ANK India - Heart of an NGO, Power of a Corporate

ANK India is an NGO working in Delhi NCR to give education to underprivileged kids, help in skill development of youth, and improve quality health services for adolescent girls and women.

Sometimes what starts as a passion, turns into your life’s purpose. And you persevere to keep the impact growing. Such is the story of ANK India, as told by its founder Abhishek Kishore, in an interview with AkshiNarmis Team.

A Brief Background

ANK India came into existence in 2004, with a group of young people in their 20s developing a passion for helping people in need. And they went on to do exactly that, starting with providing education to underprivileged kids in their area.

Within 4-5 years, this NGO started gaining recognition. And Mr. Abhishek Kishore decided that it was time to make this a full-time work. They formed a registered society, and expanded their programs to include livelihood and skill development for youth, sports training for the children, as well as quality health services for women and girls.

But what makes ANK unique is in the manner it handles its programs and projects. With properly laid down systems in place, documented processes of their operations, ensuring staff security and financial transparency.

Let’s take a look.

ANK India - The Agile Approach to NGOs

For an NGO to work like a corporate is uncommon, even impossible - some might say. But its amazing how ANK has established itself right from the start.

All its existing 12 projects have a project team coordinator, who heads the project team members. The coordinators report to 4 Senior Managers from different departments. And these managers finally report to the founder, Mr. Abhishek Kishore.

Not something we see among NGOs do we? And that’s not all!

• ANK runs learning centers to give remedial classes to underprivileged students. And all these schools have good classrooms, separate boys and girls toilets, clean environment as well as fire alarms.

• They also hold internal training for their teachers in these centers. Apart from the courses, and values, these teachers are also given basic guidelines for photography. So that they can click pictures of activities they conduct, and share with their marketing team. (An agile way to marketing, yes!)

• ANK runs projects on a joint ownership basis. For any project they start, they have corporates and partners who support them for the execution of the project. They maintain a report of all the financial and in kind support, and even return the assets to the owners on completion of the project.

• For every project, the NGO handpicks their beneficiaries. Initial survey is done before the start of any project to do a needs analysis. And the scope of the project. Then the beneficiaries are identified through tests, interviews and financial criteria. And prime importance is given to those who need it the most.

• They also have a 1 project 1 donor policy. So any funds you donate for a particular project, goes only to that particular project. And all these details can be seen in their reports. They accept funds in specific accounts, cash transactions are not encouraged.

As a part of their skill development projects, ANK also works to provide basic computer, English speaking and electrician courses to the youth. This easily opens the doors of BPOs, and retail showrooms for them, giving them a means of survival.

For women, they run courses for cutting, sewing and tailoring to help them become self-reliant.

“Our motto at ANK is to serve the most needy. One thing that separates the privileged from the underprivileged is education. If you give education, a lot of things like awareness, health & hygiene and becoming a responsible citizen comes along. That’s what we believe in. So we focus on educating children, so that their lives can change.” - Abhishek Kishore (Founder)

Why AkshiNarmis Chose To Feature It

So as you can see, ANK India has indeed imbibed the best of the corporate culture, along with the fact that it still has the heart of an NGO.

And this approach has brought them enormous benefits in terms of the program impacts, as well as the corporates who are happy to lend them a helping hand, impressed by their professionalism and transparency.

But despite all this, ANK is in need of maximum support. There’s lack of resources for NGOs today, absence of good and dedicated manpower even if they are willing to pay salaries in the range of 16K to teachers. And it has become increasingly hard to get funding for new projects, what with COVID-19 entering the arena.

“ANK’s vision is to expand our work across PAN India. We’ve started expanding to some rural areas in UP. And we’re willing to work with other local NGOs, guide them to become structured like us, and also partner with corporates to help sustain the ecosystem.” - Abhishek Kishore

What You Can Do

Till the beginning of COVID-19, ANK didn’t accept individual funds. They encouraged the donors to come to their centers and distribute unused items as they may please to all the beneficiaries.

But with the uncertainties hitting them and their programs, they want to explore individual fundraising too. This is to support those kids and families who have migrated back to their local towns from Delhi NCR, and are now unemployed, without education.

ANK wants to help those families survive by helping them earn their livelihood through farming. And for that they need your support.

So if you want to help them, you can either volunteer with them, or hold a fundraising event for them. You can also visit their website or write to them at <admin [at] ankindia [dot] org> or call at +91-9810561157 to know about their programs and explore opportunities for collaboration.

Or if you want to be a corporate partner, ANK India can benefit from your in kind donations or sponsorships. And you can always contribute through CSR (Corporate

Social Responsibility) with a step towards the betterment of the society and the environment.

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