- AVPN’s commitment of over USD 325 million (₹2,700 crore) toward Uttar Pradesh’s climate-aligned growth, signed in Singapore in February this year, reflects the state’s emergence as a serious destination for structured, capital-backed development
LUCKNOW, INDIA | 10th AUGUST 2026 | The AVPN Global Conference 2026, Asia’s largest gathering of social impact leaders, will be held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from 25 to 27 August Over three days, more than 2,000 influential philanthropists, investors, policymakers and leaders from foundations, corporations and social-purpose organisations will gather under the theme “A Blueprint for Action in Asia”. Coming to India for the first time, the 13th edition of AVPN’s signature annual Conference arrives as AVPN deepens its own ties to Uttar Pradesh, a state increasingly recognised for structured CSR deployment, government-corporate collaboration.
Uttar Pradesh has been positioning itself as a serious destination for structured CSR and government-corporate collaboration. Invest UP, the state’s nodal CSR facilitation agency, now supports partnerships spanning education, healthcare, skilling, environment and infrastructure. AVPN’s own relationship with the state has already been formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government in Singapore, committing to help mobilise more than USD 325 million (₹2,700 crore) in climate-aligned investment over five years, supporting the state’s ambition to build a USD 1 trillion economy.
Lucknow’s own philanthropic landscape, a distinctive model of grassroots philanthropy–tells a related but distinct story, one increasingly shaped by locally rooted institutions rather than one-off giving, a pattern that is becoming increasingly visible across Tier 2 India, where first-generation philanthropists are formalising their giving while staying closely tied to local priorities, often working alongside state and district administrations. In 2024, AVPN conducted its Global Leadership Academy convening in Lucknow for the first time, bringing grassroots voices from the Global South to India, to amplify South-South learning and unheard, underrepresented voices. Lucknow was chosen as a critical hub for the academy’s regional pilot workshops. Along with locations like Istanbul, Turkey and Bangkok, Thailand, the Lucknow Workshop gathered grassroots changemakers to establish collaborative learning spaces, share field insights, and test scalable frameworks for community-led development.
“Uttar Pradesh is proof that scale and grassroots values don’t have to pull in different directions,” said Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO of AVPN. “The same state working toward a trillion-dollar economy is home to models like Lucknow’s community-run organizations that are locally owned, values-driven and quietly effective. Our MoU with the state government, and the Global Conference’s first edition in India, are both about the same thing at different scales: giving work like this the capital, credibility and partnerships it needs to grow without losing what makes it work.”
The three-day Conference will feature discussions on policy, philanthropy, corporate sustainability, CSR, impact investing, blended finance, health impact and cross-sector collaboration, alongside a dedicated Impact Investing Day focused on mobilising greater capital towards scalable solutions.Speakers include Ajay Piramal (Chairman, Piramal Foundation), Boon Heong Ng (Executive Director & CEO, Temasek Foundation), Ananya Birla (Founder & Chairperson, Svatantra), Albert Park (Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank), and Siddharth Sharma (Chief Executive Officer, Tata Trusts), among others.
Registration
For more information on the AVPN Global Conference, and ticket details, visit: avpn.asia/conference.
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