Aditi Haldar, and Prof Ritika Gugnani. Organisers - BCF, IIC.

4. November 30, 2009 - A talk on “Mainstreaming CSR in Management Education” by Mr. K.T. Chacko, Dr. H Chaturvedi, Prof Ashok Kapoor; Chairperson: Prof Vasanthi Srinivasan. Organisers - BCF, IIC.

5. February 8, 2010 - A talk on “Voluntary Guidelines on CSR” by Mr. S.Sen (CIJ), Dr. Aqueel Khan (ASK), Mr. Viraf Mehta (PIC), Mr. Asheesh Shah (DBS), Chairperson: Prof Sri Ram Khanna. Organisers - BCF, IIC.

6. July 1, 2010-- A talk on "Agrarian crisis and farmer suicides" by Mr. P. Sainath; Chairperson: Gopal Subramanium. Organisers - BCF, IIC. Close to 100 people attended this event.

7. August 31, 2010 - A talk on "The Right to Food and the Role of Poverty Commissioners" by Dr. NC Saxena and Mr. Harsh Mander Organisers- BCF, IIC.

8. September 28, 2010 - A talk on "Urban Poverty and Homelessness" by Mr. Indu Prakash Singh, and Ms. Shivani Chaudhary. Organisers - BCF and IIC.

9. November 10, 2010 - A talk on “Screening of the Privacy Laws” by Mr. Mark Tully and Ms. Kamini Jaiswal. Organisers - BBG, BCF, and IIC.

10. November 29, 2010- Round Table Discussion and CSR Debate "Is Corporate Social Responsibility a PR Exercise or Does it Work?" Organisers - BCF, IIC, and Deakin University, Australia.

11. April 1, 2011- A talk on “Business Responsibility and Public Good” by Prof Andrew Crane, York University, Canada, and Manoj K. Arora, Former Director, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, GOI. Organisers - BCF, GIZ, and IIC.

12. January 16, 2012- BCF - IBLF event - "The role of business and business leaders in creating a sustainable world" by Chairman, IBLF, Discussion chaired by Ms. Madhu Kanoria, Member of the Governing Board, BCF.

13. December 20, 2012 - "Computer Science that builds social capital with special focus on AUTISM" by Prof Svetha Venkatesh - Deakin University, BCF, and National Trust. Venue: IIC Annexe, was organised to benefit NPOs in the disability sector.

14. July 23, 2012 - "Dialogue with Industry on Rural Distress" Gandhi Peace Foundation.

15. February 18, 2013 - "Education & Perception Reform in the Context of Gender Violence", by Justice J.S. Verma and Justice Leila Seth. Aurobindo Society, Adchini, New Delhi 110018.

16. March 13, 2013 - "Challenges of Partnerships for Sustainable Development", by Ms. Ros Tennyson, Aurobindo Society, Adchini, New Delhi, 5 pm.

17. August 12, 2013 -BCF & Sampradan organised a public lecture at IIC by Prof. Prabhu Guptara on "Philanthropy Practices, Beliefs, and Philosophy".

18. September 26, 2013 - A day’s consultation on the need for “Developing an inclusive CSR Index for India” was conducted by BCF at IIC, which saw a participation of about 30 persons drawn from academia, corporate sector, consultancy organisations as well as NPOs.

19. August 14, 2014 - Discussion on "The Contribution of the Non-Profit Sector and the Book Million Missions" by Mr. Mathew Cherian, Mr. P.C. Sen, and Dr. Mira Shiva

20. November 10, 2014 - Lady Irwin College has introduced a course credit on CSR, and BCF Director, Dr. Amita Joseph gave a lecture on the Companies Act, 2013. BCF Primer was shared with the students.

21. January 5, 2015 - P. Sainath The Everyday Lives of Everyday People (PARI) - IIC Multipurpose Hall. 315 students attended the talk.

22. August 19, 2015 - BCF partnered with Deakin University on the launch of the Commonwealth Business Women’s Network in New Delhi at the Australian High Commission.

23. September 2, 2015 - A panel discussion at B M Munjal University in Gurgaon moderated by BCF Director, was conducted on the theme of “Beyond Limits” to motivate young students to excel.

24. April 4, 2016 - Talk on Sustainable Development by Prof. P.D. Jose (IIMB) by BCF.

25. July 26, 2016 -BCF organised a lecture by Prof. Jagdish N Sheth. He addressed the students and faculty on the research done by his team on organisations that “Do Well By Doing Good”.

26. July 4, 2017- A free education workshop session conducted by BCF at Indian Law Institute, New Delhi on “Business and Human Rights” for law students. Copies of the CSR primer were given to the participants.

27. September 27, 2019- BCF partnered with Pradan, Vijay, and HelpAge India to host a book release "A Journey of a Social Entrepreneur", a discussion on the book written by Mr. T.K. Mathew, IIC New Delhi was held. On the panel were Mr. Deep Joshi, Prof T. K. Oomen, Mr. Vijay Mahajan, and Mr. T.K. Mathew attended by 100 persons drawn from civil society and students.

28. December 19, 2019- BCF along with Rasaja Foundation and Desmania Foundation hosted a cultural evening at the SACAC auditorium attended by 70 participants.

29. February 13, 2020- A meeting of 130 non-profit organisations was held at ISI to discuss the implications of the Finance Bill on the voluntary sector. BCF was one of the co–organisers. A joint letter to the Finance Minister and MPs was sent thereafter on the impact of the registration of 12A and 80G on NPOs and was followed by meeting MPs.

30. September 18, 2020- BCF organised a webinar with Praxis on the topic ”Promoting Responsible Business Conduct in India – Role of Government, business, and civil society” with Prof Surya Deva of Hong Kong University and member of the UN Panel on B & HR, Lara Jeseni, advocate, and Dheeraj from Praxis.

31. November 10, 2022-BCF organised a seminar in Kochi in association with the Madhavan Nair Foundation on Living History - Visible and invisible stories of Fort Kochi. The same programme also discussed a book by Bony Thomas named Kocchikkar. This was attended by around 215 people.

32. January 29, 2023-BCF organised a dissemination seminar on the NPO Report, Million Missions, which is the contribution of the Voluntary Sector in India since independence. This was in association with the Hyderabad Literary Festival.

33. February 7, 2023-The NPO Report was released in Lady Irwin College. The students were told about the contribution of the voluntary sector, its reach, and the drive and passion of the workers who always work without profit motive. The sector also has last-mile reachability. 80 students and 10 faculty members attended.

34. February 12, 2023 - Report released at Gandhian Centre, Madurai by P.V. Rajagopal and attended by participants of their workshops and local non-profits.

35. February 20, 2023-NPO report released at Centre for Public Policy & Research at Kochi to 25 participants including eminent citizens, CPPR Trustees, and Researchers.

36. February 27-March 3, 2023 - Street Medicine for Homeless retreat held in Uttarakhand.

37. March 4, 2023-A heritage walk was held from 6 pm in Chandni Chowk for visiting doctors and a team of Street Medicine. Six of the trained shelter resident trainees conducted the walk for a group of 12 persons.

38. March 6, 2023-- NPO report released at Digital Empowerment Foundation's annual event in Delhi.

Conferences, Workshops, and Seminars

BCF’s vision of imparting knowledge and healthy open discussions among all concerned stakeholders is to achieve its vision. For this purpose, BCF has invited eminent personalities from various sectors to give lectures and to encourage public dialogue on various topics. lectures on various subjects starting from CSR to urban poverty, right to food, agrarian crisis, etc. Many open discourses are conducted in partnership with IIC and they remain free for all.

EU – India CSR Conference (21st November 2001)
BCF was a partner with FICCI, European Institute of Asian Studies, Belgium, APCM France, and Natural Resource Institute, UK to organise a conference on Corporate Social Responsibility – The Cross Culture Perspective. Papers were presented on the topic of the Rise of CSR in India, CSR in Europe and India, Reinventing India, Value Chain Partnership: Lessons from Kenya Tea and Indonesia Cocoa, and Partnership between the French and Indian Craft sectors were presented and documented through research conducted.
SMEs workshop (January 2005)
BCF in association with Navprerna, SAO, IAMA Ghaziabad, and PIC, organised a symposium cum exposition for small-scale industrialists in Ghaziabad in 2005. The idea was to sensitise industrialists toward the potential of people with different abilities. The workshop covered legislative provisions on disability, international and national trends in employing the differently abled in the private sector, and made the business case for the employment of people with different abilities in small and medium enterprises as primary employers in India.
HIV/AIDS Training (January & February 2005)
BCF in collaboration with International Labour Organisation launched a training program for companies with an Initial Masters Trainers Programme to create awareness and elimination of HIV/AIDS. A workshop was organised on the need to have an HIV/AIDS awareness program and policy guidelines at the BCF office in New Delhi at Jai Singh Road for companies.
Workshop on Sexual Harassment at the Workplace (February 2005)
BCF organized a sensitisation workshop on the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace in February 2005. Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Supreme Court Advocate conducted the session. She elaborated on the Supreme Court guidelines and norms against sexual harassment at the workplace and gave practical advice on action against SH at the workplace.
Global Reporting Initiative (May 2005)
BCF collaborated with Development Alternatives (DA), LEAD, and the United States Asia Environmental Partnership (US – AEP) in organising a workshop on Sustainability Reporting and Global Reporting Initiative in May 2005. The objective of this workshop was to familiarise the participants with internationally accepted tools such as GRI Guidelines for sustainability reporting. The program was an interesting mix of case studies, presentations, and exercises to impart an overview of the whole process of reporting.
Seminar on Extractive Industries & ELLA (2014)
The seminar and roundtable participation of thirty participants drawn from Civil Society, faculty, corporates, and NPOs, was conducted on 14th March 2014. Panel discussions followed this in the mining and extractive sector. The work of ELLA across the world was also presented to compare and learn from the experiences of other countries and that of India. This was organised at IIM Bangalore by BCF.
Seminar with IIC and NFI, New Delhi (2016)
On 7th May BCF, IIC, and NFI organised a seminar on “Responsibilities of Business”. The panel revisited one of the earliest formal engagements with corporate Social Responsibility in Independent India in March 1965, at the India International Centre. Held under the leadership of Shri Jayaprakash Narayan, the conference was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The objective of the 2016 seminar was to reflect on whether progress has been made on business responsibility in the last fifty years and discuss the emerging nature of corporate responsibility in India. It was attended by a hundred participants from different sectors.
Panel discussions Release of Business Responsibility Report - BRR Report (2017)
BCF along with Praxis and other NPOs initiated the network, CRW, (Corporate Responsibility Watch). A civil society perspective report on “State of India’s CSR & BRR, 2017” was released by Justice Ajit Prakash Shah. BCF along with the Corporate Responsibility Watch Partners network followed this with presentations, panel discussions, and deliberations at IIC Annexe to disseminate findings. CRW is the first such network that analyses the gap between BRR (Business Responsibility and CSR). The event was attended by a full house of 110 participants.
Conference on CSR, Eternal University, Himachal Pradesh (2018)
As the knowledge partner to Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh from 21 to 23 September BCF helped to co-organized the first conference on CSR at the University, which is for women. The conference comprehensively covered CSR topics like CSR & stakeholder engagement, Linking CSR to sustainable development goals, CSR – A socio-economic assessment, etc. The conference also debated the issue of whether it is better to cover local areas and problems or to cover larger development challenges. Another concern debated was whether CSR made any impact at the ground level. Day two started with a debate on CSR and its impact. The issue of NPO – Corporate interface and the challenges involved and the improvement needed in terms of CSR relations were also debated. This was attended by faculty and students.
Seminar at the Australia High Commission (2019)
In collaboration with Deakin University BCF conducted a seminar titled “Corporate Social Responsibility Redefined” on 13th March by bringing together academicians, civil society, and ethical-business pioneers. Eminent people from academia, government, and civil society organisations like Mr. John Stanhope AM(Chancellor, Deakin University), Mr. John Madew, (Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission), Mr. G.K. Singh, IAS (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt of India), Dr. Amita Joseph, Mr. Mathew Cherian (Chief Executive Officer, HelpAge India), Mr. Amitabh Behar, (CEO Oxfam India), Ms. Deepa Menon, (VP, PVR) and Mr. Ravi Sreedharan, (Founder, Indian School of Development Management) were the speakers. Around 70 people attended the seminar from all sectors including academia.
Seminar at the Australia High Commission (2019)
In collaboration with Deakin University BCF conducted a seminar titled “Corporate Social Responsibility Redefined” on 13th March by bringing together academicians, civil society, and ethical-business pioneers. Eminent people from academia, government, and civil society organisations like Mr. John Stanhope AM(Chancellor, Deakin University), Mr. John Madew, (Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission), Mr. G.K. Singh, IAS (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt of India), Dr. Amita Joseph, Mr. Mathew Cherian (Chief Executive Officer, HelpAge India), Mr. Amitabh Behar, (CEO Oxfam India), Ms. Deepa Menon, (VP, PVR) and Mr. Ravi Sreedharan, (Founder, Indian School of Development Management) were the speakers. Around 70 people attended the seminar from all sectors including academia.

Other Programs

1. Equality & Justice Alliance (EJA) Expert Roundtable, London (2018)
As a member of the Equality & Justice Alliance (EJA), Sisters For Change UK hosted an Expert Roundtable in London between 24 - 26 July 2018. BCF was invited as one of the legal experts to participate in the event which aimed to build a network of Commonwealth Experts and Champions to advise and help guide the Alliance on an open exchange of legal, policy, and practical measures to tackle discriminatory laws across the Commonwealth and to discuss the EJA Programme.
2. Cultural Festival at Kodaganallur, Tamil Nadu (2019)
A 1000 government school students and teachers participated in the day-long cultural festival on 11th October, organised by BCF in collaboration with YOKE, Sahapedia, and Svanubhava to expose rural school children from the village Kallur, Kodaganallur to India’s rich cultural heritage. This featured a Carnatic music concert, Leather puppetry, Bharatanatyam by students of Anita Guha, Local folk dance forms by Kalaimamani Kailasamurthi’s IPTA Collective, Sufi music, and a Percussion ensemble arranged by Praveen Sparsh. A riverside concert was also organised in the village.
3. Remembering INA Veterans, Delhi (2022)
On the 1st of April, 2022, BCF conducted an interaction on ‘Remembering INA Veterans’. It was a fitting program in the 75th year of Indian Independence. The moderator was Mr. Satish Jacob and the speakers were Ms. Subhasini Ali and Mr. Qurban Ali. Ms. Subhasini Ali’s parents were Col Prem Sahgal and Capt Lakshmi, who worked closely with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. She remembered her parents and their struggle and their expectations with the newly independent India. Mr. Qurban Ali remembered his father Capt. Abbas Ali, who fought despite the odds being against INA and later joined Ram Manohar Lohia’s movement for social Justice. The packed audience of about 200 persons was rapt with attention about the leaders should be remembered by the younger generation.
4. Advocacy with Planning Commission
The Planning Commission, in its maiden effort to constitute a group on the voluntary sector, sought the participation of various related organisations to form a Steering Committee on the voluntary sector as part of the planning process for the 11th Five-Year Plan. As a member of this committee, BCF submitted its recommendations to the Planning Commission in April 2007. Four out of the eight recommendations submitted by BCF have been incorporated in the report which has been sent to the ministries now part of the guidelines. The advocacy program targets critical decision-makers in the Government, private sector, and non- governmental organisations.
5. Mapping the Non-Profit Sector – 75 Years of Independence
BCF along with TeamWorks Arts (TWA) has initiated a study on the Non-Profit Sector in India in partnership with 21 other organisations - formed a CSO Coalition@75. The organisations which are part of CSO Coalition are ArtX, Business and Community Foundation, Banyan, Catalyst 2030, Crafts Council of India, Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), IIM Ahmedabad Research Team, Praxis, Salaam Baalak Trust, Socio Research and Reform Foundation (SRRF), Society for Socio-Economic Research (SSER), South India Producers Association (SIPA), Fairtrade, Teamwork Fine Arts Society, VANI, Vidyasagar, HelpAge India and Federation of Indian Animal Protection Operation (FIAPO) with 30 authors.
The study intends to highlight the contribution made by the voluntary sector in nation- building in the last 75 years and its impact in terms of contribution to GDP (conducted by Guidestar India), services rendered to a diverse segment of the population such as:
Chapters on social justice, education, and health sectors (written by Kasturi Gandhi, Pratyaksha Jha, and Ami Misra with inputs from Sampath Vemulapati and Deval Sanghvi)
Mental healthcare (written by Mrinalini Ravi, Deepika Easwaran, Sanjiv Jain, Alok Sarin, Thara Srinivasan, Chellamuthu Ramasubramaniam, Sunil Kumar Vijayan, Aspy, Tanya Dutt, Amrit Bakhshy and Dr. K V Kishore Kumar)
Disability (written by Nandini Ghosh, Poonam Natarajan, Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Rameez Alam, and Sudha Ramamoorthy)
Aligning CSR and Business Responsibility (Written by Dr. Amita V Joseph, S K Haripriya, Subhash Mittal, and Dheeraj)
Child Rights (written by Bal Rakshak Bharat), Livelihood and Microfinance (written by Dr. Sankar Datta)
Animal Rights, Arts, and Culture, and Elderly sector reports are also presented. BCF along with others made a publically available and shareable resource mapping the nonprofit sector’s contribution to nation-building

The Report had been launched in major cities of India to reach a wider audience. It debuted at Access Summit on 19th January in Delhi, at Jaipur Literary Festival on 23rd January, Hyderabad Literary Festival on 29th January, in Lady Irwin College on 7th February, 11th February in Madurai in collaboration with Ekta Parishad, 20th February in Kochi in partnership with Centre for Public Policy Research, and 6th March in Delhi along with Digital Empowerment Foundation. In Chennai, the Report was launched by network partners SIPA and in Mumbai by Dasra and Bangalore with Bangalore International Centre.