●●○ medium
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (A). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
Goonj: Turning cities' surplus cloth into a resource for dignified rural development. In India, of “clothing, food, shelter,” clothing (cloth) drops out of the development agenda. Winter cold takes the lives of those with nothing to wear, while city homes overflow with unused cloth. Former journalist Anshu Gupta was shaken by the words of Habib, a man who earned daily cash carrying unclaimed corpses, and his daughter Bano — “when it's cold, I sleep hugging a corpse; it doesn't turn over and doesn't trouble me” — and in 1999 started Goonj with 67 garments. Goonj circulates cities' surplus to villages as a development resource, not “charity.” In its flagship “Cloth for Work,” residents use their own labor as a “currency” to build wells, bridges, schools, roads, irrigation, and rainwater harvesting, receiving cloth and daily goods with dignity in return. It also runs disaster relief and recovery “Rahat,” the cheap, biodegradable sanitary pad “MyPads” made from waste cloth (over 3 million), and the upcycle line “Green by Goonj,” circulating 3,000–6,000 tons of goods a year across 23–25 states. The letter is A; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q2; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
In India, of “clothing, food, shelter,” clothing (cloth) drops out of the development agenda. Winter cold takes the lives of those with nothing to wear, while city homes overflow with unused cloth. Former journalist Anshu Gupta was shaken by the words of Habib, a man who earned daily cash carrying unclaimed corpses, and his daughter Bano — “when it's cold, I sleep hugging a corpse; it doesn't turn over and doesn't trouble me” — and in 1999 started Goonj with 67 garments.
Goonj circulates cities' surplus to villages as a development resource, not “charity.” In its flagship “Cloth for Work,” residents use their own labor as a “currency” to build wells, bridges, schools, roads, irrigation, and rainwater harvesting, receiving cloth and daily goods with dignity in return. It also runs disaster relief and recovery “Rahat,” the cheap, biodegradable sanitary pad “MyPads” made from waste cloth (over 3 million), and the upcycle line “Green by Goonj,” circulating 3,000–6,000 tons of goods a year across 23–25 states.
One person’s story (N1)
+ before → after
A monsoon flood washes away the village's roads and bridges. But residents, rather than waiting for a truck's “handout of old clothes,” rebuild the bamboo bridge and dig the well with their own hands. In return for that labor, they receive good cloth and daily goods from Goonj — “labor is your currency.” Not bechara (a pitiful person) but a recipient with dignity. Even after losing everything, the pride of rebuilding with one's own hands remains.
Source nature: Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation / P1 international award. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- Founder Anshu Gupta won the Ramon Magsaysay Award — regarded as Asia's Nobel — in 2015 (“for changing the ‘culture of giving' by centering the recipient's dignity”). He was named an Ashoka Fellow (2004) and the Schwab Foundation's Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2012), and the sanitary-pad business won the World Bank's Global Development Marketplace award. He has twice received the Jamnalal Bajaj “Fair Business Practices” award.P1 international award / Goonj（Awards & Recognitions） / Schwab Foundation
− effects (confirmed)
- No confirmed −.
- Independent quantitative verification of livelihood/health effects; quality and fit management of donated goods; supply stability
A second look
Annual throughput (thousands of tons) and reach scale are mainly company disclosures, and independent evaluation quantifying effects on household livelihood improvement or health is limited. A donated-goods redistribution model depends on quality, fit, and supply waves, and fine matching to on-the-ground need is a continuing challenge.
Sources
How to read this assessment
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the story an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q2 | Back to top