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About Us : : Milestones
Since inception, the Foundation has made a difference in the lives of thousands of people with direct and indirect help through many projects. Also through networking with various charitable institutions in India Foundation has sent help over years in the past. Since 1978, the Foundation has sent millions of dollars of financial assistance in the areas education, child sponsorship, healthcare and rehabilitation, disaster relief and technology.
1978- 1987
- Founded in 1978
- Yashwant Kanitkar and Dr. Vishwanath Date drafted the first constitution. Yashwant Kanitkar, Dr. Date, Deepak Randive, Arvind Joshi, Yashwant Marathe, Prafulla Sudame were founding members
- Collected $500 in Rochester in 1st year.
- Five people from different cities took on the disbursement work.Volunteers in various cities started the disbursement
1988-1993
- Moved the MF to New York in 1988
- Many fundraisers - raised $80,000 in 1990
- Donations went up from $35,000 / year to $250,000 per year
- Endowment fund went up from $50,000 to $250,000
- Dedicated donors were established in New Jersey, Washington DC and Chacago
1994-1997
- MF committed to a major rehabilitation of the earthquake victims. Collection exceeded a goal of $500,000 and MF rebuilt the lives of thousands of victims.
- News India Times honored the MF as the best Indian Charitable Organization in the USA.
- MF built partnership with other Indian organizations such as BMM and Share & Care.
- MF started "The Progressive Marathi Literature awards" and was praised by many news papers for its contribution to the community.
1997- 2003
- MF started "Social Service Awards" ,
- MF established a volunteer committee to study the current needs and solutions.
- MF's 25th anniversary was celebrated in many cities. In New Jersey, over 1000 people attended the celebration.
- MF developed corporate partnership with Philip Morris and ICICI.
- MF entered the micro-credit area with the help of Swayam Krishi Sanghatana, Jnana Prabodhini and Dr. Mhaskar Foundation. The Foundation brought 6000 families in 150 villages out of poverty and made them self-sufficient.
- Donations went over $1 million per year.
2003-2006
- Joint appeal for Mumbai Relief fund - For the first time, a joint appeal with BMM and NYMM was made to the community at large and about $14,000 were raised and disbursed. Following NGOs received help from MF:
- Tsunami Relief work - Following NGOs received funds from MF:
- CORO
- Give India (Funded for Tsunami Relief)
- Swadhaar (Primarily microfinance NGO)
- Vichar Adhayan Kendra, Mumbai
- Save the Children and Pride India
- Pending disbursement of funds - Various donations were not sent due to some reasons. Through continuous follow-up with our accountant's office, a list of such donations was compiled. Such disbursements were made.
- FCRA related work - It was noticed that the contributions made to NGOs without FCRA could not be disbursed. After 9/11, Indian and U.S. governments have become vigilant about the regulations related to sending and receiving donations. MF started collecting the FCRA documents from NGOs. MF India office has been helping in this task.
- Guidelines for NGOs - MF receives several project proposals from NGOs requesting funds. Many times the information provided is not sufficient to make decisions. Therefore guidelines for NGOs interested in sending project proposals are created to avoid misunderstanding and frustration.
- Promoted 3 MF projects:
- Anti Human Trafficking
- Anti girl-child marriage
- Healthcare and Living Assistance for Senior Citizens.
This was a very important step in the growth of the organization. MF started to fund its own project. It improved the standing of the foundation in the NGO community at large and the projects were very appealing to the people and could reachout to the community.
- Continued to support the old projects:
- One Village One Computer (1V1C)
- Child in Need (CINI)
- Halo project
- Voice
- Outreach - As an integral part of building and strengthening relationships with other organizations, the foundation joined hands with BMM, Marathi Vishwa of NJ, Maharashtra Mandal of NY and Indian Young Professional's Network to host various programs in the tri-state area. Similar effrot was made in San Fransisco Bay are. With the help of friends, MF presented Seema Karnik's play "REFLECTIONS" which was widely acclaimed.
2006-09
- Khedkar Hospital project in Anjanvel, in collaboration with Yusuf Meherally Center, Mumbai.
- Clean and Safe Drinking Water for School children
- Anti-human trafficking Initiative 0 through three NGOs
- Swyamsiddha – Women and Youth empowerment project
- Rural Aging project
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