Personal Details:Ms. Arundhati Ghosh, Indian, Born on the 23rd of July 1972.

Current Position:
Executive Director, India Foundation for the Arts

With over 15 years experience in corporate, not-for-profits and arts and culture organisations in the areas of organisation set-up and strategy, marketing and communications, resource mobilisation, media, donor management, evaluation and programme management. 

Other Positions Currently Held:
  • On the Advisory Board of the Beyond Sight Foundation that works with visually challenged young people and the arts
  • Trustee of Toto Funds the Arts (TFA), a trust that promotes arts and culture among urban youth
  • On the Advisory Panel of the Archive of Indian Music (AIM)
  • On the Advisory panel of Raisor's Ask, South Asia's Fundraising Magazine
  • Trustee of the Seagull Foundation for the Arts, a cultural foundation working to promote and support the arts which is 'everybody's business'
  • On the Advisory Board of Baarapaani, a communications agency for the not for profit sector
Educational Qualifications:
  • Recipient of the Chevening Gurukul Scholarship for Leadership and Excellence to the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Office in the UK (FCO)
  • Post Graduate from the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad, India (MICA) with specialization in Marketing and Communications
  • Graduate from the Presidency College, Calcutta University, with Economics (Hons.), Mathematics and Political Science
Awards and Achievements:
  • Winner of the Global Fundraiser for the year Award 2010 organised by the Resource Alliance International
  • Leader of the team that won the 'India NGO of the Year' Awards 2009 organised by the Resource Alliance and the Rockefeller Foundation
  • Awarded a grant by Institute of International Education (affiliated to The Ford Foundation) in 2002 to attend an orientation with Arts and Business, UK and participate in the Annual International Fundraising Congress, Netherlands
  • Selected as one of the top three city finalists for the “Lead India” campaign, The Times of India’s (India's largest newspaper) hunt for a national leader in 2007
  • Selected the Conference Co-ordinator for ‘CultureAsia 2008: Connecting cultural actors in Asia’ supported by Hivos, Open Society Institute in cooperation with the Center for the Study of Culture and Society
  • Completed a thesis project on leadership in the arts sector in the UK “ Racing in ballet shoes” in partial fulfilment of the Gurukul Chevening Programme at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
  • Completed Bachelor of Dance with distinction in Kathak, an Indian Classical dance form from the Allahabad University
  • Received the Nation Talent Search Scholarship from the National Centre of Education, Research and Training (NCERT)
  • Recipient of the Role of Honour from Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA) as a notable alumni in 2008.
  • Has worked with the Ford Foundation on a arts services consultancy to professionalise some of their institutional grantees in the arts and culture sector in partnership with Murray Culshaw Consulting
Other Activities:
  • Has been on the selection panel for the Chevening Gurukul Leadership Scholarship programme funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) UK
  • Guest lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE) for the Chevening Gurukul Leadership and Excellence Programme, The International Workshop for Resource Mobilisation - Asia organised by Resource Alliance, UK, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA).
  • Conduct workshops for non profit and arts and cultural organisations in communications, fundraising and programming for Murray Culshaw Consulting (MCC) and South Asia Fundraising and Resources Group (SAFRG)
  • Conduct an arts base course called “Tracking Creative Boundaries” for the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB)
  • Conduct a course on "Leadership, Communication and Culture" for the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA)
  • Write in English and Bengali - Some of the work has been published by magazines like Sulekha, Boipara, Kobitar Sonta, Chironton, The Week, Times of India and Tehelka
  • Led “Stagefrite”, an amateur English theatre group for two years in Bangalore (2001 to 2003)
Other Training:
  • Attended several conferences of the International Initiative to Strengthen Philanthropy under the aegeis of the Ford Foundation on themes such as “Corpus Fund Raising”, “Institution Building by raising Capacity”, “Creating Individual Donor Campaigns” and “Strategic Communication” etc
  • Film Appreciation from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and the National Film Archive, India, 2003
  • Attended the workshop “Creative Edge” workshop organised by the British Council in Mumbai in 2003
  • Attended the workshop “Non-profit Governance” organised by Murray Culshaw Advisory Services in Bangalore in 2003
  • Attended the workshop “Effective Boards” organised by Murray Culshaw Advisory Services in Bangalore in 2004
Work Experience:

From June 2001 till date
Started as the sole marketing/ fundraising consultant to the India Foundation for the Arts, a national independent grant making organisation in the arts and culture. Was assigned the responsibility of Deputy Director in 2008 to look after all aspects of IFA's work - Programmes, Fundraising and Communication, Finance and Investments, Human Resource Management and Administration.

  • Started the marketing, fundraising and communication unit at IFA in 2001 which now is a seven member team
  • Strategy development and implementation for resource mobilization for the arts from foundations, corporations and individuals by creating various revenue streams for the arts including fundraising events, arts services and consultancies
  • Conceptualising and implementing fundraising and communications campaigns, media strategy and public relations, web and social media marketing and IFA's outreach and community engagement platforms.
  • Strategy development and implementation of the diverse grant making programmes.
  • Helping institutional grantees of IFA to professionalise their systems and build capacity to become sustainable over a period of time
  • Looking after the finance, administration and human resource management departments at IFA dealing with budgets, revenues, investments and people

From June 1996 to April 2001:
Worked with the corporate sector across advertising, marketing and help start a company in the e-commerce space. Headed the Marketing and Strategic Alliances division of BuyAsOne.com, India’s first Group Buying Portal. Worked with Birla 3M Ltd. in Corporate Marketing, Planning and Development as the person in-charge of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs and had additional responsibility for marketing and promotions of brands such as Post-it notes, Scotchgard, Scotchlite and the Retail business. Worked with Ogilvy and Mather Advertising in Account Management handling various Unilever beverages brands.

My work with the corporate sector includes work across various areas - research, marketing, advertising, brand building, public relations, internet strategies, creation of revenue models etc.

Contact:
E-mail:
Business: arundhatighosh@indiaifa.org
Personal: aru.connect@gmail.com