Permission for Indian charities to receive contributions from foreign donors is given by the Indian government and needs to be renewed every five years.
Until now this has not been a problem for our sister charity, the Satkaarya Trust. However, I wanted to let you know that we are currently having to work our way through some issues which are preventing Batemans from transferring funds directly to Satkaarya.
This situation is not unique; several thousand charities, including much larger international ones such as Oxfam and Save the Children, have also been blocked as a result of the Indian government’s Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
We are thankful that Satkaarya currently holds sufficient funds to continue its valuable work running the girls’ home and, in fact, is attracting more support from local Indian organisations and donors. If any of you have any contacts in India who may be interested in directly supporting Satkaarya please do let us know and we can share Satkaarya’s details with them.
To those of you who are sponsors, please rest assured that your valued contributions will continue to support the education of your sponsored child.
We are confident we can maintain funding for our outreach programmes through other charities with whom Batemans and Satkaarya have collaborated with for many years.
The FCRA decision is open to appeal and Batemans’ trustees will support the Satkaarya management team and continue to seek ways to protect and maintain all our educational and pastoral projects in Chennai. The needs of vulnerable children and young people remain our key focus.
We will, of course, keep you informed of any developments. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me at rebecca.sewell@batemans.
