How to choose a trustworthy NGO in India: a donor's checklist

An NGO in India is trustworthy when four things are true: it holds valid Section 12A and Section 80G registrations under the Income Tax Act, 1961; it can produce its CSR-1 registration if it accepts corporate donations under Section 135 of the Companies Act; it publishes named beneficiaries in named geographies with photographs from the actual work; and it issues digitally signed receipts within a working day or two of a donation. Everything else is a nice-to-have. These four are the floor.

This is a checklist for individual donors on how to verify each of these four claims yourself, before any money moves. It works for a five hundred rupee UPI donation and it works for a fifty lakh cheque.

What "trustworthy" actually means for an Indian NGO

There is no central "trust" rating for Indian NGOs. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Income Tax Department, and the Ministry of Home Affairs each verify a different slice of an organisation, and taken together they cover most of what a serious donor needs to check. A trustworthy NGO is one that has cleared each of the applicable verification layers, keeps the paperwork current, and can hand you a copy of every certificate within a working day of you asking.

The word "verified" is often used loosely by donation aggregator platforms. A verified listing on a giving portal is not a substitute for looking at the source documents yourself. This guide walks you through the source documents, in order.

The seven checks, in order

1. Section 12A registration under the Income Tax Act, 1961

This is the registration that confers charitable status. Without it, the organisation's income is not exempt from tax and it cannot legally claim to be a charity. Ask for a copy of the 12A certificate. It carries a registration number and the date of grant. Since April 2021 the Income Tax Department has issued a Unique Registration Number for 12A as well; the certificate carries it.

You can cross verify status on the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in under the tax exemption search. A properly registered organisation will return its name against its PAN.

2. Section 80G registration and the sixteen digit URN

Section 80G is what makes your donation deductible. The certificate is separate from 12A and carries a sixteen digit Unique Registration Number. Since 2021, an 80G receipt is not valid at income tax filing without this URN. Ask for the certificate and check that the URN on any donation receipt matches what the certificate says. If they do not match, do not claim the deduction.

3. CSR-1 registration under the Companies Act, 2013

This only matters if you or your company are donating from a corporate Indian entity subject to Section 135. If so, the NGO must be CSR-1 registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The registration number looks like CSR00XXXXXX. You can verify it on the MCA portal at mca.gov.in under the CSR services section.

A retail donor does not need CSR-1 to claim 80G. But an NGO that holds CSR-1 has been through an additional layer of MCA scrutiny, which is a useful signal even if you personally are not routing CSR funds.

4. FCRA registration for foreign contributions

If you are donating from outside India or from a foreign source (an overseas bank account, a foreign employer's payroll giving programme, a foundation registered abroad), the NGO must hold Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Without FCRA, foreign contributions are not legally receivable. Ask before you transfer.

5. Audited financial statements from the last completed financial year

A real NGO publishes or shares on request its audited financials. Look for three things:

• A statement of income and expenditure with programme spending broken out by area
• Administrative expenses as a proportion of total spending (a modest percentage is a good sign, and there is no single correct number)
• A clean auditor's report from a Chartered Accountant firm

6. Programme reports with named locations and photographs

Do the reports name specific villages, settlements, or schools? Are there photographs from the actual work rather than stock imagery of children generically? Is there a beneficiary count that is stated rather than extrapolated? These are the small signals that separate delivery from paperwork.

7. A named human you can email

A registered NGO with real work to point to is easy to reach. There should be a specific person, a specific email address, and a reply within two working days. If your first email into an NGO goes into a general inbox and never comes out, this is a signal.

Quick reference: verification sources

Red flags to walk away from

• The receipt does not carry the sixteen digit 80G URN.
• The NGO cannot produce a copy of the 12A or 80G certificate on request.
• Programme photographs look like stock imagery or repeat across multiple NGOs.
• Beneficiary numbers are unusually round or grow linearly year over year without explanation.
• Cash donation requests above two thousand rupees, which are not eligible under Section 80G(5D).
• Aggressive follow up after a small donation with pressure to commit to a much larger recurring amount.
• An audited financial statement that is more than eighteen months old.

How to actually make the donation once you have verified

1. Email the NGO with the amount you plan to give and ask for the bank and UPI details.
2. Transfer the money by UPI, IMPS, NEFT, or cheque. Avoid cash above two thousand rupees.
3. Reply with the transaction reference and your full name, PAN, and address.
4. Wait for the digitally signed 80G receipt carrying the URN.
5. File the deduction under Schedule 80G at income tax filing time.

Where Nikhaar Foundation sits against this checklist

In the interest of putting our own numbers where our mouth is: Nikhaar Foundation is 12A registered, 80G registered (URN AAGCN8863PF20241), and CSR-1 registered (CSR00107287) with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Our PAN is AAGCN8863P. Every campaign photograph on this website is from a drive, installation, or event we actually ran in Delhi. If you would like to see the audited financials or any of the certificates, write to info@nikhaarfoundation.org and we will send them within a working day.

If the checklist above matches how you would like to give, our donate page is the shortest route in. If you want to see the work first, start with our impact page.