Here are some of the things that make us unique: 1. We do not raise funds for ourselves, but offer you the chance to donate to any of a wide range of NGOs that have cleared specific norms of credibility and accountability.

2. We work hard to keep our cost of fundraising down to a single digit - 9.1% (6.5% for iGive donations). Most other funding intermediary organisations spend between 20-50% on fundraising.

3. We offer you a wide range of 'donation options' from NGOs working on a variety of causes.

4. GiveIndia provides you with in-depth details of NGOs listed with us.

5. GiveIndia sends you a feedback report on every donation** you make. This feedback contains details about the beneficiary and that lets you know how your money has made a difference.
** Except for the Marathon, during which we list NGOs chosen by runners, and hence do not provide feedbacks for donations to these NGOs and in the case of iGive projects that are not certified by us and are put up directly by the page owners.

GiveIndia is owned and managed by GIVE Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to raising funds for good NGOs in India. GIVE Foundation was set up by Venkat Krishnan, an IIM-A graduate who previously worked with the Times Group and Sony TV.

The Board of Directors includes:
1. Mr. N. Vaghul, Former Chairman, ICICI Bank Limited

2. Mr. Amit Chandra, Managing Director, Bain Capital Advisors

3. Mrs. Annabel Mehta, Treasurer, Apnalaya

4. Ms. Anu Aga, Director, Thermax

4. Mr. Rajesh Jain, Founder-Chairman and Managing Director of NetCore Solution

A GiveIndia certified NGO has cleared stringent norms of credibility and accountability. We have a thorough, transparent and objective selection process for the NGOs profiled on our site.

Here are some of the criteria we use for selection:

* Organisations must be registered nonprofits that implement social development projects in India, with no political affiliations.

* At least 50% of their beneficiaries must be economically underprivileged.

* Organisations must be unbiased in their beneficiary selection i.e. non religious / non political.

* The organisation must be willing to create donation options and provide prompt feedback for the donations.

GiveIndia ensures that 90.9% of your contribution reaches the NGO you have chosen by keeping fundraising costs at 9.1%.

In the Payroll Giving programme, the company makes a donation of 9.1% of total contributions, so 100% of the employee's donation is passed through.

The 9.1% donation retention covers all our costs including the due diligence, sending the money to the NGO, sending you your feedback report, the credit card charges which are often as high as 4% of your donation size*, and providing ongoing donor support including provision of online accounts and facilities.

**For U.S.-tax paying donors on GiveIndia.org, Paypal charges 2.2% plus 30c per donation. For U.K.-tax paying donors on GiveIndia.org, Stripe charges 2.95% plus 0.25 Euros per donation as a fee for their services.

When you donate Rs.100 to an NGO and Rs.10 to GiveIndia, you donate a total of Rs.110. Of this, GiveIndia retains Rs.10 and passes on Rs.100 to the NGO. Thus, what GiveIndia retains as a part of your TOTAL contribution is Rs.10/110, i.e., 9.1%.

Most intermediaries like UNICEF, Oxfam, CRY etc. would report fundraising costs as a percentage of TOTAL contribution (i.e., what percentage of the TOTAL they have retained). In order to keep our percentages comparable to theirs, we compute it in the same way, and hence use 9.1% as the figure we report to you.

GiveIndia retains a maximum of 9.1% in order to provide you with the high quality support you have come to expect when transacting through us. By taking this donation, we are reducing our dependence on grants and increasing the chances that we will be around for a lot longer to serve donors, NGOs and beneficiaries.

GiveIndia lets you donate with confidence because we have spent resources on due diligence and on obtaining and processing feedback reports. We're confident that our donors recognize this. We have this donation in place across all of our modes of fundraising. Here are the primary two explained in more detail:

Payroll Giving: Since the inception of the Payroll Giving programme in 2003, more participating companies have made this donation of 9.1% to GiveIndia. This has led to the companies taking greater ownership of the programme and to employees feeling that their company is a good corporate citizen. It also allows 100% of the employees money to go to cause of their choice.

Regular online donations: Ever since GiveIndia started in 2000, there has been a cost to online donations. Till June 1, 2008 we subsidised these costs with a grant from ICICI Bank. However with our plans to scale up the volumes of online donations in the coming years, we are forced to retain a small part of the donation from our customers. So as of June 1, 2008, we began retaining 9.1% of what online donors contribute. Effective October 1, 2011, this was reduced to 6.5% for iGive donations only.

GiveIndia believes that you, the donor, would be much more concerned about our cost of fundraising than a grantmaking organisation, and this concern will force us to be efficient.

Consider 2 examples, Intermediary 1 that spends 10% on fundraising and deducts this from the donation, and Intermediary 2 that spends 25% on fundraising, but deducts only 5% from the donation, getting the balance 20% from some grantmaking agency.

While Intermediary 1 is actually the more efficient organisation, donors may tend to support Intermediary 2 because less of their money is spent on fundraising. Grantmaking agencies are typically far less demanding than individual donors and there will be no pressure to reduce fundraising costs much below the 20-25% level.

Every non-profit organisation has costs and unfortunately for donors, these costs aren't usually stated in a way that make it easy to compare which ones are the most efficient.

Other intermediaries do not disclose their costs clearly, often masking them as "advocacy expenses". The cost of advocacy and fundraising for most intermediaries is typically in the 20%-40% range.

With the possible exception of religious and spiritual institutions, GiveIndia has one of the lowest fundraising costs.

Typically feedback reports** are emailed to donors within 4-6 months after receipt of the donation. In the details for each donation option on GiveIndia.org, we provide information on what feedback will be provided for that donation option.

**The only exceptions are the marathon, during which we list NGOs chosen by runners, and hence do not provide feedbacks for donations to these NGOs; and in the case of iGive projects that are not certified by us and are put up directly by the page owners.

Donors can avail of the following tax benefits -

For Indian Tax Payers:
u/s 80G of the IT Act up to 50% of your donation is deductible. u/s 35AC of the IT Act up to 100% of your donation is deductible.

For US Tax Payers:
u/s 501(c)(3) only if you register as a U.S. Tax Payer on our site before you donate. Please note that donations made with your tax paying status set to any other type are not eligible for 501(c) (3) benefits, even if you subsequently change your profile on our site.

For UK Tax Payers:
If you are a U.K. taxpayer, for every pound that you have donated, GIVE UK can reclaim 28 pence from the IRS helping your donation go further. To qualify for Gift Aid, the income tax or capital gains tax you pay must at least equal the amount we will claim in the tax year.

To Gift Aid donations, please register as a U.K. tax payer or modify your profile accordingly. When you make a donation, you will be asked if you would like to Gift Aid your donation. Please click on the "Yes, I would like to Gift Aid" button and we will reclaim GiftAid for your donation.

The Government of India does not allow companies to provide tax relief in salary against donation receipts. The same can be claimed (or adjusted against other income) while filing your income tax returns.

As per Circular No. 1/2010 [F. No. 275/192/2009 IT(B)], dated 11-1-2010, section 5.4, Sub Section G - No deduction should be allowed from the salary income in respect of any donations made for charitable purposes. The tax relief on such donations as admissible under section 80G of the Act, will have to be claimed by the taxpayer in the return of income.

PAN is a mandatory requirement only if you wish to donate to a 35AC donation. It is not required to make an 80G donation. If you select a 35AC donation, you will be asked to update your profile with your PAN, if not already filled in.

There are 6 reasons why you should donate with us:

1. GiveIndia gives you complete flexibility on choosing not just the NGO or the cause you wish to contribute to, but also the impact you would like to create.

2. GiveIndia coordinates with its partners to give you detailed feedback on how your money is used ensuring complete transparency.

3. To ensure that your money reaches the right people and is utilised appropriately, GiveIndia requires certified NGOs to meet the Credibility Alliance Norms. Every listed organisation is scrutinised for accountability and transparency before being taken on board.

4. Your contributions to GiveIndia will receive tax deductions u/s 80G of the Indian Income Tax Act.

5. GiveIndia is run by professionals from the corporate sector who have chosen to help the less fortunate.

In order to make GiveIndia sustainable in the long run, we retain 9.1% of donations made through us. This helps us recover a reasonable portion of our operating costs, but not fully. GiveIndia has received a grant from ICICI Bank to cover its annual deficit.

We try and keep our costs low, by obtaining free or subsidised services wherever possible. ICICI Bank provides free internet banking and a very low cost payment gateway. Several ad agencies and others provide pro bono services to help us, and we have an army of volunteers that drive several aspects of our operations, thus helping keep costs even lower. This is what helps us keep our total costs to under 10% of all donations raised, against an industry benchmark of 30-50%.

There are 3 main ways in which we achieve this:

* By obtaining free or subsidised services wherever possible. This has happened in many forms:

* Our payment gateway providers provide their services at a significantly discounted cost

* Several TV and print media groups have provided free advertising support to us

* Several ad agencies and others provide pro bono services to help us

* We have an army of volunteers that drive several aspects of our operations, thus helping keep costs even lower

* We have created very efficient processes backed by IT systems, which help us to automate large portions of our activities thus helping us to do with lesser manpower than other equivalent organizations

* Our highly committed employees have chosen to work with us and by doing so, they earn less than what they would in the corporate sector..

GiveIndia does not accept donations for its work - we are treating the initial corporate grant we got as "seed money" till we reach self-sustenance. The best way to support us is to donate more through us, demand a good service and pay us a fair charge for the same.

Our team consists of around 50 full-time and part-time employees and several volunteers. Our employees are often professionals from the corporate sector who have chosen to help the less fortunate over a mainstream career. Although they receive regular salaries, these are way below corporate standards. Our volunteers work with us for free.

Yes, GiveIndia publishes an Annual Report every year, which summarises our activities as well as contains our Financial Statements. here to view/download a PDF version of the Annual Report.