Jun
13
Written by:
David Strickland
6/13/2007 11:54 AM
Obviously as the time draws closer to our departure finances get tighter and tighter. I recently had someone ask if they could help. I spent the better part of the day yesterday scouring through India's legal system and in the end the answer appears to be a little confusing. So far our airfare and shipping costs have been covered. At the moment we are working on the $4,000 we are going to need for a deposit on the home we will have to rent. We are hoping to rent a two story building with 3 bedrooms on each floor. Initially the first floor will contain the living area for our family as well as a guest bedroom. The second floor will be for the orphanage. I am then hoping to get a job with a local company that will pay enough to support my family and between 8 to 12 orphans.
So why don't we just raise the funds we need from friends, family and interested parties here in America?
India has a law called the Foreign Contributions Act of 1976. This law states:
"Whereas no association having a definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social programme shall accept foreign contribution unless such association registers itself with the Central Government or obtains the prior permission of the Central Government"
So why don't we just register? Registrations have to be approved. Approval is typically refused unless. The association has been in operation for over 3 years and the association has averaged at least $4,000 annually in expenditure.
Where then does this leave those friends and family that want to help with the work. How then can we accept support or sponsorship? The Foreign Contribution Act covers bringing money into India to an association. It does not cover our own personnal expenses. Currently we have several obligations in the US that would require us to send some of my earning from India back stateside. The gifts of those friends and family will be used to cover those commitments thus allowing more of our income to stay in India and support the orphanage. One such example would be this website. This site is a personnal obligation aquired before entering India and paid for in foreign currency and thus does not fall under the provisions of the FCA act. Unfortunately side effect though is that these personnal gifts would not be tax deductable.
Ultimately the amount of work the association does until we are allowed to register will be limited to how much of our net income we can donate and what other donations we receive from those in India. However with some help we can ensure that every Rupee that we could donate to supporting orphans can be donated.