About us
A small foundation, working close to the ground in Delhi.
Nikhaar Foundation exists to address the things a community can least afford to go without: water, clean air, and its children. We do that in specific neighbourhoods, with specific people, and we stay long enough to matter.
Our story
Nikhaar means to emerge, to come into your own.
That is close to what we are trying to do. Not to rescue anybody, and not to arrive with a plan drawn up somewhere far away, but to remove the specific obstacles that keep a family or a child from becoming what they were already capable of becoming.
In practice that has looked like a water pump in a settlement that had been queuing for tankers, a painting competition that gave children a stage, a Diwali campaign that asked a whole neighbourhood to reconsider a habit, and a lot of unremarkable hours spent clearing rubbish and talking to residents.
We are not a large organisation, and we do not pretend to be. What we offer a funder is the opposite of scale: a short distance between the money and the ground, and a clear account of what happened in between.
“We work on the things a community can least afford to go without: water, clean air, and its children.”
How we work
Four principles we hold to, including when they cost us attention.
Go where it is unfashionable
The settlements we work in are not on anybody’s tour. They do not generate headlines. That is precisely why the basics there have gone unaddressed for so long, and why a modest amount of money goes further than it would almost anywhere else.
Fix the thing, then leave it with people
The water pump at Indira Gandhi Camp belongs to the residents, not to us. We are not interested in building a permanent presence that a community depends on. We are interested in the community not needing us.
Consistency over spectacle
A single large gesture photographs well and changes little. Turning up repeatedly for the same children in the same lane is harder, less visible, and the only thing that works.
Say what actually happened
We report what we did, where, and for how many people. We do not inflate numbers, and we do not claim credit for outcomes we did not produce.
Leadership
Who runs the foundation.
Shivam Sood
Founder
Shivam founded Nikhaar Foundation to put a structure around work he was already doing in Delhi’s settlements. He writes and speaks publicly about business, money, and the things numbers leave out, and he brings that same insistence on specifics to the foundation: named neighbourhoods, counted beneficiaries, and no claims that cannot be checked.
He is directly reachable for anyone considering funding the work.
Governance
Registered, compliant, and straightforward to fund.
Every registration a serious Indian donor or CSR team looks for is in place.
Section 12A
Registered under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which exempts the foundation’s income from tax and confirms its status as a charitable organisation.
Section 80G
Registered under Section 80G, so individual and corporate donors in India can claim a deduction on their contribution.
CSR-1
Registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs under CSR-1, registration number CSR00107287. Companies can route mandated CSR spending to our programmes.
Copies of our registration certificates, PAN, and audited accounts are available on request. Write to info@nikhaarfoundation.org.