How to Donate to an NGO in India: A 7-Point Donor Checklist
Donating online for the first time? Seven checks that separate a genuine Indian NGO from a fake one — registrations, receipts, reporting and red flags.
Read storyEvery donation begins with trust. And trust, in the NGO world, has paperwork. Before you donate to any organisation — including ours — you should know what the common registrations actually mean and how to check them yourself.
Section 8: the foundation
A Section 8 company (under the Companies Act, 2013) is a non-profit company. It legally cannot distribute profits to its members — every rupee must go back into its charitable objectives. Jivanam Foundation is registered as a Section 8 company (License No. 142599, CIN: U88900UP2023NPL179625).
12A: the NGO doesn't pay tax
A 12A registration means the Income Tax Department recognises the organisation as charitable, so the NGO's own income (donations, grants) is exempt from income tax. Without 12A, a chunk of your donation would literally go to tax instead of the cause.
80G: YOU save tax
This is the one donors love. If an NGO has 80G certification, you can claim a deduction on your donation in your income-tax return. Donate ₹10,000 to an 80G-registered NGO and you can claim a 50% deduction (₹5,000) from your taxable income. Always collect your 80G receipt — we issue one for every donation.
Niti Aayog Darpan: the government directory
NGO Darpan is Niti Aayog's official portal where registered NGOs get a Unique ID. Ours is UP/2023/0343733 — you can search it on the ngodarpan.gov.in portal and see our registration yourself.
Verify us in five minutes
We keep every certificate — 80G, 12A, Niti Aayog, Section 8 license, PAN, TAN, MOA and AOA — publicly downloadable on our Documents page. Please do check them. An informed donor is exactly the kind of donor we want.
