Tara Chand’s journey from a small village in Aligarh to becoming a respected CSR professional is a story of perseverance, passion, and purpose. Born into a humble family where his father worked as a labourer in Delhi while mother worked as an agriculture labourer in the village, Tara’s early life of deprivation in a village and later in a slum and an unauthorised colony of Delhi could have limited his potential.
Instead, his engagement with a local non-profit and participation in the National Service Scheme during school ignited his passion for social work. He shares while talking to The Logical Indian, “I never thought I would land up in a corporate house, it was always a dream to start my own organisation and work for the disadvantaged communities in the remote locations of India.”
Volunteering under the Government of India’s National Literacy Mission in Delhi slums further deepened his commitment to empower illiterate adults with basic literacy skills. Encouraged by the founder of the non-profit he volunteered with, Tara pursued formal education in social work. Tara Chand says, “The founder of the non-profit I used to volunteer in suggested that I pursue my passion professionally. So, I did masters and graduation in social work.”
Tara Chand is currently the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at OakNorth, where he manages CSR operations, grant management, project planning, employee volunteering, compliance, and other initiatives supporting sustainable development and community empowerment. He has held this role since September 2019.
His leadership is guided by principles shaped from decades of on-ground experience: community-centricity, evidence-based approaches, long-term sustainability, equity, shared ownership, and humility.
OakNorth is a fintech bank founded by serial entrepreneurs Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman, specialising in lending to scale-up businesses and savers. OakNorth is known not only for its financial innovation but also for its strong commitment to community growth through its philanthropic initiatives.
A key part of its 1+1% commitment to communities OakNorth donates 1% of its group profits and 1% of team’s time to charitable initiatives, helping communities thrive. This unique model integrates purpose into the institution’s DNA, ensuring that business success and community well-being grow together.
Tara also manages personal philanthropic initiatives by Rishi & Milan Khosla Foundation, a private family foundation by the CEO and Co-Founder of OakNorth, Rishi Khosla and his wife Milan Khosla, focuses on early childhood development, female empowerment, environment, and healthcare via innovative, scalable projects worldwide.
Early Experiences and Education
His professional career began with the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India through a campus placement at Delhi University. The organization’s innovative policy promised seed funding of ₹5 lakh to Young Professionals who completed three years of service, an incentive designed to encourage the establishment of new professional social enterprises.
Tara quickly embraced this opportunity and availed a starter package for the Association for Welfare, Social Action and Research India (AWSAR) an organisation which he established in 2002 as a student initiative when he was doing his master’s in social work at Delhi University. However, the challenge of sustaining a non-profit without extensive network or funding forced him to return to employment.
He candidly shares, “I worked for this organisation for around 1.5 years, but I had limited experience, no contacts and coming from a disadvantaged background it was very difficult to sustain a non-profit organisation and at the same time support my family financially. Yet the struggle taught him invaluable lessons—about community needs, funding challenges, and the resilience required to build something from scratch.”
Transition to Corporate Sector
Transitioning to the corporate sector with Tokyo Engineering Consultants marked the beginning of his journey with corporates, where passion aligned with profession, a combination he calls “deadly” in its impact. As Programme Officer – Public Participation allowed him to leverage resources, build partnerships and scale impact – something that he couldn’t have achieved alone.
Over the last two decades, Tara has influenced the lives of more than 14 lakh individuals and facilitated investments exceeding 40 million USD in social development across various regions in India and abroad.
Balancing Empathy and Objectivity in Social Work
Tara Chand highlights the critical balance required in social work between empathy and objectivity. “In this sector, it is important to understand that you cannot be emotional everywhere; those feelings will affect your work and decisions. There is a principle in social work, controlled emotional involvement. We are all humans with emotions, but you have to control them and take unbiased decisions,” he shares while talking to The Logical Indian.
He emphasizes that as professionals we should prioritise empowerment over dependence: “The objective is to help people to help themselves.”
The Need for Long-Term CSR Interventions
Discussing the limitations of CSR funding duration, Tara points out that the government’s rule allowing a maximum duration of three + one year for a CSR project is too short for systems change. Drawing on his work with Seva Mandir supported by OakNorth and the Rishi & Milan Khosla Foundation over fifteen years, he says, “We are working on early childhood development and malnutrition, the issues related to early childhood development and malnutrition cannot be addressed in just four years, we need to work around the full cycle of the root causes malnutrition to children, adolescent girls and women.”
He highlights, “Long term change can only be seen when there is more time spent to understand and address the root causes, and the solutions are devised and implemented to bring the system changes over a considerable period of time.”
Collaborative Approach with Non-Profits and Corporates
Tara also advocates for strong collaboration between corporations, non-profits, government and communities. He notes, “Non-profits know best what initiatives are needed and best suitable, yet many corporate houses often decide what they want to do without consulting the beneficiaries or nonprofits.”
Tara Chand believes that working with non-profits, government agencies, beneficiaries and all other stakeholders is really important if one truly wants to transform the communities. “We share our ideas with NGO partners and work with beneficiaries to co-create interventions that are effective and based on the real needs of the beneficiaries.”
Initiatives like improving infrastructure and quality of services in Anganwadi Centres in tribal areas of Rajasthan and another project focusing on training rural women in Karnataka in financial literacy and entrepreneurship are based on the above approach. Tara describes these as “two programmes very close to my heart.”
Respect and Roles in Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships
Tara stresses the importance of respecting the distinct roles within partnerships among corporates, NGOs, government and beneficiaries. “Each stakeholder has its own role to play. When there is respect, trust and clarity of boundaries within a partnership, long term results can be seen,” he shares. “Corporations contribute knowledge, resources and funds; NGOs are working on ground and sharing ground realities, helping in executing and then the government provides scalability, and communities provide their knowledge and support to make any initiative successful.
Our role is to complement government initiatives, and it can only come when all partners get due respect and recognition.”
Expanding CSR Focus to Backward Regions
Addressing CSR geographic focus, Tara critiques the concentration of funds in states where companies are operational or headquartered. “Most of the CSR funding is going to states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi, the reason is that most companies are operating or have plants or offices in these areas.
Another reason is also the policy issue, the CSR rules say that priority should be given to local areas first, so companies mostly spend their budget in the region around their offices and plan locations.” However, Tara Chand says, “We are doing multiple projects around our offices, but we also give equal importance to other backward regions,” mentioning programmes in Chakrata (Uttarakhand), Mahasamund district (Chhattisgarh), scholarships in Bihar and malnutrition initiative in Kherwara, Rajasthan. “There is a lot that needs to be done in backward regions,” he adds.
Vision for Policy Change in CSR
Tara Chand calls for policy reforms to better align CSR priorities with community needs, especially in remote and backward regions and aspirational districts and blocks. “If we are able to align our priorities with the priorities of the community, then there wouldn’t be a challenge in bridging the gap between business and communities,” he believes. On the broader scope of CSR, he stresses, “CSR is more than just distributing material goods, it is about empowering communities.”
Tara Chand’s deep-rooted understanding of social work, combined with his practical experience, makes him a visionary CSR leader committed to long-term, impactful change for marginalized communities across India.
From teaching as a volunteer under National Adult Literacy Mission in Delhi slums to influencing multi-million-dollar social investments, Tara Chand’s journey is rooted in empathy, shaped by lived experience, and strengthened by a deep belief in human potential. His work today echoes the lessons of his childhood: that social change begins when people are given dignity, opportunity, and the power to shape their own future.
His story is not just one of professional success—it is a story of purpose lived consistently, humbly, and courageously. A reminder that true impact doesn’t come from grand interventions but from long-term commitment, deep listening, and the conviction that every community deserves the chance to thrive.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
The Logical Indian celebrates Tara Chand as a true “Person of Purpose,” embodying the transformative power of grassroots passion channeled into professional impact. His journey from a remote village in Aligarh to leading high-impact CSR at OakNorth exemplifies how individuals from humble beginnings can drive sustainable change, aligning corporate resources with community empowerment while advocating for policy reforms that prioritize underserved regions.
In an era of superficial philanthropy, Tara’s commitment to long-term, beneficiary-led interventions sets a benchmark for ethical social responsibility.
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