Charity Begins at Home — GiveIndia.org

Charity begins at home – A line that all of us know and most of us turn a deaf-ear to because as long as we are self sufficient we are happy individuals.  Understandable; we have families to support, our earnings are taxed, we like to indulge after a hard day’s work.

Charity is a big word, the kind of thought that goes behind doing something for another being (human or not) is quite selfless. We think of people who are less fortunate than us only when a disaster strikes. Land slides in Leh, earthquakes in Haiti, floods in Pakistan. The media does its part by educating the masses about all this but as all informed decisions have to be taken by us, we need to know what happens to the money we donate.

There are people who have organizations that run responsibly, one such organization is the GiveIndia.org – www.giveindia.org

GiveIndia is a donation platform that allows you to support a cause of your choice from about 200 NGOs that have been scrutinized for transparency & credibility. This acts as a mediator between people who wish to donate and the right kind of NGOs. They also give the proof for how the money is being utilized.

Conceived by Venkat Krishnan, an IIM-A graduate in December 1999, GiveIndia is managed by a team of professionals who have earlier worked with various corporates and now have dedicated their careers to making a difference.

At GiveIndia, there are plenty of options to choose from. If there is a certain cause you’d like to support, it just might be featured here. Children, Disabled, Education, Elderly, Employment, Environment, Health, HumanRight, Women and Youth are the causes featured here currently.

How does GiveIndia work?

In their own words:

• Once you decide how you’d like to make a difference by donating to a donation option(s) on the site, we send you a tax receipt for your donation and send your money to your chosen NGO.

• After detailed consideration, the beneficiary is identified by your chosen NGO and the money is utilized as per your chosen donation option.

• We track every donation and ensure that the NGO sends us a feedback report with details about which poor Indian’s life you have changed and how; which we then pass on to you.

Tax Benefits:

The organization gives every donation the necessary tax benefit for Indian Tax payers, and donors from the US and UK as well.

The Instant e-receipt can be used during filing for tax returns.

For details, click here

If you have an ICICI Bank account, you can donate monthly by signing up for the Standing Instructions programme. Just login to your account, click on “Bank Accounts” and follow the instructions under “Donate Online” option on the left side bar.

IGive: This is a part of the GiveIndia initiative wherein you can raise funds for the causes that are most dear to you.

IGive acts as a fundraising tool, you can create your own page for the causes that you want people’s attention and contribution for, let friends know about it, collect the money, and once you’ve raised the targeted amount GiveIndia will send it to the NGO of your choice.

Raise the awareness and Support GiveIndia by joining their Facebook page.

Contributed by Reema Shetty, a freelance writer from Manchester.She occasionally writes about the environment, book reviews and subjects that interest her.