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Give to Saath Foundation from outside India

Wherever you live, you can stand beside a child in India. The way you give depends on your citizenship, not where you live. It takes one question to find your route.

Find my route
Illustration: a gift travels from abroad to India Illustration

Which route is yours?

Do you hold an Indian passport?

Yes, I'm an Indian citizen (including NRIs)

You give the same way as anyone in India: UPI, an Indian card or net banking. We'll ask for your passport number and a short declaration that the gift is from your own savings, sent through normal banking channels. You can get an 80G receipt if you pay tax in India.

Give the usual way

No, I'm an OCI or PIO cardholder, or a foreign citizen

Indian law treats your gift as a foreign contribution. We can accept it only into our FCRA account at the State Bank of India, New Delhi Main Branch. You'll pay by bank transfer (SWIFT) with a reference we give you.

Give through the FCRA route

OCI and PIO cards are not Indian citizenship, so they use the FCRA route. This applies even if you pay in rupees from an Indian bank account.

How the FCRA route works

  1. Tell us about you and your gift

    Your name, address, country, nationality, the amount and currency, and what the gift is for. FCRA asks us to record these.

  2. We hold the need for you

    If you chose a child's need, we hold that amount so nobody else funds it while your transfer travels. The hold lasts 14 days.

  3. Send a bank transfer with your reference

    We show our SBI FCRA account details and a unique reference, like SAATH-FC-7K2Q9. Put the reference in the payment details so we can match your transfer.

  4. We confirm when SBI credits it

    Your gift is confirmed when SBI credits it to our FCRA account. We email you the moment it's confirmed. That usually takes 5 working days.

  5. You get an FCRA acknowledgement

    We issue an FCRA acknowledgement receipt with the rupee amount SBI credited. It is not an Indian 80G receipt, because Indian tax deductions don't apply to foreign contributions.

Our FCRA account

FCRA registration 236578456 (full registration)

Any bank or SWIFT charges are paid by you, the donor, so please ask your bank to send the full amount.

Please don't send money without a reference from checkout. Without it we can't match your gift to you or record it the way FCRA requires, and confirming it takes much longer.

Saath Foundation will never ask you to pay into a personal account or a UPI ID.

Illustrative image: a woman abroad gives online from her kitchen table Illustrative image

What to expect

You send in your own currency. SBI converts it, and the rupee amount SBI credits is what we record and allocate. It may differ slightly from the estimate we show.

If a little less arrives than planned
We count what arrives. If a child's need isn't fully covered, the rest stays open for others to fund, and we tell you.
If more arrives than the need requires
The extra goes to the next child on Hold a Hand, the one who has been waiting longest for support. You'll see the transfer in your Rupee Trail.
If the hold runs out before your transfer arrives
We still accept your gift when it arrives. If the need was funded by someone else in the meantime, it goes where the surplus rule above says, and we tell you where.
Your gift is kept separate
FCRA money is kept in its own account and ledger and is never mixed with money raised in India. You still see its full Rupee Trail in your account.
Public reporting
We publish our annual FCRA statement of accounts, as the law requires. See FCRA disclosures

Questions people ask

I live in the UK but hold an Indian passport. Which route is mine?

The usual route. Citizenship decides, not where you live. Give by UPI, an Indian card or net banking, and we'll record your passport number.

Can I pay by international card?

Not yet. Our payment gateway doesn't take international payments for NGOs, so for now the FCRA route is by bank transfer. We'll add cards if that changes.

Will I get a tax receipt for my country?

You get an FCRA acknowledgement from Saath Foundation. Saath Foundation is an Indian trust, so gifts to it are usually not tax-deductible abroad. Please check with your tax adviser.

Can I join a Saathi Circle with friends in India?

Yes. You pay your share through the FCRA route and your friends pay theirs the usual way. We keep the two separate in our books.

Why do you need my address and nationality?

FCRA requires us to record the name, address, country, amount, currency and purpose of every foreign contribution. We use these for our legal reporting only. Read our privacy policy.

What if my transfer never arrives?

Nothing is taken from you until your bank sends it. If we don't see it within 14 days, we release the hold and email you. You can start again at any time.