By enabling rural & public schools

Transforming learning experiences

About Vidyarthi Mitra Foundation

Our Mission – To empower underprivileged children through education and instill in them a real sense of pride, confidence and freedom

Our Vision – To work towards creating a place where all children will have a fair chance at getting an education at a credible educational institution

Our Values – We believe in the values of Honesty, Respect for all, Discipline, Self Esteem and Hygiene.

Our Registration no.: E-33607(M) under Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950 (registered in June 2017)

Our Activities:

As part the trust formation we focus on the below activities:

  1. Creating sense and importance of education among children and the society
  2. Support to schools in teaching aids, training and any other assistance for schools
  3. Supporting socio-economically backward children for their education needs
  4. Inculcating habits of daily studies/ book reading and increasing general knowledge.
  5. Supplies of educational materials to the under privileged students
  6. Conduct educational activities like teaching, coaching, excursion, physical activities.
  7. Personal hygiene education and supplies.

The seeds were sown out of one simple thought of supporting education. A group of like minded friends and colleagues came together in 2013 with a belief that education is a basic human right and an essential element in social and economic development of any country. We are a non-sectarian, non-political and not-for-profit organization that provides crucial educational support to children who really need it. We have been actively involved in supporting students from Manor, Gore and Jawahar villages in Maharashtra and increased our spread to Karjat and Konkan areas. Our NGO is young, energetic and niche in projects execution based on combined experiences of trustees.

Our Amazing Team

Ritesh Maniar

Mr. Ritesh Maniar

Chairman

Ritesh has over two decades of experience in IT Industry specializing in wealth management. He is working at a senior position for a multinational company leading.

He has been instrumental in working in several social areas viz. environment and waste management activities, Vastra-Samman (clothes for work), empower and equip India’s trafficked girls and socially disadvantaged young women, and disaster relief programs.

Ritesh was key in bringing together people with similar beliefs and establishing Vidyarthi Mitra Foundation. He is responsible for collaborating with other NGOs and evaluating necessary projects for supporting in education and upbringing of economically backward students.

Anju Godbole

Mrs. Anju Godbole

Secretary

Anju a Ex senior management professional in IT with 25 years of experience across diverse organizations including over 12 years in senior leadership roles, enhancing operational efficiency by implementing various process improvement initiatives and client satisfaction through superior quality service across professional career.

Anju also heads another NGO which concentrates on providing Cancer detection and cure at the door step of less priviliged.

Anand Kulkarni

Mr. Anand Kulkarni

Treasurer

Anand is working at a Senior postion for a reputed ERP product after a startup product he was associated with (since 2000) got acquired. He has over 27+ years of IT experience where he specializes in Product Design and Project Management.

He has been an integral part of the VMF group and is passionately involved in planning, arranging funds, organizing and execution of many drives. Anand has a very friendly nature and loves networking with people especially kids. Social work is his passion and someday wants to get into it full time.

Ajit Padmanabhan

Mr. Ajit Padmanabhan

Trustee

Ajit is an IT professional with over 20+ years of experience and works at a senior position for a leading multinational in Mumbai. He has led many successful turnkey projects in the Banking and Financial sector.

His association with VMF dates back to 2012 and has been instrumental in gathering volunteers and advisors through his networking skills. As a trustee, Ajit is involved in the planning and execution of programs created by VMF and looks primarily into the administrative, procurement and fund raising matters.

Krishna Kumar Poojary

Krishna Kumar Poojary

Trustee

Kumar a Finance professional with 22+ years of experience in Finance & Accounts. Currently he is at a senior position managing Business Finance & procurement for a Chicago based Information Services company.

He is also associated with various groups working towards providing better education to underprivileged children in rural areas. At VMF he leverages his expertise in managing the accounts of VMF along with setting up the processes and participation of various drives.

Narayanan Shankaran

Narayanan Shankaran

Trustee

Narayanan HR professional for close to 17 years of his corporate life ,out of a total of 24 of overall work experience. For the last 4+ years he has been in the space of coaching, teaching, facilitating and also part of a team working for school children in the remote areas of Maharashtra. From a coach perspective he works with clients across the APAC region for the last three years.He also works with social change makers through the Global Action on Poverty(GAP) initiative.

With regards to VMF Narayanan has primarily help in planning trainings, raising funds and sharing his knowledge on social skills.

Manish lokhande

Mr. Manish lokhande

Trustee

Manish has been instrumental in germinating the idea of carrying out activities to facilitate education to the kids in the rural areas. He has been highly inspired by his father who has been working in the education sector for past 30 years.

He is involved in planning and execution of programs created by VMF. Apart from this Manish does composting and gardening at home and also loves composing poems. He was the who sowed the seeds of Vidyarthi Mirtra in the initial years.

Gayatri Rathi

Mrs Gayatri Rathi

Trustee

Gayatri holds an MCom degree from University of Mumbai. She has 10 years of experience in IT company and currently working as Senior Executive specialize in Resource Management

Been involved in VMF group since 2014 and has actively participated in all drives. After joining VMF, social work has become her passion and someday wants to get into it full time.

Mahesh Sawant

Mahesh Sawant

Trustee

Mahesh is a software engineer by profession with over 22+ years of experience in IT industry. He is currently working in a leading multinational company driving huge and complex engagments for a leading automotive clients.

He is Working towards a vision to help kids in their education in every possible way. He is associated with VMF since 2015 and involved in driving and executing various initiatives driven by VMF. As a trustee of VMF he is able to drive the vision he has and also work towards understanding the needs and requirements of kids from different sectors and plan on how those can be fulfilled.

Utpal Tipnis

Mr Utpal Tipnis

Trustee

Utpal has 18 years experience in IT. He works for a multinational company in managerial capacity.

The zest to work for children from the rural area who lack the access to basic education helped him associate with Vidyarthi Mitra Foundation. He has been associated with VMF since 2013.

Our Process

1 Connect

Connecting to the needy schools thru our core members and volunteer network across Maharastra

3 Analyze

Analyzing the requirements along with the VMF Board members for their authenticity and available funds. We reach out to our network of friends, relatives and organization for funds in the absence of sufficient funds. Once the requirement is approved, we then start procurement of requested items and planning for the drive.

4 Deliver

Delivery of the requested items to the students in person are done during the drive. We also conduct workshops on our core values of Respect, Hygiene, Honesty, Discipline and Self Esteem. Students are encouraged to perform better, and we spend some quality time with the students understanding their issues and concerns. We conclude the drive with a bright smile on their faces and hope that we made some difference in their lives

2 Assess

Assessing the needs of the schools by visiting the schools in person, interacting with teachers & Students and gathering the requirements

5 Monitor

Monitoring and gathering the feedback from the stakeholders of the schools where the drive was conducted to ensure the students are indeed benefitted. We review the learnings and keep improvising our process

Ways to get connected

You can always help Vidhyarthi Mitra by finding out more about what we do and talking about us to your friends. Your suggestions are welcome.

Here are few ways you can contribute

  1. Support a child by providing a school kit which will include every essential need for a school going child (each kit is estimated at INR 500 -you may choose to sponsor as many kids as you want. We will ensure to get the kit with all the essentials).
  2. You can be a registered member of the NGO (This will be a process before you get formally inducted to the NGO) with us for all the events that happen going ahead. As a first step to know what we do you can join us when we are engaging with the students in June and you can distribute these kits to the students.
  3. You can be a volunteer and participate in the events as and when you consider right.
  4. You can be a donor towards the various initiatives of the NGO with no time or energy commitment in terms of participation or engaging in the initiatives unless you desire to participate or contribute in kind apart from the financial commitment.
    • The donation amount will be utilized to carry out the educational programs and to purchase useful things for student’s ex. Umbrella, Raincoat, School bags, Notebooks etc.
    • No money will be handed over to any student or school
    • No donation to any organization in monetary form
    • A book of accounts will be maintained showing fund collection and utilization

Join in to make that small move for huge difference in a kids life.

If you have an account in India you can directly deposit it in the account mentioned below. Please mention [ "Your Name" Ref "Name of the Trustee and/or Volunteer" ] in comments for us to identify the source of Donation. We are in the process of procuring 12A / 80G certificate and hence unable to accept Funds from outside India.

Axis Bank (VartakNagar Branch, Thane West)
Account Name : Vidyarthi Mitra Foundation
IFSC Code : UTIB0002168
Account Number : 918020025488588 (Current A/c)

Our Contact

Email:
vmf.mumbai@gmail.com
Website:
www.vidyarthimitrafoundation.org
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/VidyarthiMitra

Looking forward for a partnership to make a difference in someone’s life!