What Nikhaar Foundation Actually Does

I get asked about Nikhaar Foundation less than I get asked about Antialias or the book, and that's partly my fault. I don't post about it much. So here's the straight version of what it is, what it's done, and how it's structured, in one place.

What it is

Nikhaar Foundation is a Section 8 nonprofit company I founded on 14 February 2020, registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (CIN U85300DL2020NPL361880) and headquartered at B-20, Defence Colony, New Delhi. It's registered under Section 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act, and holds CSR Registration Number CSR00107287, so contributions are tax-deductible and companies can route CSR funds through it.

I'm the Chairman. Namisha Gupta and Zinnia Thapar run day-to-day operations alongside me.

What it actually works on

Three things, in order of how much time we spend on them.

Water conservation. This is the one I care about most and talk about least. In Kasturba Nagar's Indira Gandhi Camp, we installed a water pump that now brings water door to door for roughly 3,000 people who didn't have reliable access before. Alongside that, we run awareness campaigns on water waste, under the banner #DefendWater, because most of the water problem in Delhi isn't scarcity, it's how carelessly the water that exists gets used.

Children's education and welfare. Learning support, creative outlets, and basic welfare work with kids in underserved bastis around Delhi. Nothing glamorous: materials, mentoring, showing up consistently rather than running a single flashy event and disappearing.

Clean air. We ran the #MyRightToBreathe campaign with the Delhi Police, pushing for a cracker-free Diwali in the neighbourhoods we work in. We also run community cleanliness and waste segregation drives, and a painting competition with the Delhi Police that gave kids a reason to think about civic issues instead of just being lectured about them.

What it doesn't do

It's not a scale-first operation. We're not trying to be present in every state or chase headline numbers. Nikhaar Foundation works in specific neighbourhoods in Delhi, mostly South Delhi, and does a smaller number of things properly rather than a large number of things badly. If that changes, it'll change slowly, and only where we can actually follow through.

Why I started it

I didn't start Nikhaar Foundation because I had a five-year plan for it. I started it because water access and children's welfare are the kind of problems where a relatively small, consistent effort produces a real, countable result, 3,000 people with water at their door is not an abstraction, and I wanted to be doing something with that shape alongside the business work.

If you want to support it, or you're a company looking at where to route CSR funds, the foundation page has the registration details and campaign photos, or you can get in touch directly.