Contribute to Charitable Trust in India for Tax Deductible Donations

Tax deductible donations are a practical and constructive way to benefit a cause. Through donations a not-for-profit organisation can increase its reach to benefit more and more beneficiaries and tax deductions comes of aid to the donor during filing of income tax returns. There are many not-for-profit organisations that give the privilege of tax deductible donations. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, charitable trust in India began its service way back in 2000 and started to provide mid-day meal as an NGO in Surat and in other 23 locations. The Foundation has been granted the permission to make available tax benefits to its donors who donate Rs. 500 or more under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act of India.

Beginning with just one serving location as a charitable trust in India, Akshaya Patra witnessed the need and impact of the mid-day meal programme. Thus gradually and strategically it executed its expansion plans and during the 15 years of service it now is operational as a Non-governmental organization in Surat and 23 other locations. As a NGO in Surat, Akshaya Patra began its service in June 2012 and currently feeds a total of 165,057 children across 371 government schools in the region. Surat is one of the three locations where the Foundation is providing mid-day meal in Gujarat. Alike the other two locations in the state, Surat too operates a centralised kitchen unit to meet the mid-day meal requirement. In total, this not-for-profit serves 400,158 children in Gujarat by covering 1,653 government schools.

Whether a donor contributes donation to a specific location or in general to the Foundation, the donor becomes eligible for tax exemption for a contribution of Rs. 500 and above. The Head Office of this charitable trust in India ensures that every donor receives a copy of donation receipt and wherever applicable it sends across tax exemption certificates too. This process also confirms the donor of his or her tax deductible donations. A sum of Rs. 750 can feed one child for one whole year; this amount also becomes eligible for tax exemption. This way the beneficiaries of mid-day meal get their share of nutritious meal every day and the donor too benefits from the clause of tax exemption during filing of income tax returns.

Since the inception of the mid-day meal programme, the implementers – government and non-governmental organisations have witnessed the positive impact on children. The mid-day meal programme has acted like a supporting pillar for education schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Right to Education. The mid-day meal programme acts like an incentive – for the parents to send their children to school with the hope that they will receive at least one wholesome meal per day; and for the children to regularly attend school. This programme has also been instrumental in increasing enrolment and attendance along with positively impacting the health of children. As tax deductible donations benefit both receiver and donor, the charitable trust in Bangalore encourages more participation from the entire society. Join Akshaya Patra in eliminating classroom hunger through mid-day meal programme.

View NGO photos of Akshaya Patra

As is said that pictures speak more than words so does the collection of NGO photos of The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Photographs and videos are always a treat to eyes and it is one of the fastest ways of communicating and spreading awareness about a cause The NGO gallery comprises of still images and videos of the different events and developments in the Foundation.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation on a regular basis keeps sharing and updating its well-wishers with fresh photos and videos of recent events, media coverage, internal developments and collection of beneficiary photos from across all its 24 serving locations. These NGO photos provide the viewers and supporters a quick glance of all the recent happenings in the organisation. View the photo galleries that showcase different milestones of the Foundation. The video gallery will take you through a tour of the various aspects of The Akshaya Patra Foundation starting with kitchen processes to online videos for awareness campaigns.

Along with providing photos, the NGO gallery also provides a snippet about each collection for better understanding and information sharing. So as you view the NGO photos you also get an explanation about an event or development thereby making it an informed experience of photo viewing.

Check out the latest photos of Akshaya Patra.

Partner with Akshaya Patra to Ensure Freedom from Hunger

Having witnessed the debilitating effect of hunger Governments and NGOs across the globe are striving to ensure freedom from hunger for its citizens. In India too, the government has initiated various schemes to counter the hunger situation in the country. NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation too have got involved in the effort to tackle the hunger situation by implementing the mid-day meal programme. Through this programme Akshaya Patra feeds hungry children in India by proving nutritious meals every day. In this effort to provide freedom from hunger especially classroom hunger, the Foundation has received remarkable support from various organisations, corporates and individuals.

This support and partnerships has enabled the Foundation to grow and expand its operations in many new locations. The Foundation appreciates these philanthropic partnerships and invites participation from all. There are many ways an interested individual, group or company can get involved in the path to providing freedom from hunger. A look at Get Involved will introduce to the many ways one can support the Foundation in feeding hungry children in India. Here is a mention of some of the latest partnership campaigns that Akshaya Patra had Britannia Good Day, Saavn, CashKaro.com, Swiggy and the like. Click here to read about more such campaigns and the motto behind each campaign.

For further information or assistance on partnering with Akshaya Patra to ensure freedom from hunger among children, you can drop a mail at infodesk@akshayapatra.org

Contribute Charity Donation Towards Mid-day Meal Programme in Schools

Unless we witness, it becomes little difficult to fathom the real benefit of our contribution as charity donation to NGOs. Through our contribution of resources, time and skill, we can get involved with NGOs working towards various causes. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an Indian NGO implementing the mid-day meal programme in schools across India. Currently, the NGO is functional in 24 locations across 10 states thereby feeding more than 1.4 million children. Akshaya Patra Hubli is one of the 24 locations where the NGO has been operational since July 2004. Presently, the kitchen of Akshaya Patra Hubli caters to the mid-day meal requirement of 126,693 children across 789 government schools. The NGO has always strived toward maximising production through innovative and sustainable technology and the kitchen at Hubli is one such example. The centralised kitchen has been upgraded to function by harnessing the power of gravity. The entire kitchen has been designed in a way that right from pre-production stage to loading of cooked meals in to the delivery vans the whole process makes use of the gravitational mechanism.

Over the years of implementing the school lunch programme, Akshaya Patra Hubli has seen the positive impact mid-day meal has had on the children. The kitchen caters to the South Indian palate and serves rice, rasam (a South Indian soup), dal (lentil curry), sambar (lentil based vegetable stew) and vegetable dishes. By this programme, many children started to hope for their dream can be achievable. Many beneficiaries of the organization have their own stories of hope. These stories are a window to the world of millions of beneficiaries and they also reveal how charity donation helps in feeding the hopes of these children. These beneficiaries already have the hopes, dream and the dedication to achieve it, the only thing they need is a little support, encourage and care from you.

Charity donation to Akshaya Patra will help the Foundation to continue implementing the mid-day meal programme in schools. Your support will also enable the Foundation to expand its reach to new locations. The mid-day meal acts as a supporting pillar for the education schemes initiated by the Government of India. As the mid-day meal acts like an incentive for children to attend school and for parents to send their children to school, your contribution will allow more and more children to benefit from the goodness of nutritious meals and education. Researches also show that nutritious mid-day meal has impacted positively on the health, concentration, attendance and enrolment levels among children. It has also helped in decreasing drop-outs among school children.

The donation of 750 towards Akshaya Patra can feed one child each day for an entire year. This donation also makes the donor eligible to receive 100% tax exemption for the amount donated. Thus contribution towards mid-day meal programme proves to be of double benefit, both to the beneficiary and the donor. Contribute charity donation towards school lunch programme and provide wholesome food for education to millions of Indian children.

Akshaya Patra Kitchen Provided Relief for Nepal Earthquake Victims

Setting up of Akshaya Patra kitchen as a Nepal Earthquake Relief measure was a cumulative decision of Tata Trusts, Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha and The Akshaya Patra Foundation. This decision was taken after receiving official instruction from the Prime Minister’s Office on 28 April 2015, three days after the devastating earthquake that hit the Himalayan kingdom. Akshaya Patra being in the mid-day meal sector to provide food for children had the expertise to handle cooking nutritious meals in bulk and also taking care of hygiene and cleanliness. It also had the experience of setting up of centralised kitchen to meet the requirement in Nepal. Thus with aid from the Tata Trusts and Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha, Akshaya Patra kitchen was set up in a full-fledged manner by transporting equipment and installation material from Bengaluru, Pune, Lucknow and Valsad to Nepal.

Funding by The Tata Trusts and ground support to undertake food delivery by Sipradian Sahayata Sanstha greatly helped in the Nepal Earthquake Relief. This support enabled Akshaya Patra to set up its kitchen in a record time of five days. The Akshaya Patra kitchen began operating and served its first meal on 19 June 2015. Beginning with feeding 1,087 people at Bode, the kitchen gradually increased its feeding capacity. During the first month as a Nepal Earthquake Relief provider, Akshaya Patra served 441,632 meals.

Spanning a journey of 88 days of serving food for children, youth and senior citizens, Akshaya Patra served 1.4 million meals. As was planned the Akshaya Patra kitchen that served as Nepal Earthquake Relief was closed down on 17 September 2015.

Read more about this inspiring journey @ Akshaya Patra Blog

Contribute Charity and Benefit from Sec 80G of Income Tax Act

As a donor helps the underserved with his donations, so does he benefits with tax exemption under Sec 80G of Income Tax Act. It makes a donor eligible for tax exemption for his contribution towards a charitable organisation. Many non-profit organisations come under this Act and make these organisations eligible to provide tax exemption certificates to its donors. This arrangement has a dual benefit: the beneficiaries receive the needed support and the donor receives support in the form of tax exemption. One such organisation is The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a mid-day meal programme implementer operating as a NGO in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. This non-profit organisation serves mid-day meal to over 1.4 million children in 24 locations across the mentioned states of India. Through the mid-day meal programme, the organisation aims to provide unlimited food for education to children so as to benefit these young citizens with the goodness of nutritious meals and rightful education.

Here is a small snippet that will bring forth the significance of your support. Machala is a 14-year old beneficiary of the NGO in Uttar Pradesh. A resident from a Mathura village she is a specially-abled child. Yet her mother, Ramvati, the sole bread-winner of the family, supports Machala and encourages her to go to school with the firmness that her daughter is no different from a regular child. Ramvati is aware of the nutritious meal that is provided at school and that’s why she even more encourages Machala to attend school with her younger sister Neetu. The girls are aware of the unfavourable financial condition being faced by the family especially after losing their father few years ago. Machala is a bright and lovely girl with an honest smile, who is probably unaware that her mental abilities are slightly different from her friends. But, attending school has had a positive influence on her and she interacts with all her classmates. Her teachers also appreciate her as a smart child. It is a case of determined parent that has allowed Machala’s progress despite difficulties thereby reinstating parents’ role in child’s education. Along with supportive parents when children are served with freshly cooked wholesome meals it further benefits children in their overall development. And this is what the non-governmental organization in Uttar Pradesh does by providing freshly cooked nutritious meal to children totalling over 1,50,000 beneficiaries across the state.

There are many such transforming stories of children who has benefitted tremendously with your generous contribution. At the same time, as a donor you benefit by being eligible for tax exemption. You can choose to either donate in honour of someone, on your birthday, wedding or on any other occasion. What best than offering charity by choosing to donate in honour of someone thereby helping children and at the same time receiving the benefits of Sec 80G of Income Tax Act. Step forward and provide food to underserved children.

Akshaya Patra Annual Report wins ARC Awards

The Akshaya Patra Annual Report for the Financial Year 2013-14 recently won Silver at the 2015 International ARC Awards under the 'Foundation' category of Non-Traditional Annual Reports. The Akshaya Patra Foundation has also been declared a Grand Award Winner at the ARC Awards in the Best of International category (Mid-East/India). This year the Award competition received a total of 2,065 entries from 35 countries. More than two decades ago in the year 1987 ARC Awards was established by MerComm Inc. and it is the world's largest international competition honoring outstanding achievements in annual reports.

The above NGO awards were received after being adjudged extensively on the parameters of presentation of information, creativity in expressing the contents, representation of financial data, effectiveness and clarity of thought, presentation of the organisation's story and cover and internal design. Over the years, Akshaya Patra Annual Report has created a niche for itself by being able to stand the test of such stringent parameters. Click here to have a look at the award-winning Akshaya Patra Annual Report.

Experience Joy of Giving This Daan Utsav

Daan Utsav or Joy of Giving week is back. Celebrated between 2^nd to 8^th October in India, Joy of giving week brings out the philanthropic trait among us which gets buried during our regular every day routine. It’s that time of the year which gives us an opportunity to dedicate our time, money and skill for the ones who need our support. It is a period where we see the coming together of the entire society across socio-economic and cultural boundaries. Daan Utsav is a way to spread happiness and unity through generosity and compassion. Not just NGOs, but joy of giving is observed wholeheartedly by professionals, corporates, media houses, educational institutions, individual citizens across India and abroad too.

Almost all NGOs alike celebrate this week by spreading awareness about their individual causes and providing a platform for supporters to get involved with their cause. The Akshaya Patra Foundation too observes joy of giving week. Akshaya Patra is one of the key implementers of the Mid-Day Meal Programme, an initiative of Government of India to provide free cooked mid-day meals to children of government schools across India. The Foundation has been implementing the programme since past 15 years. Over the years, the Foundation has fathomed the significance and potential of community support in taking forward any social cause and in that view the cause of mid-day meal too. The joy of giving week thus comes as a real platform for all those who want to provide nutritious meals to the millions of children across the country. The mid-day meals also provide children the needed energy to learn at school. The meals act as incentive for them to come to school and this eventually allows children to receive education and wholesome meal.

Currently, Akshaya Patra feeds more than 1.4 million children every day in 10,845 government schools across 24 locations of 10 states of India. The NGO steer all its activities towards its vision of ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ With your participation in the Daan Utsav, you could transform the lives of millions of children who have the determination to achieve big in life; just that they need a little support from you. Your contribution in the wake of Daan Utsav and otherwise will help the Foundation to expand the programme to new locations and benefit more children with food for education. This philanthropic involvement has the promise to change the future of the nation.

This Daan Utsav let us all get together to serve the young hearts of the country. By investing on this section of the population we are in way grooming future leaders of the nation. It is right from the present that we need to empower these children for tomorrow. Feel the joy of giving by serving the underserved children to whom you have gifted nutritious meals, rightful education and heartfelt smiles. Click Joy of Giving to know how you can participate with Akshaya Patra in the Utsav week.

Get Income Tax Exemption by Donating to Non-Profit Organisation

There are numerous non-profit organisations across India working for variety of causes touching upon environmental, social, health and the like. These NGOs receive support from government and it also depends upon involvement of general public in terms of donation, volunteering and support. All NGOs work for a primary cause and strive to benefit the population at the grass root level. This is so because when we are looking at a sustainable change across all sections of the society then we need to focus on the lowest rung of the society. As NGOs require funds to manage their programme, they also provide a platform for supporters and donors to get involved with their cause. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a NGO that has been working in partnership with government and philanthropic supporters to implement, sustain and expand its mid-day meal programme. Akshaya Patra serving children by being in the mid-day meal sector for over a decade has witnessed the potential of growth and sustainability when the entire community gets involved with the cause.

Like other NGOs, Akshaya Patra too has chalked out an elaborate range of choices for its supporters to choose from. This caters to the skill, time and resources that supporters can contribute towards the Foundation. One can choose to support the mid-day meal programme of Akshaya Patra by choosing to donate in memory of loved ones, weddings, birthdays, festivals or maybe get involved for Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives too. When we donate in memory of someone dear to us, it is a form of gratitude we pay to the departed soul and serving children with that thought is one of the noblest philanthropic acts. Get Involved will open up a plethora of choices available for supporters across India and abroad to benefit the undeserved children with wholesome meals per day. 

Mostly all registered non-profit organizations will provide a donation receipt to its donors and will have the provision of providing income tax exemption, and Akshaya Patra is one among them. This arrangement makes donation to be benefitting the beneficiary and the donor too. With the donation that the Akshaya Patra receives, it can steer the programme towards benefitting more and more children; and on the other hand it benefits the donors by making them eligible for income tax exemption. During the income tax filing period, we search high and low to show investments that could be eligible for exemption. Here donating to NGOs could be an answer. At Akshaya Patra, a donor who contributes Rs. 500 or more become eligible for receiving tax exemption certificate.

Currently, the Foundation feeds more than 1.4 million children every day and it aims to feed 5 million by 2020. This indicates the proportion of support the non-profit organisation is looking forward to from across all sections of the society. Partner with Akshaya Patra and partake in developing the young citizens of the country to become healthy, literate and confident. Get involved in the service of children for a better and promising future. 

Donate to Charity for Mid-day Meal

One of the many ways to get involved with the mid-day meal programme of The Akshaya Patra Foundation is by donating meal delivery vans. It is a great aid for transporting fresh mid-day meals to children. Many corporate and individual donors have come forward to donate meal delivery vehicles to the Foundation. Recently, DHL Express donated three delivery vans to The Akshaya Patra Foundation that were flagged off at the NGO’s H.K. Hill kitchen premise on 20 August, 2015. DHL Express is one of the popular logistics company.  The flag off ceremony of the mid-day meal vehicles was attended by R. S. Subramanian, SVP & Country Manager, DHL Express India, Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice-Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation and Shridhar Venkat, CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

These vehicles have been customised as per the Foundation’s standard of a honeycomb interior to prevent food spillage and insulated body to retain temperature of the freshly cooked meals. The three vehicles will be utilised to transport mid-day meals to 18 schools thereby it benefits more than 2,500 children.

Donate to charity and partake in providing nutritious meals and ending classroom hunger.

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Akshaya Patra - A Mid-day Meal Charitable Trust in India

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a charitable trust in India implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across the country. The Foundation is one of the key implementers of the programme reaching out to more than 1.4 million children every day across over more than 10,000 government schools. The NGO is present in 24 locations across 10 states of India. Akshaya Patra aims at feeding 5 million children by 2020 thereby moving towards its vision of ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ This vision is also an implication of the importance of food and education in the development of children. It also indicates that every child has the right to food and education. If a child is unable to receive it due to social, economic or any such factor then it becomes our responsibility to make it available to them.

This charitable trust in India has been in the service of children since 2000. Though it began serving mid-day meal at just five government schools thereby benefitting 1,500 children in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka, today it is feeding millions of children every day. Having witnessed the impact of the mid-day meal over the last 15 years, The Akshaya Patra Foundation always strives to make the programme better and better. In order to feed millions of children each day, the NGO operates two formats of kitchen – centralised kitchens and decentralised kitchens. The centralised kitchens are operational in urban and semi-urban regions, whereas decentralised kitchens are operational in remote locations where terrain and road connectivity poses a challenge. Each centralised kitchen has the capacity to cook up to one million meals per day. Regardless of the format, each Akshaya Patra kitchen mandatorily follows standard food safety and handling processes to ensure that each day the meal that is being served to children are 100% safe, hygienic and nutritious.

Each of the millions of beneficiaries has their unique dreams and aspirations. But the common thread that runs among all these children is the trait of hope and determination to make their future better. The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is a very potential initiative of the Government of India to counter classroom hunger and eventually eradicate it. This Scheme acts an incentive for children and parents to choose school over labour. The education and nutrition these children receive are significant factors in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty, hunger and illiteracy. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme, The Akshaya Patra strives to provide unlimited food for education thereby enabling children to grow up to be independent citizens.

You too can play a pivotal role in bringing about a positive change in a child’s life. Get involved will give you a platform to participate in the vision of this charitable foundation in India. Stepping forward to develop and secure a child’s present and future is not a charity, rather it’s our responsibility. Let’s take pride in fulfilling our responsibility.

Donate to NGO and Partake in Elimination of Classroom Hunger

In an effort to support The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s cause of providing mid-day meals, Vijaya Bank recently chose to donate to NGO, a meal delivery vehicle. This gesture of choosing to donate to NGO will further enable the Foundation for efficient delivery of mid-day meals to children. It is also a significant medium towards eliminating classroom hunger. The meal delivery vehicle that was donated to NGO was inaugurated at the H.K. Hill kitchen premises by Kishore Kumar Sansi and B.S. Rama Rao, Managing Director and CEO, and Director of Vijaya Bank respectively in the presence of The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s Vice-Chairman, Chanchalapathi Dasa.

The vehicle has been customised like other Akshaya Patra delivery vans with a honeycomb structure to prevent food spillage along with an insulated body to maintain the temperature of the cooked meal intact. This vehicle will be helpful in transporting freshly cooked nutritious food for hungry children across 40 government schools in Bengaluru thereby impacting more than 4,000 beneficiaries. Choose to donate to NGO and make a difference right at the grass root level of the society by partaking in eliminating classroom hunger.

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