World NGO Day - Contributing to the cause and avail tax benefits
by Akshaya Patra NGO in India - Akshaya PatraIn an effort to honour and encourage the generous services
of the NGOs, 27th February is commemorated as the World NGO Day. It is an
annual event celebrated globally by various organisations, communities, and
leaders. With the universal concept of Celebrate, Commemorate and Collaborate,
the first World NGO Day was first celebrated on 27th February 2014 with the
intention to motivate people to get involved more actively with the activities
of various NGOs and also create a synergy between NGOs and other sectors and
communities. This day also gives an opportunity to appreciate the efforts of
those NGOs who excel in their service making them top NGO in their specific
segment.
NGOs play an all-encompassing role in the well-being and
sustainability of the entire society. NGOs are legally constituted private
organisations or groups that work independently from any form of government,
i.e. they are not managed or owned by the government or government
representatives. The NGOs reflect upon various issues and work in tandem with
larger organisations like UN, UNESCO etc. and also receive aid from individual
volunteers and corporate supporters. The role of NGOs is
significantly important because:
- Their
services range from social development, human development, health, skill
development, environment to animal rights, and more.
- NGOs
work at all levels – local, national, international – thereby being to cater to
the needs from the grass root level to the global level
- The
operational structure of NGOs enables organisations to get involved more
closely with their respective causes resulting in a more focussed way of
dealing with an issue.
One such organisation working towards improving child
nutrition and education is The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an Indian NGO implementing
the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across 12 states in the country. With the vision of ‘No
child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’ this
organisation steers all its effort to maximise the potential of technology and
resources towards providing nutritious and wholesome meals to school children.
The Foundation has been ranked 23rd among the top 100 NGOs featured in the 2013
edition of The Global Journal titled ‘Top 100 NGOs Annual Ranking’. Since its
inception in 2000, this top
NGO has achieved many important milestones such as:
• Akshaya
Patra is the first organisation to enter into a Public-Private Partnership in
the mid-day meal programme sector by signing a MoU with the Government of
Karnataka.
• Along
with mechanised and centralised kitchens, Akshaya Patra also has a
well-structured network of decentralised kitchens to serve mid-day meals in
remote areas like Baran in Rajasthan and Nayagarh in Odisha.
• In 2006,
Akshaya Patra was considered as a case study at the prestigious Harvard Business
School as part of its MBA curriculum.
• Setting
an example for accountability, Akshaya Patra became the first NGO to comply
with the IFRS and also the winner of the Gold Shield for Excellence in
Financial Reporting by the ICAI for five consecutive years.
• Entered
the India Book of Records for running the world's largest school meal
programme.
• Akshaya
Patra proudly hosted His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama, Former President of the
United States of America, Bill Clinton, Former President of India Pranab
Mukherjee among other noted dignitaries.
• Out of 34
centralised kitchens, 15 kitchens are ISO 22000:2005 certified.
• Presently,
Akshaya Patra is impacting the lives of 16,75,008 children in 13,839 schools
across 12 states in India.
Akshaya Patra is at a watershed moment and aims to feed 5
million children by 2020. The Foundation believes that it is an achievable
aspiration provided there is equal involvement of the society and hence has
provided several platforms to get involved with the cause. As a supporter, one
can choose to donate online, sponsor a child, school, kitchen, or a meal
delivery vehicle. Supporters can also initiate an online campaign in support of
the cause. All donors will be eligible to avail 80G deduction
under the Income Tax Act. So, this World NGO Day come forward and donate for
the Akshaya Patra’s Mid-Day Meal Programme and save tax on your hard earned
money too!
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Created on Feb 21st 2018 00:47. Viewed 524 times.