Meet Avani Gupta Narang

Avani Gupta Narang is a native Houstonian passionate about social impact work. She currently works as Executive Director at the Indus Cares Foundation (the Foundation) and is the Managing Director of Marketing and Digital Communications at Indus Management Group. Indus Management Group was founded in 2002 by her father, Ajay Gupta, when he purchased his first investment property. Now, 20 years later, Indus Management Group has nearly 40 properties. They are transforming underperforming properties into successful, thriving communities.

Ajay Gupta is an immigrant to the United States and understands the challenges people can face when creating a new life in America. Because of his experience, in 2013, he established the Indus Cares Foundation to support advances in medical care, health and wellness education, and literacy for underserved children. The Foundation is affiliated with Indus Management Group and Indus Communities, and its work is centered on its 37 apartment communities, mainly located in the 77036 and 77081 zip codes of Houston.

My whole premise for starting the Foundation was that he saw how powerful education was for his own children after he moved to the United States. Our Foundation’s purpose is to help lift those in our communities who may not have access to resources and give them opportunities they may not have had otherwise. There is the added benefit that we have great, happy residents who share their experiences with friends and family, but honestly, the Foundation was designed to give them more of a chance. Hopefully, our programming will inspire our residents and employees also to pay it forward in their personal lives.

– AVANI GUPTA NARANG

In 2017, Narang joined the family business as Director of Corporate Strategy while enrolled in a Master of Business Administration program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Coming from a consulting and finance background, Narang knew she needed guidance in this new industry as she helped to enhance the established strategy at Indus Cares Foundation. After doing her due diligence on the Houston philanthropic landscape, she engaged with Greater Houston Community Foundation to establish a Corporate Donor Advised Fund and eventually enrolled in the Next Gen Donor Institute. Narang has consulted with Understanding Houston to learn more about some of the issues the residents of Indus Management may face. More recently, she has overseen the creation of two scholarship funds in partnership with Greater Houston Community Foundation, the Indus Cares High School Scholarship and the Indus Cares College Scholarship.

It is amazing that at every step when we have wanted to explore a new opportunity, I have reached out to Greater Houston Community Foundation to help give us resources, answers, or direction. Our partnership with Greater Houston Community Foundation has helped fine-tune the efforts we already had in place while establishing more structure and procedures. We feel so well taken care of.

– AVANI GUPTA NARANG

Realizing that many of her residents struggle with finding adequate daycare options for their children five and younger, Narang’s efforts have focused on bringing enrichment options to the families within their communities. In 2021, she was introduced to the Collab-Lab, an initiative of Collaborative for Children, while participating in the Next Gen Giving Circle at Greater Houston Community Foundation. Collab-Lab is a mobile classroom that brings early childhood education directly to the community at no cost. It connects parents and their youngest children with experts, educators, resources, and proven programs to ensure that kids have the skills essential to learning when they begin kindergarten. Today, you can find the Collab-Lab visiting two Indus Management Group properties and many more in the near future. This partnership between Indus Cares Foundation and Collab-Lab was a perfect fit because Collab-Lab’s curriculum primarily addresses social-emotional development while bolstering positive child outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Although Narang and her team are dedicated to exploring more options for their residents in the early childhood development space, this partnership is an impactful shift in the right direction.

COLLAB-LAB

The Collab-Lab is a mobile classroom that brings critical, future-focused early childhood education directly to the community at no cost. Designed to be convenient for families, it connects parents and their youngest children with experts, educators, resources, and proven programs whose goal is to make sure that kids have the skills essential to learning from the moment they walk into kindergarten for the first time.

Greater Houston Community Foundation has been an incredible supporter of my development in this space [philanthropy]. The Next Gen Donor Institute helped endow me with the skills to educate others on personal giving plans, donor advised funds, and many additional tools, but also provided me with a peer community where I can discuss and learn from the experience of others. I feel knowledgeable and purposeful about my philanthropy and feel equipped with a healthy lens to vet new organizations or opportunities to contribute. I think the Issue Area learning series is a wonderful avenue to bring donors together to discuss topics that are relevant to our personal or professional philanthropy. I am fortunate that I have these advisors [at Greater Houston Community Foundation] who are prepared to guide me when I am navigating a new area of interest or have a question about my giving plans.

– AVANI GUPTA NARANG

Narang is action-oriented and is not afraid to seek guidance when she needs to understand more about a particular industry or issue. Narang’s drive has helped provide so many resources to the nearly 45,000 residents she serves, and she is an ideal example of how you can effect change while furthering your family’s legacy. Greater Houston Community Foundation is proud to partner with the Indus Cares Foundation and serves as a resource that inspires and creates meaningful change for our community.