Question 1

Is my investment tax deductible?

Accepted Answer

For Indian taxpayers, yes. DEHAT holds 80G approval AAAAD3793Q25LK02, valid for assessment years 2027–28 to 2031–32, so an investment from an Indian source carries the 80G deduction. Foreign contributions do not carry 80G; Indian tax deductions do not apply to money received under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

Question 2

How do I get my receipt and 80G certificate?

Accepted Answer

Indian investments are reported in DEHAT’s Form 10BD statement and the 80G certificate is issued to you as Form 10BE. You need to give a name, address and PAN for that statement to be filed correctly. If you transferred money by bank and have not heard from us, report the transfer on the Invest page and we will match it against the bank statement.

Question 3

What is the smallest amount worth giving?

Accepted Answer

There is no minimum. Field costs are made of small recurring things - a child’s travel to a hearing, a night in a shelter, a follow-up visit after a rescue. A regular small amount is more useful than an occasional large one, because it does not stop between grants.

Question 4

Can I choose what my money is used for?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Invest page lists the purposes you can direct a contribution to, and you can also leave it unrestricted. Unrestricted money is the most useful kind, because it pays for the parts of the work no grant will fund - a case that runs three years longer than its project, or a salary between funding cycles.

Question 5

Can I give something other than money?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but write to us first. In-kind contributions have to be valued, recorded and matched to a real need, and material that nobody in Bahraich asked for costs more to store than it is worth. Tell us what you have and we will say honestly whether it is useful.

Question 6

Can I set up a monthly investment?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Invest page lets you choose a regular contribution rather than a single one. Regular giving is what lets DEHAT keep a case worker on a case after the project that funded the case has closed.

Question 7

Can I give anonymously?

Accepted Answer

You can ask not to be named publicly, and we will not name you. We still have to record your identity in our own books: anonymous cash is exactly what the accounting rules exist to prevent, and an unnamed donation cannot carry an 80G certificate.

Question 8

Can I get a refund?

Accepted Answer

For domestic investments, yes, in the circumstances set out in the refund policy - a duplicate charge, a wrong amount, a payment you did not authorise. Foreign contributions are different and cannot simply be returned on request; that is a legal restriction, not a policy choice. Read the refund policy in full before assuming either way.

Question 9

What does a legacy gift involve?

Accepted Answer

A legacy gift is a share of your estate left to DEHAT in your will, decided calmly and years in advance. It costs nothing now and it is the only kind of gift that can fund work beyond any grant cycle. Talk to us and to your own lawyer before writing it in; we will not draft your will for you.

Question 10

Can I invest from outside India?

Accepted Answer

Yes. DEHAT holds Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act registration 136260010 and receives foreign contributions only into its designated State Bank of India account at 11 Sansad Marg, New Delhi. Money from a foreign source must enter that account and no other - sending it to a domestic account would put both of us in breach.

Question 11

What is FCRA and why does it matter to me?

Accepted Answer

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act governs how Indian organisations may receive and use money from foreign sources. It matters to you because it decides which account your money must enter, what DEHAT may spend it on, how it is reported to the Ministry of Home Affairs, and whether it can ever be sent back. An organisation without valid registration cannot lawfully accept your money at all.

Question 12

Am I a foreign source if I hold an Indian passport?

Accepted Answer

Broadly, a non-resident Indian who remains an Indian citizen is not a foreign source, so an NRI investment from an Indian citizen is normally treated as domestic. A person of Indian origin holding foreign citizenship generally is a foreign source. The distinction turns on citizenship rather than residence, and it decides which account you must use - so tell us your citizenship and we will route it correctly rather than guess.

Question 13

What identification do you need from a foreign investor?

Accepted Answer

A passport number and a scan of both sides of the passport, in addition to the contact and address details every investor gives. Indian investors instead provide a masked Aadhaar and PAN, also uploaded. These are statutory identification requirements, not marketing data.

Question 14

Where do I find the FC-4 returns?

Accepted Answer

On the Transparency page. Every financial year that received foreign contribution shows its annual return beside that year’s signed balance sheet. Where a return has not yet been published on the site, the row says so and gives you a way to ask us for it, rather than showing a link to a document that is not there.

Question 15

Can a foreign contribution be refunded?

Accepted Answer

Not on request. A contribution in the designated Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act account cannot simply be sent back: returning it is an outbound foreign remittance from a restricted account, governed by that Act, by the Foreign Exchange Management Act and by the bank holding the account, and it may need the bank’s clearance or the Ministry of Home Affairs’ concurrence. If you believe a contribution was sent in error, write to us and we will examine it with our auditor and our bank, and tell you in writing either way.

Question 16

How much of my money reaches the work?

Accepted Answer

Rather than quote a single ratio, DEHAT publishes what was committed and what was deployed for every financial year since 2005–06, each drawn from a signed balance sheet. Work the proportion out yourself from the audited figures - that is a stronger answer than any number an organisation chooses about itself.

Question 17

Who audits your accounts?

Accepted Answer

Every year on the Transparency page names the firm that examined that year’s books, with the Unique Document Identification Number where one exists. The auditor has changed over twenty years and the page shows each one against the years they signed, rather than naming only the current firm.

Question 18

Where are the balance sheets?

Accepted Answer

On the Transparency page, one per financial year from 2005–06 onwards, opening as a PDF from its row. Open any year to see what partners committed, what reached the work, who examined the books, and what the balance sheet carried into the next April.

Question 19

Who funds DEHAT?

Accepted Answer

Every institution and company whose funding is recorded against a named project appears on the site, with the years and the projects. Ask about any of them and we will tell you what the partnership covered, what it cost, what it produced, or why it ended.

Question 20

Why do some years show incomplete data?

Accepted Answer

Because the older records are signed paper scans and the per-project detail has not all been transcribed yet. Those years are marked as summary years on the page rather than quietly presented as complete. The headline figures are audited; the breakdown behind them is still being digitised.

Question 21

Is DEHAT a registered organisation?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Developmental Association for Human Advancement was registered as a society in 2000, eleven years after the work began. It holds 80G approval AAAAD3793Q25LK02, Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act registration 136260010, and Corporate Social Responsibility registration CSR00001181. Every registration number on the site can be checked against the issuing authority.

Question 22

Who runs DEHAT and who holds them accountable?

Accepted Answer

There is a founder, two boards and a general body, and all of them are named on the site with their roles. The general body is where accountability is exercised rather than observed - members can question the executive directly.

Question 23

Has DEHAT ever been investigated or penalised?

Accepted Answer

The examinations, inspections and statutory checks DEHAT has been through are listed on the Transparency page, including who conducted them. If you think something is missing from that list, ask for the document behind any entry and tell us where you believe the accountability gap is.

Question 24

What is your child protection policy?

Accepted Answer

DEHAT works with children who have been trafficked, married as minors, or put to work, so safeguarding is not an annexe to the work - it is the condition of doing it. The policies and safeguards are published in full, including how concerns are raised and who they reach.

Question 25

How do I report a concern or a complaint?

Accepted Answer

Write to us directly. A concern about a child’s safety, a team member’s conduct or the handling of money should not go through a contact form and wait its turn - say what happened and we will tell you who is handling it and by when.

Question 26

How do you protect the identity of children in your stories?

Accepted Answer

Historical consent is treated as inadequate for publication. Where a story comes from an old annual report, the family is re-contacted or the account is anonymised before it appears here. A story that cannot clear that bar is not published, however good it would look.

Question 27

Where does DEHAT work?

Accepted Answer

Bahraich and Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh, on the Nepal border, with cross-border child protection work running into Nepal. Everything in the organisation’s history happens within a day’s travel of Bahraich town.

Question 28

What does DEHAT actually do?

Accepted Answer

Child protection and anti-trafficking, education, maternal and child health, livelihoods and rights, and leadership among young people in the same districts. The programmes page sets out each one with the projects and the funding behind it.

Question 29

How do you know the work is having an effect?

Accepted Answer

The impact page carries the figures with their sources, including the district baselines they are measured against. Where a number comes from DEHAT’s own records rather than an official series, the page says so instead of borrowing authority it does not have.

Question 30

When did DEHAT start?

Accepted Answer

The work began in 1989 with an informal school for Tharu and other forest-dwelling children in Bichhia, run out of a youth group with no building and no registration. The society was registered in 2000. DEHAT counts 1989 as its beginning, eleven years before it existed on paper.

Question 31

Can I volunteer or intern?

Accepted Answer

Yes - fellowships, internships and field roles, in Bahraich and remotely. Find Your Route asks what you can actually offer and how much time you have, then tells you which routes DEHAT can honour this year rather than collecting your details for a list.

Question 32

Are there paid jobs?

Accepted Answer

Field and programme roles open as projects are funded. Write to us with what you do and where you want to work, and we will tell you honestly whether there is capacity this year.

Question 33

Can my company partner with DEHAT on CSR?

Accepted Answer

Yes. DEHAT holds Corporate Social Responsibility registration CSR00001181 and states the Schedule VII alignment on every project in the register. Schedule VII money is decided months before the financial year turns, so bring the decision early and the first year is planned rather than improvised.

Question 34

Can I visit the field?

Accepted Answer

Yes, field visits in Bahraich and Shravasti can be arranged. Distance is what makes the work abstract, and it is much harder to hold an opinion about a district you have stood in.

Question 35

Can I use your models or research in my own work?

Accepted Answer

Yes. DEHAT works with academic research partners and its models are meant to be adopted elsewhere, with community resource persons available to other organisations. Anything published on this site can be requested in its underlying form.

Question 36

What do you do with my personal information?

Accepted Answer

Contact and identification details are used to issue your receipt, meet the statutory reporting DEHAT is bound to, and reply to you. The privacy policy sets out what is kept and for how long.

Question 37

Does this site use cookies?

Accepted Answer

Some are essential to keep pages working. The rest are optional and off until you accept them. You can accept all, keep only the essential ones, or choose category by category, and change your mind at any time from Cookie Settings in the footer.

Question 38

Is this site available in Hindi?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Use the language switch in the navigation. The site is written to work in both languages rather than translated as an afterthought.

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